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Find a list of all special days and holidays that will be important to your industry.

This is important for promotional and sales purposes. For example, you will offer deals for Black Friday or Cyber Monday while showing support for Breast Cancer month and even sponsoring an event for funky socks day if your store speciality is socks. Know the reason behind the days so you can make meaningful connections. Eg. World Downs Syndrome Day is the reason for Funky Socks day. It also looks cute on your social media page. We live in a socially conscious world so you must connect with your clients and the rest of the world.

Find networking events for the next 12 months that will be good for you to grow as an entrepreneur, as well as, for your business to grow.

As an entrepreneur, you need to connect with your community to grow your business. You need to educate yourself on changes in the business sector and in your specific industry, those may be different events. Attending at least one business webinar or online course is also essential. The business world is continuously changing. Many businesses fail because they did not change with the market. Remember Sears? They failed because they did not evolve into an online strategy. Instagram and Facebook, for example, are continually changing, you need to be educated in those areas.

Find markets, shows and events at which you can promote your products and services.

Community events are a great way to promote your product or service, depending on what it is. The old fashion word- of- mouth marketing is still as powerful as Instagram and LinkedIn, so buy a booth if you can afford it. In fact, you should budget for at least two booths per year. Cannot afford a booth? No problem. I recently sponsored an event with

products I already had. Everyone has something to give; it does not have to be a lot. It could be your time or a giveaway of your product or service.

Do a minimum of one coffee meet- up with industry experts per month.

This is important as I found out recently, your goals will be limited to your knowledge. There is so much information you do not know and will not find easily online. By having these intimate one and one meetings, you will be surprised to discover something new. For example, changes may be happening in your local area that will affect your business; by buying coffee for your local chamber of commerce member, you will gain insight or catch up on something you missed in the news. You may learn something about ethically sourced yarn from someone who just returned from overseas and how you can implement it in your planning or promotion.

Set practical monthly sales goals, also known as your one- year goal as well as tasks to achieve these goals.

Again, start small and update as you go. Your goal setting will be aided by your coffee meetups with industry experts and networking events. How many products or services do you want to sell in month one? What will you need to do to achieve this? Who do you need to connect with to get this done? I told someone I wanted to sell 500 magazines, limiting myself to online sales. Speaking with Magazines Canada ( industry experts), a month later, I realized I could do so much more because they have relationships with over 150 magazine stands. My goals have changed, so I now have to re- adjust resources to achieve the new goals.

** By the way, you are an industry expert in something so have coffee meetings with others to share as well.

Do a budget to see what you will need for each month.

Your budget is not set in stone, it gives you an idea as to what you need to prepare for.

Some things to consider:

Are you doing pop- up shops?

How many and what is the cost of each?

The cost for the booth, accessories and promotions.

Shipping costs, supplies per month, etc.

If you know you need to budget $ 500 per month, you will be able to set sales goals to surpass your budget.

nnnnUse these basic tips to determine the big picture of what you need to achieve. Look at them two to three months before to execute the plan effectively, by being mentally aware of what is on the horizon. Happy Building!

is the Founder and a Business Consultant at Epigram Consulting Services.

In today’s society, one income is often not enough to meet all our needs. Many people are being pushed to find a different source of income, and many like myself are tired of doing the mundane job just to get by. I have always dreamed of financial freedom and living a life doing what I love, but the road to get there does not always seem tangible.

Well, I am happy to say that I did precisely that. I found something I loved doing and made a career out of it that gave me an annual income of 70K. It took hard work and focus, but it was worth it. For those of you looking to achieve similar results, here is a step by step guide on how you can generate a sustainable business doing what you love.

Before we get started, you are probably wondering what the nature of my business is. My passion is photography. I love taking pictures! It was never something I thought I was good enough to do professionally or something I had formal training in. But when I sat back and thought of all the things I loved doing taking pictures and exploring my creative side topped the list. So, to start this journey, my first question for you is:

Starting a business will take a lot of time in the beginning. It will be like a young baby that needs a lot of attention from you to grow. If it is something you love doing, investing the energy into its success will make it a lot easier. So, take out a note pad and write down all the things that you love doing. It can be creative, like taking pictures or doing makeup. It can be shopping, cleaning, or organizing spaces. Or how about something you have always been good at like math, grammar, or excel sheets. You can take any area of strength or joy and make a business out of it.

