Identifying Your Lifes Calling and How to Setup Your Own Business (Part I)

It’s not usual for people to be able to say that they’ve successfully identified their life’s calling so don’t worry if you haven’t quite discovered what yours is yet. I experienced such emotions shortly before quitting my job. My full-time position did very little to challenge, excite and stimulate me at the time. I decided that I needed financial and professional independence. Setting up my own company was the best way to accomplish that goal…on my terms. Are you wondering how to setup your own business on the basis of your life’s calling? The following guide could help you get started. When and How can You Get Started? It’s probably a good idea to go through your employment contract first. The reason I say this is because It might feature a clause preventing you from getting started with your business idea. Those of you in HR know what I’m talking about! Many companies have such contracts that prevent employees from establishing a startup while employed, even if it’s after hours. If that’s the case? Don’t despair. Take it as a sign to delay things a bit while you “learn”. Postpone the process and learn how to setup your own business first. Use the time to do all of the preliminary planning and to guarantee a smooth transition towards your new professional calling. Use Lists Lists can help you organise your ideas and answer many tough questions about your calling and your professional mission. Dedicate enough time to sitting down, doing a bit of brainstorming and recording the results of the session. • Create a list about the things you enjoy doing. Record everything, even if an idea appears to be ridiculous and lacking business potential. Many of these seemingly ridiculous, impossible ideas could potentially be refined and transformed into a solid business plan. • Create separate lists of the activities you enjoy so much that you’d be willing to do those things without getting paid (DON'T think about the money when doing this list, think about the Joy). • And lastly, make a list of things you can’t live without (should be a fairly short list!) Once you’re done, take some time to carefully compare these lists. Do any similarities emerge? These similarities and patterns could be the emerging “blueprint” of your life’s true calling and what your ideal life could look like. By thinking it and simply writing it down, you've made the reality of your future much more tangible than you could ever imagine. That’s exciting. An Abstract Calling? Don’t worry if your life’s calling appears to be too abstract to understand or transform into a solid, practical business plan initially. Over-analysing everything right from the start will do very little to clarify the concept. Give yourself a little bit of time. Allow the idea to evolve at its own pace. Soon, you will be able to understand what you’re meant to do. Your life’s calling could be complex and difficult to define at first but this is perfectly natural; the pieces may need time to slowly (but surely) come together. Make sure that the concepts and the activities you are thinking about give you satisfaction and get you excited. If you are going to learn how to setup your own business on the basis of your life’s calling, you will need to focus solely on the things that you would love to be involved with in the long run. The next part of the business establishment process focuses on bringing this idea to reality: Action. Knowing how to do that is equally important and you should dedicate enough time to this coming phase, as well. My next article will shed some light on the most important processes. Watch out for it!