Vanya Wryter Consulting Services

Tag: Entrepreneurship

  • A Lesson I Wish I Had Learned Earlier in Life

    A Lesson I Wish I Had Learned Earlier in Life

    If I could go back and give my younger self one piece of advice, it would be this: start a side business early. For years, I believed the traditional career path was the right one—get a job, work hard, climb the career ladder. But economies shift, industries change, and jobs disappear, so stability is not guaranteed.

    What I didn’t realize at the time is that having a side business isn’t just about making extra money. When you run even the smallest business on the side—whether it’s freelancing, selling a product, or offering a service—you create an additional financial safety net. No matter what the economic climate or job market looks like, you have something of your own to fall back on.

    Beyond financial security, a side business teaches you a valuable set of skills that you might not get from having a job. You learn how to market yourself, manage finances, solve problems creatively, and build relationships with customers. These skills are transferable to every aspect of life, including your main career.

    And here’s something else I wish I had realized sooner: a successful side business can completely change your retirement timeline. Instead of waiting until your 60s to step away from work, the income and flexibility from a thriving business can open the door to financial freedom much earlier. You’re no longer tied to the traditional path of “work until retirement age.” You gain the freedom to choose when and how you work.

    So, if I could turn back the clock, the lesson I would impart to my younger self would be to start a side business as soon as possible.

    Daily writing prompt
    Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.
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  • Santa’s Top Skills Revealed

    Santa’s Top Skills Revealed

    This interesting and timely article dropped into my mailbox: a blog about the soft skills needed to run Santa’s worldwide business. Soft skills are skills such as leadership, active listening, critical thinking, and multitasking.

    Here are just some of the highlights from the longer article about what skills Santa uses to run his global gift operation.

    Leadership skills: he directs talented elves and a herd of magical reindeer and coordinates with families during one night of operations.

    Multitasking skills: Santa can’t miss that one deadline per year, so he has a lot to coordinate, from tuning up the sleigh to reading all the gift lists and managing the toy shop.

    Active listening skills: Santa listens carefully to all the children so he gets the details for their wish lists right, and he asks questions when needed for the best interaction possible. He pays attention to body language and the way the child is feeling.

    Santa possesses many soft skills that are needed to run such an important gift operation.

    For more about these skills, check out the original article.

  • 5 Tips on Working for a Virtual StartUp

    5 Tips on Working for a Virtual StartUp

    Nowadays, it’s possible to go to an office address and find that the company you’re looking for doesn’t physically exist there. At all. Technology has enabled the employees of an entire company to work from home. 

    Some of these companies are startups that are 100 percent virtual. These companies are great if you hate commuting and love working in your own space. But, as startups, they also have their drawbacks.

    Keep these five tips in mind if you’re thinking of working for a 100% remote startup company. These tips can improve your success at working for such a company in the long term.

    1 Believe in the mission and vision

    Look into the company’s mission and vision before you go to your job interview. The company’s goals should completely line up with yours. Of course, you want to work for a company with a purpose you believe in. With a startup, it is even more crucial that you aren’t working for the paycheque. Here’s why.

    Startups are start-ups. The journey can be bumpy as the company experiences growing pains. Roles for each person may constantly change. Policies and procedures may frequently update as the company tries to determine what works and what doesn’t. Even the company’s products and services may change as it adjusts to become a better fit for its ideal customers. 

    If the company’s goals are goals you fully support, it makes the constant shifting and adjusting easier to bear.

    2 Be flexible and open to change

    If you’re going to work for a startup, you absolutely must embrace change. As the company grows at a rapid pace, more people will join the team. Roles and responsibilities will shift. You may find yourself working with more team members or find yourself managing a team. You may have more tasks on your to-do list. Or you may have fewer, more specialized tasks as your role becomes more defined.

    Procedures may also improve and change over time as the company experiments with different types of software. Instead of tracking your hours on a simple spreadsheet or table, you now need to learn to use customer management software (CRM software) such as Salesforce. Instead of casually mentioning in a chat that you finished a task, you’ll need to write your update in a project management tool, such as Trello, Asana, or Click Up.

