MODULE II

Defining entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is a key driver of economy. It is associated with business, innovation, but also the ability to task risk.

Source of pictures: Pixabay

But what exactly is entrepreneurship?

The word entrepreneurship comes from the French word entreprendre which means: to undertake, to pursue opportunities, or to fulfill needs and wants through innovation and starting businesses.

The word first appeared in the French dictionary in 1723.

Over the years entrepreneurship has been defined in a few different ways. Yet, all the definitions that can be found link it with innovation and the ability to create new things (including ideas or products).

Already in literature in the year 1934 entrepreneurship was described as the ability to introduce new combinations – new products, production methods, markets, sources of supply, or industrial combinations.^[1]

Then in 1985 it was defined as a style of management and leadership centred on pursuing opportunities, regardless of resources currently controlled, but balanced, with the purpose of creating value, e.g. new Business. ^[2]

In 1988 OECD defined entrepreneurship as the ability to use the existing resources and exploit new opportunities.

Nowadays, entrepreneurship is most commonly referred to as a market-based approach, which encourages people to seek out positive rewards, mainly in the form of profit. This implies that an entrepreneur is someone capable of identifying suppliers and customers and acting as an intermediary where profit arises out of the intermediary function.^[3]

To summarize, the most comprehensive definition of entrepreneurship is that of the European Commission^[4]:

Source: Pixabay

[1] Schumpeter, J. (1934), The Theory of Economic Development. Havard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

[2] Drucker, P. (1985), Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford OX2, UK.

[3] Deakins & Freel, 2006. Entrepreneurship and small firms. (4th ed.) London: McGraw-Hill.

[4] https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/promoting-entrepreneurship_en

What benefits does entrepreneurship bring?

The European Commission (2003) lists a set of benefits that can be associated with entrepreneurship:

• include contributing to economic growth by job creation and growth;
• fostering social and economic cohesion particularly in less developed regions being crucial to competitiveness and productivity improvements;
• unlocking personal potential;
• satisfying a range of social interests, by making wealth, jobs and diversity of choice for citizens available.

With expanding access to shaping own professional paths, anyone participating in the process is the author of innovation happening within such an activity. Making space for entrepreneurial thinking is a significant area for spreading innovation.

Types of entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurships can be classified based on a variety of factors, including business type, ownership rights, size of enterprise and many more, even on the basis of individual competences or involvement of different technologies in the development of the business. However, what is common for any entrepreneurship is that the key is to stay focused, so you stay competitive. Additionally, deciding on becoming an entrepreneur, you are making noticeable changes in your life, as any business activity will be an integral part of your life.

Source: Pixabay

Common types or entrepreneurships

• Small Scale Entrepreneurship

This usually means a single business owner, anyone who is running the business with the aim to make a profit they will initially benefit from. Such business is often funded by small business loans. The owner employees few staff.

• SME (small medium entrepreneurship)

These entrepreneurs will have a clearer vision of the future of their business, where they want to take it. Usually the owner (or owners) will invest in experienced staff, new technology or consult their activities with professionals, in order to be able to develop their business activity in a dynamic way.

• Start-up Entrepreneurship

Start-ups are very popular and are associated with innovation in its full meaning. They are also governed by the ability to task risk and stay patient in gaining profit from any performed within activities. With successful outrun of an idea, you can outsize returns and also attract the press, which may also result in achieving higher than forecast in your business plan.

Start-uppers are mostly widely characterized as inventors – changing their interests into business ideas, and challengers – looking for new ideas once the initial ones have been implemented or found their target group.

According to the European Commission, evidence shows that the less burdensome the administrative procedures for setting up a company are, the higher the rate of business start-ups is.

• Large Company Entrepreneurship

Large companies mostly start growing from the success of their core products, which are the engine for the development of new ones, step by step bringing in innovation and convincing consumers on the beneficial factors they carry. This the most demanding type of entrepreneurship, not only due to the competition, but since investments are larger and risk is greater, and with the changes in consumer taste or preferences, your company can lose a lot (be at stack), if you oversleep the market trends.

• Social Entrepreneurship

A social entrepreneur is anyone who is focused on developing solutions and/or products that the society will benefit from. The core goal is to fill the gap with what the people around you need and/or want, not to participate in market share. A social entrepreneurship may be a nonprofit activity.

Who is an entrepreneur?

Source: Pixabay

In 1897 the Oxford English dictionary adopted the French word entreprendre as entrepreneur which meant:

Director or manager of a public musical institution; one who gets up entertainments, especially musical performance.

Today an entrepreneur is someone who has an idea and is ready to transform it into a business, additionally ready to take the necessary risks for a vision to become a reality.

Source: Pixabay

Webster^[1] proposes five types of entrepreneurs:

• the Cantillon Entrepreneur, who acts as an innovator securing his/her market position against the competitors (Cantillon from the French economic Richard Cantillon).
• the Industry-Maker, pioneer who puts considerable efforts in the company formation and be a leader.
• the Administrative Entrepreneur, an individual who establishes a company and takes the managerial position of a single company.
• the Small Business Owner/Operator, organizes business activities around the retail and wholesale branch in a specific area.
• the Independent Entrepreneur, forms a business alone and is not focused on its long-term management, is driven by strong motives and tends to avoid risks.

A combination of all the above could fit in the jack-of-all-trades view of entrepreneurship^[2]. In this respect entrepreneurs are individuals with a variety of balanced skills, as opposed to specialists who focus on a single skill. The professions which are closer to the business area will demonstrate a higher number of entrepreneurs. Economics, for example, is an area closer to business than theater, which implies that more economists should become entrepreneurs than, for example, actors.

A recent trend is to become an eco-innovative entrepreneur. This is someone who is driven not only by the possibility of making a profit, but is also driven by environmental and social concerns.

