What Guest Lecturing Taught Me…

Last week I had the pleasure of delivering a Marketing Planning talk to the lovely ladies and gentlemen at the Women’s Business Centre at Newham College of Further Education. It was part of the Business Start Up course they run.

A fantastic group of people they were evidently very passionate about their businesses.

Speaking to the students really reinvigorated my love for small business again, not that I ever really lost it. Starting and running your business can be such a fantastic thing for a person, their sense of achievement and personal development. Having experienced this first hand I got totally caught up in their excitement.

Entrepreneurship and Self employment allows a person to…

• Direct their life the way they want it to go, not be lead and swayed by bosses and the state of the economy
• Have the opportunity to work within their passion and make money from it
• Learn how to create their own employment, employment for others and an income, helping communities and the economy as a whole
• Develop creativity and so many other entrepreneurial skills

The other thing I’ve learnt over the years is the market is still wide open, some industries you’d think are completely saturated and cannot take anymore suppliers. But you’ll see new entrants still coming in, setting themselves a part and making money from their ventures.

Along with the students this is some of what I learnt last Wednesday…

• You know more than you think you do 🙂
• You can always help / inspire someone get to where they want to go
• Always be prepared to ditch the presentation and go with the group
• Put yourself into what you are teaching as much as possible – as with products and services (people buy from people), people learn more from people’s experiences and stories.

What do you love about being in business for yourself?

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?