Information for secondary students and school leavers
Be your own boss
- To be self-employed you need problem solving skills
Do you like the idea of being your own boss? Here are some questions to help you decide if self-employment is for you.
What personal characteristics do I need?
To run your own business, you need to be able to:
- motivate yourself and schedule and complete work on your own
- think creatively and solve problems when the unexpected happens
- take the inevitable knock-backs in business, and then go back out there and keep trying
- cope with the stresses that often go with responsibilities and deadlines.
What skills will I need?
To run your own business, you may need:
- management and communication skills
- financial management skills
- previous experience in the industry you’ll be working in.
- Buying tools are part of the start-up costs of a business
What else do I need to think about?
- What is your financial situation – do you have enough money behind you to start a business? What start-up costs might be involved?
- Are you prepared to work long hours outside of normal business hours?
- How will running your own business impact on your personal life? How will it affect your family and whanau, your sporting commitments or any other interests and hobbies?
- Can you co-ordinate a range of business functions such as sales and marketing, production, accounting and clerical work?
Find out more
Other websites
- Biz Government Business Site (information and tools for small business owners)
- HomeBizBuzz (information and advice for business owners and people working from home)
- Pacific Business Trust (helps Pacific people to run their own businesses)
- Poutama Trust (promotes an enterprise and entrepreneur culture among Maori)
- Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (showing teens how to run their own business)