What is more, digitalization has created another type, being the e-entrepreneur^[3], thus nowadays with very similar skills as an entrepreneur. These skills include: being a visionary; the ability to develop short- and long-term strategic plans; providing leadership; developing flexible structures; and remaining responsive to changing environmental and market demands.

[1] Webster, 1977, Entrepreneurs and Ventures: An Attempt at Classification and Clarification, The Academy of Management Review, vol. 1, no. 1.

[2] Edward P. Lazear, 2005, Journal of Labor Economics, vol. 23, no. 4, Hoover Institution and Stanford University.

[3] Zutshi, Ambika, How E-Entrepreneurs Operate in the Context of Open Source Software , Deakin University, Australia, 2006.

What skills does a successful entrepreneur demonstrate?

Source: Pixabay

The first step to starting a business is to have the right entrepreneurial skills, knowledge, and attitude.

The European Commission (2004) defines the skills as those which all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment.

The divide the skills into:

• basic skills (e.g. mother tongue; foreign language; mathematics, science and technology; digital competence; learning to learn; social and civic competencies; sense of initiative);
• people-related skills (e.g. communication, interpersonal relationship, team working, cultural awareness/ expression);
• conceptual skills (e.g. organization, problem solving, planning, learning-to learn skills, innovation and creativity skills, systematic thinking).

Of high importance on the road to become a successful entrepreneur are also social skills, these including:

• social perception,
• impression management,
• persuasion and influences,
• social adaptability.

Why are these important?

Social perception becomes useful in negotiations and translates into the correct perception of prospective partners and suitable evaluation of their personality features.

Impression management helps during meetings where entrepreneurs present themselves evoking positive emotions in others in order to obtain finance.

Persuasion and influences is the ability to affect other people’s emotions.

Social adaptability becomes helpful in establishing business contacts and cooperating with people from different backgrounds as well as proves that entrepreneurs can feel comfortable and adjust to different social situations.

How to develop entrepreneurial skills?

In order to be an entrepreneur you should have certain skills and knowledge, to then be able to on the basis of the learning by doing experience transmit from learner to practitioner. Thus, entrepreneurship is a skill that can be learnt. Moreover, the main objective of the European Commission is to promote entrepreneurship education and stress its importance at all levels from primary school to university and beyond.

A very comprehensive tool, designed to improve the entrepreneurial capacity of European citizens is EntreComp (full name: The Entrepreneurship Competence Framework; 2016). This tool assists in understanding and then developing in oneself the components of entrepreneurship, nurturing personal development.

The EntreComp components are grouped in 3 areas, compromising of 15 competences.

The 3 areas are:

• Ideas and Opportunities
• Resources
• Into action

Source: European Commission

The 15 competences within these areas are:

• Spotting opportunities
• Creativity
• Vision
• Valuing ideas
• Ethical and sustainable thinking
• Self-awareness and self-efficacy
• Motivation and perseverance
• Mobilizing resources
• Financial and economic literacy
• Mobilizing others
• Taking the initiative
• Planning and management
• Coping with uncertainty, ambiguity and risk
• Working with others
• Learning through experience

Source: European Commission

What does this mean?

For example, in order to create Ideas and opportunities, you must demonstrate the ability to spot opportunities, i.e. identify needs and challenges that need to be met.

For example, in order to gather resources, you must demonstrate motivation & perseverance, i.e. be resilient under pressure, adversity, and temporary failure.

For example, in order to put initiatives into action, you must demonstrate the ability to learning through experience, i.e. learn with others, including peers and mentors.

Please note that no skill within the framework is more important than another, all are of equal importance. The EntreComp framework does not imply a sequence of steps or hierarchy, the approach is individual, and your approach shall be tailored based on your skill level and to best benefit your self-development. Depending on your engagement in own competence development, you will demonstrate different levels of proficiency: foundation, intermediate, advanced or expert.

Moreover, the EntreComp approaches entrepreneurship as a transversal competence, meaning it applies to all disciplines, individuals and sector, embracing social, green and digital initiatives.

How technology affects entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship, like other issues, has benefited from advantages of this technology. Internet is one of the most important means for entrepreneurs in developed countries and they increase their capabilities via this network and benefit from its advantages. Internet is a virtual network considerably independent from place.

The advancement in technology affects entrepreneurship development, redesigning learning spaces. Adequate competences in ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) governs the participation in entrepreneurial activities. With new opportunities and tools available it is easier to turn a hobby into a professional activity, provided that you possess certain knowledge & skills. This means you must understand and know how to choose the tools that you will benefit from.

The unique facilities existing in Internet have resulted in formation of a new kind of preoccupation known as e-entrepreneurship. […] E-entrepreneurship is known as one of the most important productive substructures in the third millennium, and has provided an opportunity for utilization of creative manpower, with low cost and maximum effectiveness in business. […]Information and communication technology has influenced all social activities namely entrepreneurship, and has caused fundamental evolutions in most of them^[1].

Research (European Commission. 2009) shows that only 16% of SMEs sell online. This is most frequently resulting from the lack of digital skills or the knowledge about their existence.

Some other than in the area of ICT frequent constraints preventing from becoming an entrepreneur may include:

• Fear of taking risk;
• Irregular income;
• Lack of knowledge about the market;
• Access to financial support;
• Complex bureaucracy;
• Difficulty in obtaining information on how to start a business.
• Lack of social, management or there skills,
• Access to information and advice,
• Ability to analysis market expectations and competition.

Examples of useful solutions for digital entrepreneurs:

• Promoting business on social media platforms
• Making use of analytics
• Launching email marketing
• Incorporating Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Introducing content marketing
• Searching for free online digital tools

Source: Pixabay

[1] Khani Jazni J, “E-commerce and Localization of Operating Systems in Virtual Environment”, 4th National Congress on E-commerce, 2007.

What is a Lifestyle Entrepreneur?

