Transitioning from Entrepreneur to Intrepreneur

In this past week I’ve made a huge transition in my day to day life as I’ve chosen to join a great startup company, taking a back seat from affiliate marketing, relaxing, and actually soak in life around me which has been quite interesting and a relief for once.

You see on July 9th, 2012 I joined the Spark Hire community as a Digital Marketer. Spark Hire is an online video interviewing service for employers. I quickly fell in love with this company’s concept and I wanted to be involved in any way possible, but for all of you that have followed me for the past two years you know how much I love my entrepreneur lifestyle and the freedom of working from wherever and speaking my mind on issues that I have a passion for.

But, it wasn’t as hard to give up that lifestyle since I fell into the correct business for me!

I’ve met a lot of people that always tell me that they wouldn’t mind working for a company but just really want to find that community where they can consistently grow within and not feel the pressure of the corporate America. Well, that was how I felt entirely. I wanted an opportunity to grow both my knowledge in digital marketing but also be a part of something that will be growing in a field that I’m passionate about.

I used to read the Hustlers Notebook by JK Allen as he talked about being an Intrepreneur, and the concepts and growth that he took over his journey which I felt was really amazing. Transitioning into this new role made me realize that I wasn’t sacrificing much at all. Yes, I have a commute now but other than that I focus on all of the same things that I have been focusing on for this entire time of my digital marketing career, the only difference is that I do this for a company now.

If you’ve been wanting to transition into something new and wanting to become an intrepreneur this is my advice to you:

Research Companies:

Do the initial work of finding a company that will best suite your strengths and can also help you better build your weaknesses as well. Don’t just go on LinkedIn and apply for jobs in your industry. Go on job boards and find positions that you actually want and research the companies and do your initial work. Prepare your cover letter, video resume, and traditional resume to the needs of the employer. Most people fall into the click and drag syndrome of applying to every job under the sun without any prior knowledge of the company or how to position yourself.

Understand Your Strengths:

Having a good understanding of your strengths is very important, because you want to have at least 60% of more of your strengths be what your day to day job responsibilities will be for that position. You want your new position to be fun but also a challenge at the same time. If you’re stressed within the first week of your new position or even month then you didn’t analyze the position enough to see if you’ve matched the necessary skills for that specific position. If you don’t understand your strengths my recommendation that you do is teach a person that doesn’t know anything about your field just three basic skills, and see if they can follow your directions. You know that you’ve mastered your area of expertise when someone that has no knowledge in that area can perform the basics of that industry with your instructions.

Write Out Your Year One Goals:

You need to write out where you want to be in that position within one year. Where would you want to be compensation wise, growth wise (both personal and professional), where would you like to assist that company with growth as well. You need to have goals so you can see how you will approach this position along with finding the correct position for you. When you have this written out you can then better find the positions that your easier to get hired for because your mission and vision will most like align with that of the companies.

I wrote out all of my goals of what I would like to accomplish in the first year with Spark Hire and I understood that on both a personal and professional level. Focusing on personal growth more and building my skill level up not just as a digital marketer but a leader.

Prepare for The Best:

You know that most people never prepare for the best when applying for positions in industries that they want to work in. Especially entrepreneurs that want to turn Intrepreneurs. You read tons of personal development books and purchase courses but when it comes to this area, you just fall to the ground with no effort or motivation to want to get back up again.

The reason why I know this is because yesterday I was chatting with a friend that is an entrepreneur currently but looking to join an agency in New York City as one of their web designers. Well, he does great work and he’s very uplifting when speaking with him but yesterday he was just not there. He continued to terrorize his work and stating that he wasn’t good enough and he didn’t understand this or that. I had to stop him and tell him that he does understand everything about web designer and that he’s a master at his craft. That he needs to prepare for the best and not the worst and watch and see what forms in front of him.

That goes for you too! You need to start preparing yourself for the best of what will form in front of you and not what will come behind you. You’re a master at your craft and you need to realize that before you can make a company realize that.

Transitioning into the mindset of an Intrepreneur has been quite enjoyable with Spark Hire the online video interviewing company. I love the people I work with and the environment is really comforting. I still have the same ability as I have before with being my own boss so I haven’t had to transition that much. One thing though that I’m getting used to though is working with a desktop screen instead of just my Macbook. I don’t know why but I just feel so comfortable working on my laptop more than that desktop for some odd reason.

Call of Actions:

•  Leave a comment letting me know if you ever made the change to Intreprenuer. How did you do it? Did you stay long? Thoughts?
•  What would be your biggest fear working for a company after years of working for yourself?
•  Do you think you can manage the office atmosphere after working in cafe shops for a year?