Here is the complete transcript of the podcast
Welcome back to Success with Srini. Happy Monday morning to you start off a new week. And officially a working day, for the month of October, which is, as I was saying, we are 90 days away from literally, the end of the year 2022. Today on the podcast, I am taking up a question that has come in from Raghu, who is a listener of this podcast, and also being I think an attendee of my seminars, too, is not sure maybe I’m confusing that name with somebody else. But definitely, from listening to my radio shows. The question is very interesting. And I think this is something that I think each one of us can relate to. The question is this Srini, I have been in this specific job for over 18 years. And I really do not like working anymore. Not that I don’t like the paycheck. But I’m done. And I don’t have any more energy. I have not been promoted for a long time. And this is my fourth job. And I’m looking forward to retiring. But somewhere in my heart, I want to start a business. Seven years ago, I first thought about doing it. And then I tried a few things that did not work out. I also asked you questions on your radio show. You suggested you get some good ideas. But somehow somewhere. It’s not happening. So I wanted to find out from you. What should I do, given where I am now? This is the gist of the question. I’m not reading it the just, and it’s a long question. My request to you, if you’re sending in questions, please try to be just to see if you can put it in three or four lines so that I can quickly read and get into it. Long stories really do not help, you could really condense it to the point. And that is why I say text me the question. Ideally, I want you to call him on my podcast line, the number is 888-818-0404. All in, leave me a message in your own voice. And I’m going to use your voice as a voice drop on this podcast. And I’m gonna respond to the question. It sounds as if I’m really talking to you, when you listen to your own question in your own voice, followed by my answer. I think it’s going to resonate well. So first of all, I want to thank Raghu, for asking this question.
This is, I think, as I said, each one of us at some point has gone through this where we disliked our situation, we disliked our hierarchies, we were looking, we probably got in thinking for money or for something attracted us. But the longer we stayed, the more we started to seek higher freedom, and better autonomy and those things were not there. And it’s very difficult to create those in a job situation. So, I have gotten this question multiple times from a variety of people in a variety of situations. So, here is my standard answer. The answer has changed over the years because I have been developing my own understanding. So here is what I suggest. Now, there are two things you can do only two things. Actually, I take that back three things. Three things. First and foremost are the things that you already have, you should start a business with the things that you already are doing. So all these years you have all this experience, you have put in years and years and years of hard work commitment, you have given it all you have come a long way. And at this point, if you’re thinking of starting something else, any new start will have its own timeline, fully drawn out. Starting is starting a business or starting anything is easy. But then working through all the nitty gritty. And really bringing in to making a successful is hard, it takes a lot of effort. And as we age and as we grow, you know, there are some faculties of our existence that really become good. And there are faculties in our system that become weak. And energy is a diminishing faculty. If at all you call it a faculty.
So you got to use things that are strong now and will be stronger over the next five or 10 years. Use that to build whatever you want to build. So you have the experience, whatever you’re doing. And I’d really do not know what you’re doing Raghu. But, and for everybody else who’s listening to this, you have years and years of experience doing what you’re doing. So why not take that and do something with it, I’ll give you a different spin on this, I wanted to look at your pay stub, and on your pay stub, the biweekly pay stub, assuming that you’re working in America, and, and all that. So I know who you are in America, but in the Bay Area. But anybody, right, every country, this podcast goes to all over the world. So depending upon whatever the normal pay structure is, and what the pay periods are in your country, look into your pay stub, for the recent pay stub, look into and have a look at that. And somewhere, it should mention your hourly rate. Let’s say your hourly rate is $80 an hour, or 100. To make the math simple $100 an hour, let’s say the company has to make a lot more money on top for them to pay you $100 an hour. So you take $100 an hour, there are some benefits and all add about 25%. So 125 is what the real expenses are, then some payroll taxes that they have to pay on their side. So let’s make it 150 or 145, then they have to make a profit on top of that to keep you in the position. So for the sake of the math and for understanding here, for every $100 they are paying you they’re making an additional 100 $250. If they don’t have a profit of $150, you will be laid off will be fired or your position will be closed down, all those things will happen. So your job, as you look into your pay stub, your job is what can you do to take a major chunk from the $150 an hour that you’re not getting. What it means is if you do the same job somewhere else, you should be paid $250 An hour and you go buy your own insurance, you will buy your own benefits and all that because you are buying you can control the cost. So even though you have not started a business as such, but then you will have some autonomy when you do it. And the specific process of this act of action is called consulting. So you stop becoming or being an employee, and you consult Bill, you make money. And you make a lot more money than what you’re being paid now. And you control your expenses. And now you have a higher income.