A lifestyle Entrepreneur is a person who builds his job around his life (style) and earns money through doing what he loves. Earning money is still important in this approach but not the main motivation. Lifestyle entrepreneurs value a desired lifestyle over money. A lifestyle goes first before thinking of the ways to establish the business to support chosen lifestyle. It’s not that person works in his business and then come home and live. A lifestyle entrepreneurship business supports own life and allows to create freedom while making an impact in other people’s lives.

People become lifestyle entrepreneurs for different reasons: some people want freedom to travel, some to spend more time with their families, other people to pursue other projects or aims they have, or live wherever they desire. A lifestyle business usually allows flexibility in personal time and location.

Source: Pixabay

Lifestyle businesses may vary in scope and size. There are some businesses that only lend themselves to a few customers, but they serve those exclusively well. Some wish to have a big customer base and some are satisfied just serving targeted customers. Regardless of size and scope, most lifestyle entrepreneurs love what they do, and sometimes will it do for free. It all depends on the personality and desires of the lifestyle entrepreneur.

If some sincerely love his/her lifestyle as a job and believe in its success, there is always a good chance that business will succeed. If some are professional in their own lifestyle, the chances are higher that business will be successful. At first, lifestyle entrepreneurs can earn less (which is “normal” for each new business), but if they invest in themselves, learn and develop, they succeed.

What competences an Entrepreneur needs^*?

Source: Pixabay

The main knowledge, skills and attitudes related to Entrepreneurship competence are:

Knowledge	Availability of opportunities for personal, professional and/or business activities, including ‘bigger picture’ issues that provide the context in which people live and work, understanding of the economy basics, and the opportunities and challenges including an employer or organization. The ethical position of enterprises, for example fair trade or social enterprise ideas.
Skills	Management skills as the ability to plan, organize, manage, lead and delegate, analyze, communicate, debrief, evaluate and record. The ability of representation and negotiation. The ability to work both as an individual and collaboratively in teams. The ability to judge and identify one’s strengths and weaknesses, and to assess and take risks as and when warranted, is essential.
An entrepreneurial attitude	Initiative. Pro-activity. Independence and innovation in personal, social and work life. Motivation and determination to meet objectives.

*Source http://www.ace-erasmusplus.eu/for-learner.php?lang=en

What are the main differences between an entrepreneur and a lifestyle entrepreneur?

The main differences between the mindset of an entrepreneur and a lifestyle entrepreneur:

Characteristics	An entrepreneur	A lifestyle entrepreneur
Investors	Entrepreneurs seek investors who care about a return on their investment.	Lifestyle entrepreneurs do not seek investors. The business could start with almost no initial cost.
An exit strategy	An exit strategy is a way to get out of your business.	No exit strategy is needed because the want to create something simple that they are passionate about to support the life they want to live.
Profit	Entrepreneurs just want profit. They typically want to grow profits as fast as possible.	Lifestyle entrepreneurs desire adventure. Motivated by quality of life rather than growth of profit.
Goals	Entrepreneurs focus on business goals.	Lifestyle entrepreneurs focus on life goals.
Organizational structures	Entrepreneurs focus on managing organizational structures.	Lifestyle entrepreneurs may stay involved at the transactional level. They can choose to stay involved with customers, connecting and getting to know them personally.

What kind of Lifestyle Entrepreneur can you be?

Source: Pixabay

There are a lot of occupational areas with variety of types of work where lifestyle business could find successful development. Examples Lifestyle business interests by occupational area presented in table below.

Occupational area	Type of work
Arts	Painting, Photography, Music, Dancing, Organizing events, Ceramics
Beauty	Mobile hairdresser, Makeup, Beauty therapist (holistic), Nails design
Food	Sweets, Catering from home, Cooking, Cake making, Jams/preserves, Bakery, Pastry bakery
Handcrafts	Sewing, dress making, making clothes, designing clothes, Clothes alteration, Making bags, Jewellery, Embroidery, Embellishment, Gifts making, Crafts
Interior	Tapestry, Pottery, Interior designing, Making sitting-bags
Care services	Childcare, Baby-sitting, Mini-kindergarten, Mobile nanny/nurse, Care of elderly people
Pets	Dog walking, Pet minding, Home-based services for pets, Pets grooming
Agriculture	Sowing, Gardening, Small plants nursery, Germinating flowers
Selling	In e-shop, In the market, Clothing business (vintage clothes retail business)
Other	You tube, Vox pop, Writing/editing, Interpretation /Translation, Travel guide, Art therapy, Holistic medicine centre, Rentals at the seaside

Lifestyle entrepreneurship means different things for different people and could be in variety of occupational areas, but regardless of what lifestyle entrepreneurship means to any specific individual, the business focus is on delivering value. All of them can be a useful alternative to self-employment for disadvantaged people. There are many role model businesses that could identify their journey and experiences of lifestyle entrepreneurship across many different occupational areas.

The success stories of lifestyle entrepreneurs

Source: Pixabay

As you could see in the table above, a lifestyle business could be started in may occupational areas. During the project videos with the success stories of lifestyle entrepreneurs were developed and could be found here. These stories are great tools which should be used for motivation of young learners with fewer opportunities, including NEETs, to become lifestyle entrepreneurs.

In each success story the different type of Life-Style Entrepreneurship is presented:

• Nerijus– the Blacksmith (a story about a young man who is making art out of the metal).
• Toma and her bakery “Cherry on Top” (how a young women Toma established her confectionary bakery).
• Da Viny music (a self-taught musician who is using his music as a form of expression and a way to share his convictions and to inspire others).
• Andreas: A true warrior that created a team of “Warriors” (a story about a disabled young man who formed an amateur basketball team EUC Alumni Warriors BC and is both the manager and Head Coach of the team).
• Discovering my passion for sewing
• Painting is my biggest life passion (a story about a young Polish language teacher who finally realized her lifetime passion – painting).
• Reason to be happy every day (a disabled young woman making candles at home).
• Henna drawings adorn the body and delight the soul (a young woman drawing Henna tattoos on people bodies).
• Smile for the Camera (a young photographer making wonderful pictures).
• Headknot – Beauty and Comfort with Maya (art of making head knots for everyone).
• Social project developer
• Bioras, air freshener

Is life-style Entrepreneurship for everyone?