    3 Take initiative

    A startup company is still figuring out many things. Just picture a company that is settling into its office on moving day. Office equipment and office furniture are everywhere as people try to figure out where everyone will sit and what will go in each room.

    Some startups don’t have a human resources (HR) department or a clear line of authority. In these cases, you may need to be more assertive than you’re comfortable with. For example, if the person you report to is disrespectful to you, you’ll need to figure out who you could talk to about your boss. Similarly, without an HR, you won’t have someone to speak to about disrespectful treatment by a coworker. You will also have to take the initiative about getting a raise because the company is still figuring out what the pay raises, bonuses, and benefits should be.

    4 Be prepared to put in extra hours and effort

    Working for a startup could mean working extra hours and putting in more effort. Depending on how established the startup is, the company may require you to work longer days to get procedures set up. They may be short staffed, so you’ll find yourself taking on the role of more than one person.

    At some companies, they will appreciate the extra effort and reward you with a promotion, such as a change in job title or responsibilities, or better pay. At other companies, particularly those that aren’t well organized, your extra effort will be required but will go unnoticed. They will expect you to work weekends and evenings in addition to regular office hours.  

    5 Invest in yourself

    If you’re working for a virtual startup, you may feel a bit disconnected, especially if you’re a social extrovert. You may only know the person who brought you into the company after the job interview. You’ll also know the people who you work with regularly. But everyone else will be just a name in a chat group. You don’t get to meet people casually in the hallway or during lunch break. 

    The people you work with may not remember to introduce you to key members of the team or remember to show you how to use the software you’ll need. 

    It’s up to you to reach out and remind them of your skills if you want a promotion or pay raise. Your supervisor may not remember these details, especially if the team has been growing and your supervisor has changed and there is no HR department. 

    Learning new skills is important, especially when it comes to technology. No one from the IT Department is going to knock on your door to help you set up your computer or connect to your internet. If you lose your internet connection or your computer breaks down, you lose your lifeline to your virtual job. 

    Key Takeaways

    Not all startups are the same. Leadership affects how the company treats its employees. If there is strong leadership, the startup will grow quickly while providing the support that each person needs. People will feel acknowledged and appreciated for their work. If you’re considering working for a virtual startup, be prepared to put in extra effort and be ready for rapid and constant change.

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  • 3 Ways to Increase Your Income If You’re Self-Employed

    3 Ways to Increase Your Income If You’re Self-Employed

    Repost

    One of the biggest challenges of being self-employed is doing everything yourself, from the actual work to accounting to marketing your business. Eventually, the self-employed want to become successful enough to get a steady workflow and make their ideal income.

    Some self-employed freelancers or business owners stop there, but others want to reach higher. Their reputation is established, and they are getting so much business that they cannot do all the work themselves. Here is an opportunity to double or triple their yearly income.

    Eventually, instead of being a one-person business running every department, they might hire employees. However, some business owners may want to avoid the headache of managing several people. They may wish to continue as an independent freelancer.

    Hiring employees isn’t the only option for increasing one’s income, although it is the first one that comes to mind. Here are three ways to increase your income if you’re self-employed and the pros and cons of each method.

    1 Hire employees

    You’ve always wanted to become your own boss. That’s why you started your own company and became self-employed. The next step is to scale up your company by hiring employees.

    Pros

    Depending on the nature and size of your business, you could step back and hire people with the right expertise to manage the company. You could hire an accountant and human resources person. Or you could continue with a hands-on role in the company.

    When you hire employees, you have resources dedicated to completing your work. You control their time and schedule because they signed a contract to work part-time or full-time, at specific hours of the day for you. If they want time off, they must let you know first.

    Having a dedicated team allows your business to scale. You can provide the same services you did before or add more services now that you have the cash flow and resources to hire experts to provide those services.