Now people every time I’ve given the suggestion, people have said, I’d like permanent jobs, I don’t like temporary jobs, I don’t like hourly rates at all, let me tell you something, every job is temporary. Some jobs give you the illusion of some level of stability, everything is unstable, everything has an expiry date, and everything has an end date. So nothing is stable. You are stable to a point where you are perceived to be stable and the mat is supporting, you’re perceived to be not good, you will be gone, you will be removed, and you are not profitably contributing will be removed. And if somebody else is not profitably contributing, then also you’re gone. It’s weird. So you’re just a line item in the budget doesn’t matter if you’re working on the expense side of the company or on the income side of the company doesn’t matter. So there are so many factors playing for you to play your game, which by the way, is not in your control. You’re playing your game. But the rewards you’re getting are controlled by somebody else. So I suggest that as a part of your first experience of starting and running a business, you go and you capture whatever is left on top of your hourly rate, which is the $150 and this discussion.
The second thing I would do is, I would look into some of the passions that you have within you. Maybe you’re into acting, maybe you’re into art, maybe you’re into poetry or writing, or music or whatever, some passions, you have some, maybe you’re into games, you play football or basketball games, can you take some of these passions and turn them into a business and just work on the passions to see, for example, if you’re really good at basketball, why not start coaching gets and run that as a business. If you’re really good in engineering, and models and all, why not start coaching and training kids with your knowledge, something, now you’re not totally free from it. But then that gives you the experience gives you first line of exposure to starting a business and building a business, which involves a lot of stuff, I, I would highly suggest that, that you start exploring your passions and turning them into business. And I’ve done multiple programs on this in the past. And as I said, there’s a third angle also, which is, go buy a business, you don’t need to start, you don’t have to put in a lot of effort. And the amount of heavy lifting involved is too much. So instead of doing that, going by business, people buy sub this, which is a franchisee. And there are so many franchises available.
Pick one, if you and the work are done for you, all you have to do is just run the place. Not really a true business. But then you will have, you will get the knowledge, the experience the know-how of running a business, which is important if you really want to do bigger things later on. And if that’s not where you want to go, go buy a business, somebody who’s retiring, somebody who is who wants to leave that personal situation is forcing them to do something different, you know, take over a business, buy a business. And these days, I’m a big, big proponent of suggesting people buy existing businesses that have proven revenue streams that you can take on. And with minimal upfront time, you can get in, you can make the owners coach you to train you and get you up to speed so that you can start ramping up very, very quickly and really get a hold on the business. And with your new level of energy and understanding, you can go now start scaling the business. So there it is, you have three things that you can do. Take whatever you already have, you know your experience and turn that into business, or tap into your passions and turn that into a business or go buy a business that’s already existing has revenues, and has some clients and all that stuff. Now, the reason those three are because they are proven to work, and they consistently work. And if you deviate from this, and you go to something else completely, for example, people asked me, should I start an Amazon business? Should I do a drop shipping business, these models have been tried and tested. And I’ve done these myself. And I’ll tell you don’t go into businesses because there is money. Because if you have spotted money in a business, that means others have already spotted money in the business. By the way, all these things work. I’m not saying that non would work. But you need to make sure that whatever you take, you know what you take upon yourself, wherever you invest, you have a reasonable understanding that’s going to work for you. And you want to be assured of some level of success in specific integrals cases here. Somebody who is about to retire, that means, you know, a significant amount of time is gone already. And I do not know this, but I’m speculating that children are grown up, they probably have their own lives and all that.
So the purpose of doing the job and staying in a job and taking on whatever is thrown at you has that’s over. That phase is over. Now the paycheck and the money’s not making any sense because the need has gone away or it’s going away out. All that is so good. Try these three things. These are the three from the top of my head right now. This is what I tell people in every consultation wherever people ask me this question, but that’s all there is to this.
That’s all there is to this. And of course, there are many business models and there aren’t that. I mean, if I sit with you, I can tell you 100 different things you can do. I can study you I can understand you your values, your beliefs, and I can flick off it a business that’s totally it’s going to mimic you and you can mimic Get any as if you aren’t in that groove and completely like one could be done. But these three things are where I would start today if I were in your shoes, and I’m exploring something, that’s exactly what I’ve done with my business also, which is my passion, my desire to focus on my passions. Okay, that’s all for now. You have a wonderful start for Monday and for the start of October, the last 90 days of this year of the year 2022. I wish you all the best and I will catch up with you. As early as tomorrow morning. Stay tuned.