Not everyone can be a Lifestyle Entrepreneur; it requires specific personal traits, along with the desire to make a business out of one’s passion whether this is for financial or social gain or to prevent isolation. The future entrepreneur should consider his personal traits of character to evaluate whether this is the right choice. In order to do this, we suggest to start listening to yourself, your feelings and asking yourself essential questions about your (professional) skills, personal needs and goals in life.

Why it is worth to become life-style entrepreneur?

If you do not feel joy staying in an office from 9am to 5pm doing something you don’t like and even if you started hating Mondays or became depressed because you never do what you want, it worth to think that maybe self-employment is the right way for your future. It’s the chance to do what you are passion about and enjoy. It is freedom in many ways. Some people think that only rich people and the lucky ones can afford, or it probably won’t work, too risky; it’s safer to just keep your current job, the idea of doing what you love sounds crazy and impossible, it’s not the right time to start. For some people that is true.

However, self-employment is one of the best things we can do in our life so that we can live it the way we want; we can achieve something, have money and be happy and independent. Your business could offer value which helps you, your customers, society and economics. It may take some hard work, probably money to begin with, a lot of time, dedication, unexpected problems. But what doesn’t?

Source: Pixabay

To change life, it is indeed risky, scary, stressful and at times it seems almost impossible. But it’s also adventure, benefits, creativity, meaning and is the only way to have freedom, independence and happiness in your professional life. Here are the benefits of what you could get if you decide to do something with your life and start lifestyle entrepreneurship:

• freedom;
• no boss;
• no one to answer to but yourself (and who can you respect more, anyways);
• no fixed working time;
• ultimate independence;
• happiness;
• you create your own future;
• you build your own community;
• taking vacations whenever you want;
• working on whatever you’re interested in;
• you decide what is wrong or right;
• you inspire others;
• satisfaction and contentment;
• contribution to the world;
• helping people;
• the chance of making a massive income;
• flexibility;
• the possibility to take up new projects and develop your business in new directions;
• you can work more when you feel inspired and then take some time off when you need it;
• confidence;
• you affect people’s lives.

The research shows the importance of support, including skills and mentoring interventions for entrepreneurs, lifestyle self-employed. It means discussions on pro and cons could be very fruitful for self-motivation, however support is needed for anyway.

Source: Pixabay

Business principles and marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship

Lifestyle entrepreneur – an individual that creates a business with the purpose of altering their personal lifestyle and not for the sole purpose of making profits. A lifestyle entrepreneur focuses more on the life rewards provided to people that enjoy and have a passion for what they are doing. There is a possibility that the business will do particularity well since the individual has a passion for what he/she is doing.

Source: Pixabay

The definition of LSE reflects the similarities to Entrepreneurship of discovering new opportunities and mobilizing resources to generate profit, echoing the EntreComp framework of: Ideas and Opportunities; Resources and Into action.

The challenge is not to let success come without personal satisfaction, or at the expense of the ones you love. To do that, you need to follow a set of personal principles that drive your business principles, not the other way around. Here are some keys:

1. Define your personal goals and purpose early.

Your personal goals should drive your business goals, not the other way around. You will never be satisfied or happy if you are not true to your core beliefs, personal interests, and a higher purpose. Write down your goals, and then take ownership to make them happen and feel the satisfaction.

2. Focus on strengths rather than fixing weaknesses.

If you don’t see business as one of your strengths, you likely won’t be happy leading LSE. Many technologists refuse stubbornly to let anyone else take their invention from a product to a business, assuming they can easily fix their business weakness. Both they and the business end up suffering.

3. Create some short-term milestones on the path to your dream.

Dreams alone won’t make you happy or successful, so start early in defining and executing against a set of milestones to celebrate progress along the way. Satisfaction is not a one-time event at the end of your career; it’s a series of good feelings driven by results along the way.

4. Be honest with yourself about practicing what you preach.

Many business executives can give a great talk to their team about sustaining their health and maintaining a balanced family life, but they let the business override their own needs. Similarly, don’t compromise your own ethics and integrity for the sake of your business.

5. Don’t stop believing, learning, and growing as a person.

The world of entrepreneurs is ever-changing, so if you aren’t learning and changing, you are falling behind. In business, setbacks must be seen as normal and expected challenges, not as indications of failure. Successfully recovering from problems should be a key source of satisfaction.

6. Take satisfaction from team success, at work and at home.

Being an entrepreneur is not a one-person show, so accept that fact, and build a team that can complement you and support your weaknesses. If your business and private teams are motivated and satisfied, their happiness will radiate to you. A motivated team is a successful one.

However, the definition of LSE also draws our attention to the differences, in particular the motivations of the LSE, seeking out opportunities to turn a hobby and a passion into an income generating activity. Burns (2011) suggests differences between the entrepreneur and the LSE include:

• Personality of owner-manager
• Approach to risk & uncertainty
• Importance of cash
• Over dependence on single market
• Over dependence on small number of customers
• Effect of scale on economic decision-making

Here are the main differences between the mind-set of an entrepreneur and a lifestyle entrepreneur:

