Career Coaching Pro Bono

What did you do with your day?

I met someone today who was out of a job due to illness and needed a way to work from home for the foreseeable future.

Having dealt with illness that forced me into a similar situation – I decided to respond to their query with some suggestions:

Freelance writing jobs, Remote accounting jobs and the like with some reputable online options –

Only for the individual to explain they didn’t possess a college education and only some high school with their previous jobs being in housekeeping and janitorial services.

I knew that made things a bit more challenging, in that, the next best option for them would be a potential home-based business –

So what marketable skills did my client have? What was their financial situation like? How much could they afford to invest into a start-up?

We explored home-based business options like baking (no), sewing (no), hand crafted jewelry (no), floral/balloon arrangements (no), paper-crafts (possible but cash strapped + inexperienced), gardening (yes! Finally we had a viable possibility).

The client had a keen interest in gardening, if inexperienced and had sufficient land space for a small nursery and garden shop service.

I took some time then to study the farming stats for the area, groups and associations, cash and cover crops, germination and seasonal timing for various crops grown in their state.

With a few ideas about what could be grown in hand after a little research, I did a quick catalog of the equipment, materials and supplies that would be needed and the likely time frames for expenses. Then I worked a bit of basic costing of all the inputs (so the client would know what the capital outlay might be to start) – my initial capital outlay estimate started at $50 USD with a secondary outlay about 4 weeks later of $100 – $160 USD.

4-8 weeks thereafter if the client used their 2-3 months to begin taking up pre-orders, they would be able to earn about $700.

If they were able to put out $30 weekly after week 1 for additional supplies they would be able to sustain their income between $200-$700 weekly with room expand into downstream areas when they could afford it so they could sell those downstream products out of season while growing something different that would suit the new season but may have a longer maturing time than 2-3 months.

I was able to help the client see their prospecs and possibilities, suggest ways to market an initial business concept as well as locate resources with the potential to afford the client access to workshops, courses and learning materials to improve the skills they need for their business.

This is how I spent my evening and this is an example of how F&SK helps our clients with our Career Coaching services.

We can help you define your skills and your potentials and facilitate ways to guide you to creating your new reality or business.

Tomorrow I am working with another client – focusing on resume writing, employment services and a potential side-business until better job prospects are available –

I had a similar discussion to the one I had today with this client but they aren’t restricted to a home-base –

After a couple of discussions they are considering a handyman-type service and I’ve already designed some basic marketing materials – flyers, social media page, service directory listings and the bones of a business model that fits their personal preferences.

Have a good day, everyone and thanks for connecting with us!

P.S. Did I mention that my client today was in the U.S. while I’m in the Caribbean – But within the emerging global digital landscape – we were able to connect and build together.