For younger individuals, entrepreneurship is the brand new 9 to five, with 60% of teenagers saying they wish to begin their very own enterprise as an alternative of working a conventional job. 

However, with the uncertainty enterprise house owners have confronted through the previous two years, it may be useful for Gen Zers to study from professionals who managed to thrive throughout — and after — the peak of the pandemic. 

Jane Labowitch, often known as Princess Etch, is a 30-year-old Etch a Sketch artist who makes use of the mechanical drawing toy to create intricate portraits and landscapes. For the final 6 years, her artwork has been her main supply of revenue.

Jane Labowitch standing subsequent to her artwork in a museum.

Princess Etch

Before the pandemic, Labowitch made a bit of her revenue instructing in-person lessons and workshops. But, after leveraging social media in 2020, she was capable of complement that revenue after which some. 

“When [the pandemic] first happened, I was terrified,” Labowitch tells CNBC Make It. “I immediately lost a number of jobs, and the number of email correspondents I had about promising projects just disappeared. But if there’s anything I did during the pandemic, it was maintain consistency. Because with the magic of the internet, I was able to work with a global audience.”

According to Labowitch, listed here are three issues that aspiring enterprise house owners ought to bear in mind:

Strategize with social media

Labowitch says that social media is a good instrument for constructing a model and showcasing what your small business has to supply. She makes use of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Discord and Twitch to spice up her firm’s on-line presence.

“I consider everything I post on the internet to be in some way, a type of advertisement for my services. I’m marketing myself with every example of work that I create because you never know who’s going to see it. And you’re never going to know if something you made two years ago gets seen by the right set of eyes and leads to an interesting email in your inbox.”

Labowitch initially began showcasing her artwork on Myspace in 2007, however most just lately, she amped up her TikTok presence by doing reside streams of her drawing course of. Her viewers have been then capable of ship her financial tips within the app and have a extra private connection together with her.

These reside streams not solely helped her set up a web-based presence of over 200,000 followers but additionally helped make her sufficient cash to repay the final $13,484.58 of her scholar loans. 

“TikTok roses are the lowest denomination of currency you can donate to a live stream, and the streamer receives the equivalent of half a penny per rose,” Labowitch says. “So I did the math and found that I needed 2,696,916 roses.”

“It took me exactly 30 days and 117 hours of live streaming to raise enough money. It took over my life for the entire month of April. And I developed this whole new, really passionate fan base of people who just really wanted to support me and my business.” 

Find a great, trusted accountant

Being your personal boss has its perks, but it surely additionally has its potential pitfalls, a significant one being funds. When individuals pursue entrepreneurship, content material creating or freelancing, many do not understand the rise in monetary obligations they’re going to have.

From submitting taxes to documenting and monitoring revenue and expenditures, a trusted accountant can play a significant function within the long-term success of a enterprise.  

“If there’s anything that I would recommend any entrepreneur indulge in and splurge on, it’s an accountant,” Labowitch says. “It is worth every penny for the peace of mind of knowing that my accountant is going to be crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s better than I ever could.”

Entrepreneurship is not for the ‘faint of coronary heart’

The journey to having a profitable enterprise is not linear. For some, it could take months, whereas different entrepreneurs want years to get their enterprise off the bottom.

Despite these various time frames, the widespread denominator for all enterprise house owners is preparation. According to Labowitch, there are a lot of facets of early entrepreneurship that are not for the “faint of heart,” together with lack of medical health insurance, funding, and “instability.” 

“I’m in a domestic partnership with my boyfriend because of health insurance,” she says. “And I know so many entrepreneurs who are in similar positions to me and don’t have that option, or their partners don’t work for companies where domestic partnerships are enough. I know [several people] who got married for health insurance reasons.”

“I also had to learn about cost of sales and just being able to calculate not only how much I should charge in general, but how much I should charge to make sure this is a sustainable endeavor for me. So I didn’t dive into full-time entrepreneurship, I eased into it.”

Check out:

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3 books that will help you really feel extra fulfilled in life and at work, in line with a happiness scholar

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