Source: Pixabay

• Entrepreneurs seek investors. Lifestyle entrepreneurs don’t. – Investors care about one thing, that’s a return on their investment. They don’t care about you wanting to explore the countryside in Bali, they want your business to grow, so their investment will grow also. Lifestyle entrepreneurs don’t want to answer to investors about how the business is growing. This often means bootstrapping a business or starting a business that has almost no initial cost. Many entrepreneurial books and blogs are focused almost entirely around wooing potential investors, seed rounds and forming business plans. That’s cool stuff, but not useful if you just want a lifestyle business.
• Entrepreneurs have an exit strategy. Lifestyle entrepreneurs don’t want to exit their business. – An exit strategy is a way to get out of your business, so you can work 100 hours a week, make a nice big valuable company, and then sell it before you go completely insane. Lifestyle entrepreneurs don’t care about an exit strategy because they are creating something simple that they are passionate about to support the life they want to live.
• Entrepreneurs are limited by location, lifestyle entrepreneur’s value freedom and will make sure they can run their business from anywhere in the world. – If you started a bakery, and you took on the role of head baker, you would have to be present every day, making sure that bread gets baked properly. If you took on a bakery as a client for your marketing business, then automated what you could and let your virtual assistants take care of the rest, then you could travel absolutely anywhere and your profit would still come in.
• Entrepreneurs just want profit. Lifestyle entrepreneurs crave adventure – Entrepreneurs typically want to grow profits as fast as possible. Both for their business and their investors. That can mean sacrificing a large amount of time, and location freedom to chase financial freedom. Lifestyle entrepreneurs want to make enough money to travel the world, play in rock bands or just plain kick back on a beach.
• Entrepreneurs focus on business goals. Lifestyle entrepreneurs focus on life goals. – What you would do if you had one year left to live. It’ll help you realize what goals matter, and what goals are just distractions from what you truly care about.
• Entrepreneurs form a huge corporation. Lifestyle entrepreneurs form a sole proprietorship. – The difference is that most of the profit for lifestyle entrepreneurs is generated as the owner’s income. Keeping costs low, and personal profit high will make for a very sustainable lifestyle without massive business profits. That means only hiring perhaps one virtual assistant, instead of building a huge team that requires a lot of management and organization.
• Entrepreneurs are willing to work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week. Lifestyle entrepreneurs want to work 4 hours a week. – Entrepreneurs are willing to sink all their time into their business, staying late, waking up early, and doing all the tasks no-one else wants to do. Lifestyle entrepreneur’s aim to simplify and automate to have more freedom.

Starting lifestyle business

Source: Pixabay

Step 1: Define your goals.

The first step is knowing what you want. You are pretty sure that you want to start a business, but what are the fine points about it? What do you want to accomplish in your business? The goals we are referring to are personal goals: what you personally want to happen by starting your business. When defining your goals, make sure to consider the following:

• The amount or extent of freedom that you want with respect to your personal life. This relates to financial freedom, location freedom, and time freedom.
• The level of income that you deem would be enough to support the lifestyle that you want. This is your way of setting a target.

Step 2: Identify your passion and interest.

These are very important because you are going to be building your business around them. A lifestyle business should be something that you love and enjoy doing, so you have to know what you are passionate about or what interests you the most.

Step 3. Find a problem.

Now you have to identify problems that will be solved by your knowledge on the topic that you are passionate about or interested in. You are likely to have more customers for your lifestyle business if you have something to offer them – a solution to their problems.

It goes without saying that the problem should be something that people would be willing to pay for the solution that you will offer. You can find this by taking note of what the people are spending their money on. You can also start looking at the competition, or those lifestyle businesses that are similar to what you have

in mind. By studying them, you can tell whether there is a problem that you can offer to solve or not.

Step 4. Decide on the business you will set up.

From the assessments you conducted in the previous two steps, you can now decide clearly what lifestyle business you will set up. See to it that it is capable of being automated. See if there is a way to employ technology in the conduct of your business. This will make things easier for you down the line.

Step 5. Set it up.

This will be the one that needs the most work when you are starting your lifestyle business. Get the tools you need to get set up. Find clients locally. It does not have to be strictly performed online or via your blog. By actively going out and personally finding clients or customers, you can get started. Start building your potential client or customer list. It doesn’t matter if you have to start small, as long as your do.

Step 6. Just do it!

It’s time to get down to business, literally and figuratively.

• Create and produce quality content. This is, after all, the main work of a lifestyle business. You have to create content that will address or solve the problems that you have identified earlier.
• Stay connected. This applies to your clients or your market. Through staying connected with them via social media and email, you will be able to keep yourself updated on the products and services that they want to buy, and the problems that they will be having that you might have a solution for.

Trust your intuition. This is also very important. Of course, learning should be a continuous process. Attend trainings and seminars related to the business you chose to go into. Keep yourself up to speed with the latest developments related to your chosen field of interest.

The use of ICT in Life-Style Entrepreneurship

Source: Pixabay

In the last decades, ICT^[1] has undergone a very quick development and has been introduced into all segments of people’s lives. This has hence brought new opportunities for businesses and individuals, esspecially for LSE (e.g. social networks, searching and sharing the information), and better quality of life (Bučar, 2001). Modern ICT tools can decrease the costs as well as increase productivity and effectiveness on the level of individuals and organizations (Hengst & Henk 2001).

Due to development of ICT many things can be performed more efficiently and with greater success. For example, ICT makes it possible to even test different decision making scenarios. This is the reason why many people believe that ICT might be used as a tool for creating and developing entrepreneurial skills. Besides, ICT might offer learning opportunities, business planning solutions, database tools as well as business training opportunities with the help of business plan simulators. ICT can help to develop and enhance communication and social networks as well. Using ICT in Life-Style Etrepreneurship reduce enterprise activity costs, minimize risk, increases opportunities to check and try your own ideas, supports your learning and improvement. Even mentorship is possible using ICT and enterpriser could get the best mentor all around the world in the mentorship platforms like mentorpitch.com, growthmentor.com, etc.

From the vegetable trader downtown at the open air market putting calls through to her suppliers, notifying them of her depleting stock; to the dressmaker who uses messaging apps and social media platforms to display and sell her products; and the working professional who orders lunch from online food delivery companies, technology with the added benefit of the internet and various information & communication technology tools is gradually becoming an integral part of the business environment and our lives.

