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Having The Right Mindset to Overcome Any Crisis or Endeavour! With guest speaker Janis Janovskis

Article Date | 18 January, 2019
From the left, Ibrahim Hussain, Ravina Kakaiya and Janis Janovskis

Tuesday 15th January 2019,

LSST’s Work Placement and Careers Unit had the pleasure of inviting guest speaker, Janis Janovskis who came in to give a motivational talk the LSST business students. They gained great insight into the work of business and gained knowledge into new territory that they didn’t know existed within the corporate world.

Janis was a great advocate for speaking to the students due to his background. He’s worked at the ground level from a street cleaner to a truck workshop supervisor. These experiences helped to develop his skillset which he carried throughout his career. To read more about his journey, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/janis-janovskis-consulting-14989529324

Janis gave many examples to the students on how to deal with obstacles in the Business world. Everyone knows that the Business sector can be a ruthless game. Sometimes it’s good to expose this truth, and he demonstrated examples from real life situations, and how he took it on the chin and moved forward with the lesson learned. Janis gave the students perspective and hope by telling them that you don’t always need money to start a business.

In this digital era, you can start off with an idea and only require enough money to pay for your bus or train fare to the place that you are presenting your proposal. He gave prime examples of simple business ideas that have soared.

An example of this was the Pet Rock idea. In April 1975 a man by the name Gary Dahl overheard his friends complain about their pets. After hearing this, he thought of an ingenious idea of using a rock as a pet that would not need any TLC (tender, love and cost!). He described the idea as “the perfect pet”.

Gary Dahl sold1.5 million “Pet Rocks” for $4 each and became a millionaire.

Another example is a website that delivers potatoes with a message on them.

It is what it sounds like, they take a potato and write a message using long lasting ink and some companies present it with additional gifts. They give you the option to write any message (unless deemed unpleasant) and post it anonymously to the address provided.

LSST WORK PLACEMENT AND CAREERS’ HOT BUSINESS TIPS

Some other ideas (with a quick google search)of what you can start at low or no cost

Become a blogger. You can have your regular job to continue bringing in your income, and write blogs on the side in your free time. It could be reviews about products you have purchased, new products about to hit the market, advice for people, restaurant reviews, and many, many more ideas.

Tour Guide. If you’re the type to go out with friends and you know your city well, you could advertise as a freelance tour guide. You could even go for a walk or cycle around learning new territory. There are many websites on historical places within cities in which you could email to your phone, bookmark or print out.

Pet Sitter. For next to no cost, you could start pet sitting, people love having exotic pets, however even some of the regular pets that people have need sitting when the family are on holiday. This is a great method to receive some regular income for a 1-3 weeks.

Dog (Pet) Walker. There are people who love having a pet but don’t have the leisure to walk them, so this is your opportunity to go out and take multiple pets on a walk. There are many benefits, if you love animals, you get the joys of walking them, great exercise and a great way to get to know the neighbours. (Take caution, it will take some time to build a record as to which dogs get along together. Some dogs may not get along with others, and some may have a certain parks or time requirement for walks i.e Huskies or German Shepherds may require longer walks as opposed to smaller dogs.)

So back to the point that Janis was trying to make, the idea that you need a lot of money to start a business or for an idea is a misconception, you just need to think smart and not think big which is the issue most people don’t realise. When something does not go your way, don’t give up and think that the business is failing, you need to step back and see why. Are you maybe not advertising, maybe you’re advertising in the wrong place, maybe you need a business moto Again, business is a mind set to overcome a crisis, which was the basis to Janis’s talk

If anyone would like to learn more, please come and visit the Work Placement/Careers Unit at LSST Alperton.

By Ibrahim Hussain

Work Placement, Careers and Employability

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