Many years ago, in one of the many books of Robert Kiyosaki (author of ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’) I remember him saying that the 9-5 routine work is the easiest work anyone can ever do. Yes, you read that right – indeed a 9-5 job is the easiest job anyone will ever hold, despite all the ups and downs a routine work may come with. In this same book, Robert Kiyosaki also talked about the challenges of entrepreneurship and going the journey on your own. Over the years that followed, I have seen many people shift jobs from one company to the next but very few people who took the entrepreneurship route. The ones who did, have some incredible stories of overcoming all kinds of challenges and display a show of resilience that’s second to none.

When you hear of other people’s stories of struggle for survival as entrepreneurs in red oceans where much bigger sharks lurk, it is inspiring and gives the much-needed encouragement and motivation for those who are just getting in the game and taking the plunge themselves. Such is the experience I have been having since I decided to take the plunge myself and have my own practice as an HR and leadership development consultant and coach. Now, I can say I truly understand what writers like Robert Kiyosaki and other people who warn about the preparations for life as entrepreneurs mean when they say entrepreneurship is a ‘challenge’. Mainly because being an entrepreneur not only means you are now going from a 9-5 routine to a 24/7 routine, but because you also have to take up multiple positions you may never have had any experience for in the past.

It is hard to explain the joys of the journey beyond that comfort zone to someone who is hung up on the belief that employment and success can only be defined in a corporate framework where you hold an official job title, work a certain number of hours per week, and get a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the month.

SHUJA RABBANI – SHRM-SCP, SPHRI, EXECUTIVE COACH – JOHN MAXWELL TEAM

In the process of building my practice as a solopreneur, here are some of the roles that I have had to take up and learn:

• Web Designer: Before setting up the business website for my company STIX Consulting (www.stixconsulting.com) through an expert web designer, I built the website for ‘Pod Your Heart Out’ podcast myself. This helped me learn the language of web-designing and made the process of putting together a new website much easier. It is a one-time exercise that once mastered, will make your life so much easier in managing your online presence.

• Social Media Manager: In 2021, you cannot run a business without having a robust social media presence. Running the social media accounts of my podcast alone has been a full-time job and of course, you cannot be a social media manager if you have no content to publish – which brings me to the next role.

• Content Creator: This goes hand-in-hand with being a social media manager because you have to spend time in making the high-quality content and have loads of things readily available that will be consistently published online.

• Salesperson: My marketing professor in university used to say, ‘the number one product you will always have to sell is yourself’ – this could not be any truer today than it was back then. Not only as an employee in a corporate setting but also as a consultant, you will be posed with the question of ‘why choose you over others?’ – if you are a solopreneur reading this, prepare that elevator pitch right away! Just as you have to prove yourself worthy of a job promotion in the corporate world, you have to prove yourself in the world of solopreneurship.

• Procurement: When starting off my journey two years ago, I had a clear vision that I wanted to create a job for myself where I can work remotely from anywhere, anytime, 24/7. To make that vision come true, it was absolutely essential that the provision of all my HR & leadership consultancy services can be conducted online where all I would need is just a laptop, or any running computer for that matter, and a stable internet connection. In this process, I have had to look for CRM tools that meet the needs of solopreneurs where I can keep track of client journey from prospecting to delivery, finding and building digital infrastructure that eliminates paperwork completely (such as filling up forms and contracts online only), and learning automation tools so that everything syncs well together as a business process.

Changing Conversations Beyond The Comfort Zone

By far, the biggest challenge for me has been the shift in mindset, in that I am no longer an employee of a corporation – that instead of one full-time job, I now have multiple full-time jobs that may not pay me as much as a corporate job once did or bring in a steady income at the end of every month. It is no wonder that when I speak to some former colleagues who are still operating in the employee mindset ask with wonder when they find out that I am working for myself, ‘oh, so you’ve not been working since 2020?’.

There is no doubt that 9-5 corporate jobs have their own advantages and that is where most of the world of working-class people operate best. For people like me who want to explore their potential beyond the comfort of a routine job, beyond the restrictions of rules and regulations of office politics and performance reviews where your potential is judged by the opinions of a manager, stepping out of the comfort zone helps take the challenge of personal development to another level.

Sometimes, it is hard to explain the joys of the journey beyond that comfort zone to someone who is hung up on the belief that employment and success can only be defined in a corporate framework where you hold an official job title, work a certain number of hours per week, and get a guaranteed paycheck at the end of the month.

In a post-pandemic world of work, such attitudes are bound to change and eventually we will have many more people who will want more than just the comfort of a job that pays. We are already beginning to see that people are now looking for jobs that fulfill, and ‘The Great Resignation’ is just the beginning of this collective awakening of workers around the world.

For more information on my HR and leadership development services, visit STIX Consulting on www.stixconsulting.com