The increase in mobile phone access and the introduction of smart phones have also increased access to the internet on the go. Mobile phones have replaced the old table-top telephones causing disruption in the Telecommunication sector. The presence of mobile phones and the internet has created totally new sectors, given rise to new companies and provided jobs for many while also impacting entrepreneurship and business models.

Some of the notable contribution of ICT in LSE includes:

• Access to Markets: E-commerce as this is commonly referred to has greatly minimized the need for physical infrastructure for trade to take place. Platforms like Jumia, Amazon give entrepreneurs access to markets in all parts of the country and all over the world.
• Virtual and efficient enterprise coordination: Technology has completely revolutionized the manner in which enterprise operate today especially in a niche market. These enterprise use of apps and often times do not require the physical presence of the business owner and can often times be efficiently run virtually such as Uber.
• Advertising and Marketing Communication: With the emergence can be reached with advertising messages via a tweet on twitter, a post on Facebook or videos on Youtube etc at way cheaper rates.
• Increasing revenue streams and Saving Time/Money: Technology has provided new and exciting opportunities to increase revenue. Such opportunities include the provision of movies and games for relaxation at a fee. For example, Netflix.

Source: Pixabay

The areas of ICT entrepreneurship development are: The business centres, Graphics Centres, Music Studios, the Internet Centres, Computer Training Centres, Computer Technicians, Web design and hosting, Internet employment agency services, Internet advertisements, Internet tourist and travelling agencies.

Using ICT, LSE could start Smartphone Repair, Refurbished Device Sales, Social Media Consulting, SEO Specialist, Web/Software Design Service, IT Equipment Service, Internet Cafe, Livestreaming Influencer, Tech Gadget Rentals, Remote IT/Computer Service, etc.

[1] Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications[1] and the integration of and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audiovisual systems, that enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Usage of Social Media in context of Life-Style Entrepreneurship

Due to development of ICT and Social media^[1] many things can be performed in LSE. What are the benefits of using social media for business? Consider that there are now more than 3 billion using social networks across the globe. And these people are using social to engage with brands. Sherpa Marketing found that more people follow brands on social media than follow celebrities. On Instagram alone 80 percent of people follow at least one business.  If you’re not taking advantage of social, you’re missing out on a fast, inexpensive, and effective way to reach almost half the world’s population.

Source: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/

Social Media Marketing (SMM) for small businesses and LSE is a popular topic these days. Without a social media strategy your time and efforts can and will face plant on the sidewalk of good intentions.

According to mediabistro, 73% of small businesses and LSE use social media websites as marketing tools.

Gain Control of Your Online Image

Image is vitally important online. It’s like meeting someone for the first time, we can usually tell if we like someone in the first minute or two. Same goes for businesses, only much quicker. Make sure your social pages look professional, contain your logo, have a link to your website, and are active. There’s nothing worse than going to a Facebook or Twitter page and it not having a cover photo or seeing it hasn’t been updated in months.

Relationships

Social Media Marketing isn’t just about pushing out your remarkable content, it’s about people. It’s about being human and giving a voice to your enterprise. People use social media to connect with people, be entertained, and find information. They want to ask questions, share content, and talk about their interests. Are you there to answer their questions? Consistently engage with these people and you’ll earn a powerful group of brand advocates that will shout your name from the mountain tops.

Source: Pixabay

Cost Effective

Social Media Marketing is very cost friendly, but it’s not free. Sure it’s free to post an engaging photo on Facebook, take part in an industry TweetChat, or upload a video to YouTube—but the cost is calculated in time. Time definitely costs money. Use that time wisely and be where your target market can be reached. Don’t waste time being on every single social network out there, that’s impossible. Target just a couple social networks that give you the most bang for your buck. The major players are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube—but this may differ depending on your audience.

You Can Monitor Competitor Activity

Tools like HubSpot and HootSuite allow you to keep an eye on your competition. You can open up continuous streams that target the names of your competitors or keyword phrases. You’ll then be able to see what people are talking about in conversations that are important to your business.

Integration with Other Media Sources

Social Media Marketing is just one spoke on the marketing wheel. It can be utilized in some awesome ways when integrated with other more traditional forms of marketing and advertising. For example, you might be doing a big radio campaign for an event, you can then push people to your Facebook page to sign up. Or you might have a brochure telling people to use your hashtag on Twitter to be entered into a contest. Simple and integrated.

You Can Prove Your Expertise

Over time your audience and customers will being to see you as an industry leader. Your consistent messaging about key issues and problem solving content positions your business as a voice of authority. Once you gain that authority and trust people will follow you in droves.

Impacts Organic Search Results – SEO

Google is smart, really smart. They constantly work to give people the most relevant search results possible. Social media signals have become one of the major factors in ranking websites in these search results. Creating engaging and sharable content on these social media platforms signals to search engines like Google that people enjoy what you are saying, thus giving you domain authority over sites that aren’t active on social media.

Social Media can be a useful part of your marketing mix. It gives your enterprise a human voice and a competitive edge. Keep in mind, even the best of intentions can fail if you don’t have a road map setup first. Determine your goals, find out what type of content your Buyer Personas like to consume and share, and be consistent. Don’t have time? Impulse Creative can always help. We just don’t want to see anyone face plant on that sidewalk of good intentions.

[1] Social media are interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks

GDPR for self-employment

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (“GDPR”) is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). It also addresses the export of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas. The GDPR aims primarily to give control to individuals over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.

The GDPR means that enerprise must change the way they store and manage personal data, and give the individual (also known as a data subject) control over what happens with their data. For LSE, this means their clients, customers, contractors, and any other data subjects, have the right to:

• The right to access their data at any time, free of charge.
• The right to know why their data is being used.
• The right to remove their data and permanently delete it.
• The right to transfer their data to another provider.
• The right to be informed that their data is being collected.
• The right to amend/correct their personal data.
• The right to restrict what their data is used for.
• The right to be notified within 72 hours if a data breach occurs.