Take that list and

with items from that list. Try to make this specific. For me, I like taking pictures, so I started looking into photography. I then researched different types of photography there was to see and considered, which would most match my personality

and lifestyle. I love romance, but weddings were too much pressure, and I did not want to give up all my weekends. I also loved working with women and babies, so I ended up doing maternity and newborn photography. If you are great at organizing, there are probably business owners who need your help, moms who need structure to help with their children or the function of their home. Think about all the ways you can use that skill or passion, who it could help and the problem it could solve. The more specific you can get, the better. Google can be a useful tool in this brainstorming process.

This stage is crucial. You may study it and realize it is not for you. I studied wedding photography at first and quickly realized it was not for me. I then studied maternity and newborn, and it reaffirmed that this is what I wanted to do. Your research may involve finding someone doing this and offering to help them for a portion of time for free. Look up people online that are doing well at it. Really immerse yourself in this area of business. Look at what they are doing that you like, why you like it, research the income potential, operating cost, how much time is involved and is this business primarily done on evenings or weekends. Don’t be too quick to get started that you rush through this process. You may have to give up some time working for free, to get the answers and training that you need. No one likes doing this, but it can save you a lot of time and money in the future. Social media, YouTube and google can also be great tools for this.

Even for those who are not creatives, this is crucial. This area of business development will be something you should always be doing. The stronger your skillset, the happier your clients and higher the number of your referrals. I used YouTube and online learning websites to help learn what I needed to about photography. I also used closed Facebook groups where industry professionals share ideas and help each other. This helped significantly in my development and provided a place to ask questions as I needed to. Look up every resource there is to

help you grow; study those online who are doing what you want to do and doing it well. Remember that you don’t want to reinvent the wheel... at least not at first. It is okay to use what is working and then improve on it.

After researching this area, take note of

Using my business as an example, I knew I needed a camera, a place to take my images and props to pose my younger clientele. There are so many other things that I would have loved to have, but those were the essential items I needed. Since I was starting up with a really low budget, I went to Kijiji and found an entry- level camera for $ 250. I had done enough research to know that with a basic camera if I had good enough lighting, I could still get great images. I shot outside when I could and helped moms with their wardrobe. I used a room in my home that had good exposure to light. Since I did not have a lot of props or money to invest in this area at first, I did a lot of nude shots with simple fabrics for both mom and baby. I became known for this style of photography, and something that was started because of my limitations became my strength and selling point. At the outset, my backdrops and lighting were all second hand, but each time I got a new client, I reinvested in my business. Use what you have to make it work.

Think about your

Even though you may be starting on a dime, it doesn’t mean you should look that way. Today we have access to so many tools to help with marketing and branding. You will need a website, business cards and good images to ensure the face of your business looks polished and professional. There are websites like Wix and Squarespace, to name a couple that has simplified the website design process. Vistaprint is another tool that can provide business card designs and prints at a low cost. Using a smartphone with good lighting to take images or trail offers from adobe stock can help get the images you need to start. If you are not creative and think you may need more help creating a polished look, try other resources like Fiverr or search your local listing like Kijiji or Facebook market place for creatives looking for gigs.

Be realistic with your Again, this is something you will need to research. Find out what the market price is for the service you are offering. With pricing, it is always about perceived value. This is why your branding is so important. Even

though you don’t want to start out being the most expensive, you also do not want to be the “cheap” one. To get your foot in the market, I recommend that you offer your services close to where you want to be, then offer introductory pricing, which will provide a percentage off. That way, you will create the opportunity to develop and strengthen your business before offering full pricing without devaluing your services in the meantime.

Get the word out about you. You need to When marketing, ask yourself these questions: Who are your ideal clients? Where are they located, what do they read, where do they go, and what are their interests? The more clarity you have about who you are trying to reach, the easier it is to reach them, and the less it will cost you to do so. I needed to reach out to expecting moms, so I went to mom groups, I gave out cards to every expecting mom I saw, I went to stores that specialized in maternity clothing and did pop- up events. Be where your clients are, use friends and family to get started and maximize the power of social media to bring awareness to your business. This can be an article in itself, but the most important things you need to know are: always use clean and professional images, be personable instead of ‘ salesy’ and be consistent.

Spend the time needed in each of these steps. I am a firm believer that you can truly accomplish anything you put your mind to. Just because you want something does not mean it is going to fall into your lap. The old saying ‘ action speaks louder than words’ very much applies to business. If you really want it, follow the steps, put in the time, be consistent and persistent. You will get there!

“AFTER RESEARCHING THIS AREA, TAKE NOTE OF WHAT YOU ABSOLUTELY

NEED TO GET STARTED...

There are so many other things that I would have loved to have, but those

were the essential items I needed.”

Sabrina Domize

Photo Credit: SABRINA DOMIZE

Photo Credit: SABRINA DOMIZE