How is Self-Employment like a trip to Ikea?

I have recently been thinking about how the Ikea experience could be an analogy for self-employment.

In Ikea you have a one-way system. As you move through the system, there are pods to the left and to the right that are themed to draw your attention. Different themes will attract different people.

The one-way system twists and turns through a variety of departments but ends up at the tills, with the Swedish Food Market as a tempting addition beyond. However, once you get used to the twisting and turning, you notice that there are shortcut doors between departments. I have often thought “Why has no-one told me about these shortcuts before?”

Are thereby came the analogy!

In our self-employed journey, we have mapped out in our heads, or on paper, how we are going to locate customers and earn money to keep our business going. When we start out, we may seek advice from government agencies or organisations who are skilled in helping start-ups get moving, but what then?

Where does our path lead us?

When do we stop and ask where the shortcuts are?

The answer is, sadly, that often we don’t ask. We struggle on regardless, wasting patience, time and money!

We may start by using our industry knowledge to drive us ahead. That’s a great start, after all we are using our knowledge and experience to service our customers. Then we come to a curve in the road, maybe even a junction, what do we do now? How do we make the decision on going left to follow the straighter road, or right to take the more convoluted path? Maybe it is a pod along the road that has taken our interest and we have stopped for a while to concentrate on that theme before picking up the road again and continuing the journey. That pod may even have changed the nature of our journey and we could be following a totally new path.

These decisions are where our networks come in. Networks are trusted people we have met along the way, that have said something that speaks to the core values we hold. People we identify with. Our people, our tribe, our trusted partners. Talking to our networks can start us on the right path or may signpost us to a more specific set of help. Maybe a business coach, maybe a software programme, maybe a totally different business opportunity. Our ultimate goal is to get our customers from entering our shop, to our tills with goods and services in hand, and a few more besides – after all, who goes to Ikea and comes out without meatballs!!

So the point of the blog is that as you travel your chosen path, please reach out to those around you when you need support or advice. It may help you to continue more quickly on your way to success.