Source: Pixabay

The GDPR applies to any business that collects and processes data belonging to individuals – regardless of the enterprise size. This means that even small construction businesses and self-employed persons will have to comply with GDPR.

Do you store contractor details in an app on your phone? Do you use a spreadsheet to log customers’ details? However, you collect or process an individuals’ data, the GDPR applies. Businesses can no longer presume that individuals give consent for a business to collect and use their personal data. So, entrepreneurs will have to consider how they collect data. For example, a website with a pre-ticked cookie policy will not be allowed. Instead, the individual must opt-in.

If individuals wish to receive marketing information from you or confirm your business can use their personal data, the individual must complete a form or tick a box to opt-in. This can also be followed by an email for the individual to confirm they are happy for you to contact them – this is known as a ‘double-opt-in’.

Here are some simple-to-follow steps to help make your enterprise GDPR compliant:

1. Consider what personal data you collect from customers and clients. Do you need to be collecting the data? Are you handling it in a compliant, organised way? Data subjects will have the right to request their information from you, so the more organised you are, the better.
2. Locate where the information you hold is stored, and are these methods approved under GDPR? If you save details manually on a spreadsheet or store them via a digital database, is the data secure?
3. Conduct a data cleanse and delete old or unused data. GDPR will not allow businesses to hold on to old data that is not being used or data that is being misused.
4. Assess how you collect the personal data. Are you obtaining it in a compliant way? Remember, an opt-out tick box or hidden small print on your website will no longer be allowed as a valid method of consent collection. Tradespeople should review their websites’ privacy statements and any other form of communication with clients thoroughly.
5. Provide your data subjects with a fair processing notice to inform them how you are using the data. Are you storing data purely to communicate directly with the individual or are you collecting the data for marketing purposes? GDPR means individuals will have the right to know exactly how the data is used. Make sure you are transparent with your customers, clients, and contractors.
6. Put security measures in place to prevent data breaches. Consider who has access to the data and update all passwords frequently. If a violation takes place, inform the data subjects within 72 hours.

A lack of recourse is the main implication for most small enterprises, and monitoring data practices could prove particularly time-consuming. Many enterprises could benefit from a compliance assessment service. However, these can be expensive at around 1,000 Eur for a bespoke service. If you choose to carry out your own compliance, we recommend taking time to understand GDPR fully by following the steps in GDPR guide and doing as much research as possible to protect yourself.

Standard operating procedure (SOP)

A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions applied by an organization to help workers carry out complex routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output and uniformity of performance. They also reduce miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations. Developing an SOP is about systemizing all of your processes and documenting them. SOP creates:

• efficiency
• profitability
• consistency and reliability in production and service
• fewer errors
• a way to resolve conflicts
• a healthy and safe environment
• protection of employers in areas of potential liability and personnel matters
• rules for how to resolve issues
• defense in any inspection
• value added to the business.

Understanding the Business Plan

Source: Pixabay

A business plan is not just a fund-raising tool. In fact, it is a tool for understanding how and the business will operate. It can be used to monitor progress; it forces regular reviews of the value proposition, marketing assumptions, operations plan and financial plan. Cranfield School of Management argue that the most important step in launching any new venture or expanding an existing one is the construction of a business plan. The Business Plan should include the entrepreneur or business owner’s goals for the enterprise; a description of the products or services offered and the anticipated market opportunities; and an explanation of the resources and means that will be employed to achieve the goals in the face of likely competition.

The additional benefits of preparing a Business Plan include:

• Adopting a systematic approach to planning enables mistakes to be made on paper, rather than in the market place.
• Completing a Business Plan builds confidence in the entrepreneur / small business owner’s ability to set up and operate the venture, and may compensate for lack of capital and experience.
• Understanding how much money is needed, what it is needed for and when, and for how long it is required. Under-capitalisation and early cash-flow problems are two important reasons for business failure; therefore, sound preparation can reduce these risks. Exploring alternative strategies and approaches on paper can help entrepreneurs and small business owners to consider their options and make the most economic use of limited financial resources.
• Developing planning expertise; the business planning process is important to the long term health of a business, not just the plan that is a result of the process. Businesses are dynamic as are the commercial and competitive environments in which they operate and the business planning process can prepare businesses for changes that it may face and so enable it to adjust quickly.
• Research data strongly supports the value of business planning. Studies consistently show that organisations with a strong planning ethos constantly out-perform those who do not.

What information goes into a business plan?

Choose the format you’d like to use. The more basic and brief the business plan, the less bulky text you will need to write. Instead of lengthy, detailed paragraphs, you might use bullet points instead. Some formats are as short as 1 to 4 pages, while very detailed plans can run over 50 pages. The shorter, more basic plans get to the heart of your business immediately. These also tend to put things into simple terms, making it easy for the layperson to understand. There are all kinds of business plan templates available online.

Most business plans have some combination of the following sections: executive summary; company description; market analysis; service or product description; marketing approach; financial projections; and appendix. As you learn more about what can potentially be included in a business plan, you will be able to make decisions about what is relevant to your own business plan.

Some business advisors believe that what most small businesses need at the outset is a very simple questionnaire to figure out the basics, or an “internal working plan”: what is the product or service; who are the customers; what is the business’ timeline; and how does the business handle paying bills and getting paid?

Source: Pixabay

We could suggest main parts of Business plan for LSE:

• Executive summary
• Mission Statement
• Aims & Objectives
• SWOT Analysis
• Market Research
• Marketing Plan
• Financial Plan
• Supporting information such as CV

Although there is general agreement in what information should be included in a Business Plan there is no single way in which a business plan should be presented. There are a wide range of templates and tools available to entrepreneurs and their advisers, including the GEM Business Plan Questionnaire and that recommended by the Institute of Directors in Barrow, Barrow and Brown’s ‘The Business Plan Workbook’ (see below).

