by Roxanne Alvarez, @microfinanseer
July was a bit of a rough month between record heat waves, moving plans falling through yet still needing to move from one place to another, and finally grappling with what has been a very sluggish business cycle (or year). Taking a phrase from Catherine Rampell’s depressingly informative New York Times’ article, “Discriminating Against the Unemployed” that outlines how the few available jobs are going to, well, those who already have jobs, I have been feeling like a “victim of the business cycle”! Here’s to hoping August gives me, and everyone else, a break! A recent employment report provides an ever-so-small amount of hope, doesn’t it? Not for me either.
So given my experience in what feels like a stunted economy, I thought to write about that to allow you some insight into what my experience has been as an aspiring entrepreneur. It has not been easy, or even pretty sometimes, and I have learned plenty of lessons. But I am still left scratching my head at times and wondering, “What went wrong there? And why didn’t this work out better?” Basically I am left with more questions than answers. And now I am starting to think that the answers may not be knowable. Hayek, I love you usually, but also hate you sometimes.
When I first decided to do freelance work early last summer after graduating a second time from graduate school, I thought it would afford me an opportunity to really create my “perfect” professional position. Often when I am in a job, I feel unchallenged in the position after a period of time and so by working for myself and with whom I wanted as an independent consultant, I thought I would curb this sort of ennui as my job would be ever-evolving and stimulating. Not so much. Instead the ennui was replaced with frustration at just how to drum up business even though I kept hearing that my idea was a “good one” and that there likely was a market for such work.
My idea? Well, I want to apply my organizational skills to assisting social entrepreneurs to get their own businesses off the ground. I started working with nonprofits at first, specifically those focused on microfinance and entrepreneurship, by assisting them in program development and expansion (a.k.a fundraising). But soon I realized, I wanted to work with the entrepreneurs directly in strategic planning and business plan development to get them investor-ready. I see a lot of parallels between my years working in grant proposal development and business planning, plus I know I am a well-organized manager and have years of project and staff management experience. I thought if there was a way to combine my different skill sets and focus them to support an often-overworked and somewhat-disorganized entrepreneur (come on, you know it is true), then I could market myself as someone’s potential operational right-hand woman.
I got good responses to my pitch and even had potential clients - and a couple of bona fide clients for a time there. People seemed receptive to my idea and thought they could use such assistance with their entrepreneurial endeavors. I heard time and time again, “Yes, I could use someone like you.” Great! Except after their initial interest in my services and many hours of listening to them discuss their business ideas and the associated problems with getting them off the ground, I didn’t get the impression they were willing to pay to use someone like me. Instead I got the impression that they were happy to bounce ideas off of me and to ask me questions and gather information from me, but not necessarily hire me. Obviously, that was problematic as I was trying to start a business and not volunteer my time and effort.
I often found it ironic that other entrepreneurs would make such a bad assumption or seemingly expect something for nothing. Surely, they expect to be paid for their products and services - even those working in nonprofits earn their living. Plus it is not as if I don’t appreciate or see the value in giving of time and effort for little or no compensation. After all, I have spent many years while training and working as a social worker providing no-cost services to assist others. I still think there is value in such efforts, but my consulting business was not a 501c3. Turns out, it was also barely a business. But I kept trying. [Insert huge sigh here]
Heading back to square one started to become too familiar - almost like it should have been part of my own business plan. Sort of like wash, rinse, repeat… Frustration began to set in and I thought that in spite of what I was hearing, it was quite likely that there actually was not a market for what I was selling. Or that the market I thought existed was incredibly small and distorted. I realized I was trying to enter a very tough market to begin with by trying to get my business off the ground by serving clients, who themselves were trying to get a business off the ground. Maybe it’s not as good of an idea as I originally thought. Or one of us - preferably me - needed to get a substantial subsidy to make this work. Where is my “guardian” angel investor?
There are days when I continue to strive to meet new clients and spread the word about how I think I can professionally help them. I do so now with some lessons learned, though I imagine with more time the depths of these lessons will reveal themselves. After all, my entrepreneurial wounds are still fresh and I am only now really dusting myself off a bit and beginning to take some new, next steps. Upon quick reflection, some of the lessons I learned include:
Investing in marketing is a good thing. You have to be your own PR person whether in person or online and taking time and spending some money on business cards, a website, or working to network and exchange ideas with other professionals can go a long way.
Positive attitude fosters motivation. Go to that networking, professional mixer even if you think you are not in the mood to pitch your work yet again or pass around a handful of business cards with no guarantees that any new projects will come from the efforts. As the singer Amerie once sang, “sometimes you gotta work hard for it”. More often than not, you will spend more than you make in terms of outreach. But if you don’t believe in yourself and your work, how do you expect anyone else to? Get out there!
Related to the above, I’d say don’t get easily discouraged or intimidated. Developing a thick professional skin is essential for many reasons, but most of all it allows you to keep it moving even with a few (financial) bumps and (ego) bruises.
Know how to “close the sale”. This is one I think I still need to work on. It is important to trust our guts about who we think is seriously interested in working with us, i.e. to pay us for our work, and not spend too much time (or money) trying to convince those who are not in positions to move forward with us. Like time, energy cannot be regained once it is wasted. Find the balance between investing in the fostering of a “potential collaboration” and dwelling too much on a “potential collaboration” that is not likely to go very far.
However, the biggest lesson I can see so far is about being comfortable embracing our own failures and open to learning from them. I wrote something about failure earlier this year. Basically, I wrote, “All I am saying is that there is no shame in not getting it right the first time (or the second, or third, and maybe even the fourth) or in seeing that failure has a place in our experiences and can be useful. What is shameful is pretending that one never fails. Or maybe worse than that is never trying something for fear of failing.” I try to approach my life and my work with the idea that life is, indeed, too short to not pursue your happiness (whatever it might be) as vigorously as possible.
When I am not contemplating how or if to carry on with my current consulting plans, I have started to brainstorm about other entrepreneurial ventures I could explore – writing a book with a talented, long-time friend is under serious consideration and then there was a moment last week when I thought I should apply my social work skills to run support groups for other “victims of the business cycle”. In addition to a catchy name for the business, I would need some serious capital, as again, these folks are not likely to be able to pay much for this service. But given the economic stories out there, I know that there is a market of millions who could use an ear to listen them and a shoulder to lean on, even if they can’t pay for either.
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Roxanne Alvarez earned a Master's degree in economics from George Mason University and a Master's degree in social work from the University of Chicago. She’s an independent consultant based in Washington, D.C. working on social entrepreneurial projects with nonprofits and social businesses.
Website: www.microfinanseer.com | Twitter: @microfinanseer
