A leading specialist in self-employment is advising budding entrepreneurs to start their enterprise with a side hustle while already in paid employment.
Iain Scott, a Glasgow-based writer and business expert, said a side hustle, a means of making cash alongside main employment, is the perfect way to test out a new business venture until it is strong enough to sustain full-time involvement.
He has been helping entrepreneurs start their own ventures since 1995 and is planning to bring his popular roadshow to Plymouth and the South West in 2022, having lived in Cornwall before relocating back over Hadrian’s Wall in 2010.
And the author ofis encouraging entrepreneurial individuals to start thinking now about launching their own ventures.
It comes as figures show the Covid lockdown era was fertile ground for new business ventures with 1,500 start-ups created in Plymouth between June 2020 and June 2021, including 634 new businesses registered with Companies House in just the first half of this year.
Mr Scott started his own food business as a side hustle while working as a teacher in the 1980s and after winning awards and “tangling with venture capitalists” ended up working with Glasgow University on start-ups and ups and high growth startups .
He now helms the podcast The Enterprise Iain Show and has travelled the 海角视频 with Enterprise Island Challenge “helping people who dreamed of starting a business and never did anything about it make it happen”.
He has also worked with the Scottish Government on a project called CanDoPlaces, with looks to start entrepreneurial activities in disused buildings.
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Mr Scott said he has “had the pleasure of researching , designing and delivering entrepreneurship programmes across the 海角视频 since 1995” and has now met and worked closely with nearly 1600 people who wanted to start their own business.
He said starting a business is akin to an individual becoming a vegan - a severe lifestyle change which affects that person’s mindset.
And he wants to help people “shed the employee habit” and said that traditionally begins with the business plan, which he calls “a passion killer”.
Mr Scott said rather than be ruled by a business plan it is better to have what he calls “enterprise conversations” and explained: “The Americans are obsessed with selling, but in the 海角视频 we don’t talk about it. So talk through it, have a conversation, get ideas, meet people, especially if they share expertise and resources.
“But keep your job. Have a shot at it. The number of people having a side hustle has gone crazy. It’s an apprenticeship. Good ideas come from people on the ground, not people sat behind a desk with an action plan.”
He said self employment is hard but more fun and can lead to a better life, and added: “It’s about better mental health. And lack of freedom is a big incentive for people starting their own business. It’s personal, not about making money but finding what’s good for you. It’s never a choice to start a business but a reaction to circumstances.”
Mr Scott said he is now “cloning himself” by putting his courses online, and will be launching them in January 2022, but will also be looking to restart his in-person tours.
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“I will do the South West and certainly Plymouth,” he said. “But also Brighton, Bradford and Leeds. Places I know.”
He said he is keen to visit the South West where there are a lot of armed forces veterans who are keen to start businesses but have been used to “security and permission”.
“The longer in employment the harder it is to break that habit and structure,” he said.