    Cons

    Once you hire employees, you are expected to provide a specific number of work hours for your employees each month. It becomes more crucial that your lead flow is steady to ensure you continue to operate at a profit.

    You’ll have more management details to look after. Whether you manage your business yourself or hire someone, you will deal with work contracts, tracking employee hours and pay, and other details related to human resources and taxes.

    2 Subcontract your work

    It’s a wonderful milestone in your career when you have so many clients that you can pick and choose which ones to keep by raising your rates or ending contracts. However, you may want to keep all your existing clients and add new ones instead of turning them away.

    One way to scale up your business is to work with subcontractors. For example, if you write articles for your clients, subcontract your work to writers who are building their portfolios and writing experience.

    Pros

    You can take on more clients and work assignments by working with subcontractors. They provide the same service as you so, in a way, you are duplicating yourself. You charge your clients your usual rate, keep a percentage as a management fee, and use the remainder to pay your subcontractors.

    If you enjoy management, you will coordinate what assignments need to be done, which subcontractor needs to complete them, and get the assignments to the client on time.

    Cons

    Most likely, your subcontractors are developing their writing experience or don’t have steady clients themselves. Part of your time is spent managing their work, from assigning to checking what they do. If you dislike management, you could hire someone to look after these details.

    Another challenge is if the subcontractor’s work isn’t up to standard, you’ll find a lot of your time is spent editing their work. However, when your subcontractor gains more experience over time, they will charge higher rates and want to work directly with their own clients.

    3 Collaborate with businesses that offer complementary services

    You are highly talented at what you do, but what if your clients need services related to what you do – but are beyond what you offer? For example, you offer writing services and you notice that your clients often want graphic design as well. You could become a jack of all trades. Or you could start an agency or hire employees.

    Another option is to collaborate with other freelancers or business owners who offer services that complement yours. Partner up with a graphic designer or website designer so your clients can find the services they need in “one place” instead of looking for them independently. When you refer a client to your collaboration partners, you get a commission based on a percentage or rate that you’ve both agreed upon.

    Pros

    If you’re very talented but building up your clientele as a freelancer, working with successful collaboration partners will help to get you clients. Their clients already trust them, so they extend that trust when they refer business to you.

    Whether you’re referring or receiving business, this partnership expands the services you can offer to your clients without learning those skills yourself. You also can handle learning how to manage a company or employees.

    Cons

    The relationship relies on a certain degree of trust. When you refer a client to a collaboration partner, the client’s trust in you is on the line. If that partner provides the quality of service your client expects, your reputation will also be protected.

    Another challenge is your partner’s availability. They may not be available when your client needs their service. When that happens, your client may work with another service provider so you won’t get a commission.

    Accounting is also a consideration. You’ll need to figure out how much commission (or referral fee) to give your partner for each contract and how to keep track of those amounts.

    Key Takeaways

    It’s a sign of success to face this decision: turn away clients or keep accepting new ones although you don’t have enough hours in the day to do the work. At this point, you can scale your business by hiring employees or subcontractors. Or, you can rely on your client’s trust in your reputation to recommend them to your collaborator partners. Any of these choices can increase your income and your ability to provide more to your clients.  

    Related posts:
    How to Negotiate and Secure a Retainer Fee with a Client
    Work-Life Balance: Enjoying Your Job

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  • Hustle Culture and the Pursuit of Goals

    Hustle Culture and the Pursuit of Goals

    Do you think putting in long hours of hard work is the key to success in today’s work environment? People talk about hustle culture as a necessary part of doing well at work. They brag about missing sleep and skipping meals to make more money and achieve their next promotion. What do you think?

    Is taking time off similar to being lazy? Do we want to look back at how we collect overtime hours like success badges to brag about?

    Some say hustle culture is necessary these days to reach the economic success we aim for. Food isn’t cheap and housing is barely affordable for some people. Quality of life is eating healthy, but unless we have the financial ability to buy the food we need, or afford the vacation that will give us the mental health break we need, hustle culture can’t be avoided.

    What do you think? Is hustle culture an important part of career success?