Sital Ruparelia

As the rate and speed of lay offs continues, I’m meeting more and more people who are looking to leave the corporate world to become freelance consultants or start up their own businesses in another area completely.  

Whilst there are fewer jobs within the banking sector – and indeed the wider economy, there are far more problems to be solved. Problems which create opportunities for new businesses.

How do you get started? 

Suppose you have a desire to become a freelance consultant or have a great business idea, how do you actually get started – and what are the key steps you need to take? 

Here’s a simple 20 step slide show published by BusinessWeek on how to move from the corporate world into self employment.  

What’s missing?

Having made the leap into self employment after the last financial services downturn in 2003, I can see some of these points are very relevant. But I do think there are some key steps missing from this list. For one, there’s the importance of finding a new peer group. 

Step 21. Find a new peer group

Finding a new peer group and community of self employed people (ideally within the same industry) is, in my experience, one of the biggest success factors for a start up. Being self employed can be a very lonely place to be. You need a peer group to share your highs and lows with, people to exchange ideas, resources and best practices with. Without it, you’ll struggle.

There are plenty of self employed people following this blog, so tell me – what do you think is missing from this slide show?