Ways of working

It’s a sign of the times for sure, but there is a wealth of press articles at the moment profiling people who are following ‘less traditional’ work patterns.  For example, in the New Zealand Herald a couple of days ago, an item noted ‘kiwi workers going solo’.  This highlighted the significant number of NZ professionals who would consider taking on a contract role. 

Then, true to my roots, I was also browsing ‘The Scotman’ on-line recently.  There I came across an article claiming that ‘students are the new entrepreneurs’.  This noted that “record numbers of students at Scotland’s universities are setting up their own companies as a way of ‘creating their own futures’ according to new research from a business support body”.

Make no mistake though, self-employment is not for everyone.  Rather,  it suits individuals with a particular mix of skills and traits.  These include resilience and the ability to cope well with stress and pressure.  Also, self-motivation; time-management; creativity; problem-solving; financial skills; communication and promotion abilities and managerial competence.  

Setting up, maintaining and developing a business takes an investment in money and time.  It takes multi-tasking and sacrifice.  However, if all of this hasn’t put you off help is at hand – some of this can be explored through the following links:

 

• Career Services Rapuara information on Entrepreneur
• Massey’s Bachelor of Business Studies (Enterprise Development) programme
• The e-centre – The business incubator at Massey University’s Albany campus
• Business Information Service
• Business New Zealand
• NZ Chambers of Commerce
• Inventors’ Trust
• Poutama Trust