May 2010 was a month of sheer delight and relief having finished my final exams, yet it also brought about the dreaded fear of ‘whats next?’. It was then that my job hunt began, but I’m not sure which was more disheartening; the rejection letters or not hearing any feedback at all. I went through a phase of being down in the dumps, not knowing what I could do but soon got sick of my own miserable company and decided if there was no job out there for me I was going to create a job for myself!
Firstly, I decided it was high time to face one of my biggest fears-public speaking, so I enrolled in a “Train the Trainer” course, a course which is designed to get you comfortable and confident with speaking and giving presentations in front of people, and to my surprise I loved it and took to it like a duck to water! So this was my new direction, I felt relieved and excited about my new adventure.
My next concern was how do I set up such a business and what sort of courses could I present, so I thought long and hard about different areas that I was interested in and contacted some training companies. One of these companies suggested that I design a “Presenting a CV and Interview Skills” course. I have also designed a study skills course for secondary schools as from my own memories of school knowing how to go about studying was a real concern of mine.
So, how do I go about setting up my own business – I didn’t have a clue but I did know that I wasn’t going to let my plans go down the drain due to fear of not knowing what to do, after all ‘A life lived in fear is a life half lived’. I knew there was help out there. It was then that I heard about the Fountain Resource Group. After my first meeting there all my worries and concerns were put to rest and I was made feel so confident about my new endeavours and realised that setting up as being self employed was not that difficult after all.
My advice to you reading this is to think about how you could create your own job, what are your strengths? What are your interests? Is there a particular area you were always interested in but due to other commitments you never studied this area further? Now is the time to do something about it. If you are unsure as to where to start, structure your week and devote a certain amount of time to researching; go to the library, look online, contact the Dublin City Enterprise Board, enrol in a FÁS course, get in touch with friends, family or old work colleagues and get talking and thinking about your idea. It is up to you to make the first steps and once the ball gets rolling, your confidence and drive will grow. 2011 is a year for fresh starts and new ideas, so, what are you waiting for!?
A very happy and successful 2011 to you.
IMAGE: New Idea, a generic image of a light bulb- image credit: Joey Gannon/Flickr
The Views of this Your Say! article do not necessarily represent the views of the Fountain Resource Group. If you agree with this contributor, or perhaps you disagree and would like to write a response, feel free to email us at info@frg.ie to have your say!
This article was originally published in:
Fountain News Digital – March 2011 (Issue 3)
We are re-publishing all articles from our past newsletter, Fountain News Digital, and you can view all completed newsletters here. There were nine issues published in total between 2010 and 2012.
