Becoming an entrepreneur

I have been an ‘entrepreneur’ for 30 years since the age of 22! I’m not one of those entrepreneurs who has made squillions of £££’s – YET! - however my life has been rich as a consequence of working for myself.

I’ve been able to be a totally hands on mum, I choose my working hours and the freedom it allows me is phenomenal. Being an entrepreneur is hard work, you have to be driven and dedicated and have tenacity. There have been times when I’ve had no money, I have also been in debt, however I have to say I’ve had the most amazing career and experience.

Being an entrepreneur is like doing the lottery, there is always a chance you are going to make it big, most of us don’t of course but there is always the assumption that the dream will become a reality, you don’t get that from being on a payroll all your life.

An entrepreneur needs to be totally disciplined, you can’t allow yourself to worry and stress too much about where the business is coming from. Having a strong belief in positivity and truly believing in yourself is a must. The longer you can stay with your head above water the more confidence you have in yourself. I have come to discover that it doesn’t matter how bad things become, if you just tell yourself something is around the corner and you keep working hard at it and don’t ever give up things have a way of working out.

For a woman, especially a woman with children becoming an entrepreneur is ideal. The number of self-employed women in the UK is rising at nearly three times the rate of men. The number of female entrepreneurs has increased by 9.6 per cent during the past two years, compared with a 3.3 per cent rise for men, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Back in the 80’s it was a good time to jump on to the entrepreneurial band wagon, there were lots of opportunities. Likewise today it really couldn’t be easier with the social media to start something from scratch. You really don’t even need much money – just having an idea and a whole lot of enthusiasm and tenacity is enough.

If you are young you must read ‘Self-belief’ – The Vision by Jamal Edwards. A young man who started a business on YouTube with nothing but a camera, he is now worth millions – in his early twenties!

Eighteen months ago I had a vision to champion the entrepreneurial amongst us – I created a portal – www.meemee.tv to enable people to create their own online TV channel – for free! My idea is aimed at the next generation YouTubers. Those who have ideas and want the opportunity to monetise those ideas. With hard work a sense of passion for their ideas and dedication, anyone can create a business from scratch. Our strapline is ‘Anybody can be a global somebody’

In my next blog on this subject I am going to create a list of potential ideas that readers can use to start their own business – watch this space!