The Business Plan Workbook: sample table of contents.
Executive Summary
The Business and Its Management o   History and position to date o   Mission o   Objectives, sort medium and long term o   Legal Structure o   Professional Advisers	The Products or Services o    Descriptions and Applications o    Readiness for Market o    Proprietary Position / Intellectual Property o    Comparison with Competition, in terms of Performance o    Future Potential/Product Development o    Suppliers
Market research o  Description of Customers o  Customer Needs and Benefits o  Market Segments o  Customer Decision Criteria o  Market and Segment Size and Growth o  Market Projections o  Competition o  Description of Market Research undertaken	Competitive Business Strategy o    Pricing Policy and Anticipated Mark–up o    Promotional Plans o    Choice of Location and Premises o    Distribution Channels o    Competitors Strategies o    Economic, Political, Social, Legal Factors that Affect Strategy
Selling o   Selling Method(s) Current and Proposed o   Sales Team o   In-house Support	Manufacturing o    Make or Buy Considerations o    The Manufacturing Process o    Facilities, Equipment and Machinery Needed o    Output Limitation, if any, and scale-Up Requirements o    Staffing Requirements o    Sources of Supply of Key Materials
Forecasts and Financial Data o   Sales Forecast o   Assumptions Underpinning Financial Forecasts, including entrepreneur’s personal requirement o   Cash-Flow Forecasts o   Profit and Loss Accounts o   Balance Sheets o   Break-even Analysis	Financing Requirements o    Summary of Operations to Date o    Current Shareholders, Loans Outstanding, etc. o    Start Up/Development Requirements, Costs, Timing o    For Investors, the Deal on Offer, Exit Routes for Investors
Business Controls o   Financial o   Sales and Marketing	Other Controls o   Manufacturing

Marketing strategies in LSE

“Marketing is the function of any organization or program whose goal is to plan, price, promote, and distribute the organization’s programs and products by keeping in constant touch with the organization’s various constituencies, uncovering their needs and expectations for the organization and themselves, and building a program of communication to not only express the organization’s purpose and goals, but also their mutually beneficial want-satisfying products.”(Philip Kotler).

Today, many traditional tools and channels are undermined, due to the digital era and the general use of smart devices i.e. Smartphone and tablets. Particularly, the extensive use of the internet, at home and remotely (4G service, Wi-Fi & hot spots), with the facility of high speed downloading and uploading width of documents, photos files. There are different types of marketing tools and communication channels that can be used in a traditional, as well as in an online way. Marketing is strategic communications and promotions delivered in a mix of forms: advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing, sale promotion, interactive/internet marketing, Word-of-mouth marketing, events and successful experiences, ect.

Source: http://www.themarketingguywhodrivessales.com/crashcourse/promix.htm

Advertising (both commercial and non-commercial) is designed to reach the public and motivate them to become more interested in the subject matter of the advertisements. Essentially, commercial advertising has to do with selling goods or services, while non-commercial advertising is more about providing information and motivating people to act after being exposed to that information. Advertising is the most popular form of the communication and promotion, therefore it is necessary to analyse the aspects of creating advertisements in detail. The LSE entrepreneur has to know that a good advertising “connects with its clients, it should be memorable and easily recalled, provides information quickly and succinctly, doesn’t confuse the client, call the clients to action” (AGAMA advertising, 2016). Creating advertisements LSE entrepreneurs should consider their relevance, originality, effectiveness and attractiveness. Various methods of psychological influence are used in developing advertising such as “persuasion (it induces people to uncritically accept information, based on authoritative persons or sources of information, as well as true-to-life success stories), imitation (people’s tendency to follow the authoritative, successful examples), fascination (involuntary personal tendency to follow some model), image (emotional perception of service form the social and psychological characteristics) (Sliburyte, 2014). Most authors claim that every target audience are to be transmitted different advertising messages or notices. It is due to the target audience’s education, their social status, different hobbies and values.  This may influence the way adults perceive the contents of advertising. For greater efficiency, it is appropriate to develop several creative dissuasive promotional messages, affecting a wider range of adult groups.

Although advertisment is meant to address thousands of people, it should remain individual as if it applies to a certain person.

Source: Pixabay

Public relations – is the practice of planned and continuous managing of the spread of information between the organisation and its environment by which the organisation seeks to create and maintain good will and mutual understanding. Marketing public relations is very important in non-commercial organizations, particularly those providing education services. The following public means of communication with the public are distinguished: the news, feature articles, public speeches, idea fairs, special events to reach and engage the target audience, brochures, video and audio material – films, slides, true-to-life success stories. Most writers state that public relations are more effective in convincing the learners than advertisements.

Personal “selling” of services or goods occurs when the LSE entrepreneur „sells” his services/goods directly to the client. Personal selling involves communication between two or more people. The LSE entrepreneur can convey the message to the client face to face, over the telephone, through emails, by mobile telephones.  Personal communication helps to create long-term personal relationships. Also, it is an effective and forceful way to make an influence on the client. Personal selling, being the most expensive element of marketing public relations, is usually used for one contact.

Word of Mouth/ Referral marketing, also known as word of mouth, relies on customers to spread information about products or services. Referral is not a strategic or planned marketing activity, but it might help a business build a loyal client base.

Internet/digital marketing. According to the Global digital snapshot (January, 2016) digital devices are avidly used on daily basis, that’s why digital marketing may be the most cost-effective and attractive means of reaching the target groups.

The usage of Set of OERs “Pathway to lifestyle self-employment” for facilitation of the social mentoring process on LSE

The Open Educational Resources (OERs) has an important role for facilitation of the social mentoring process on LSE. By completing the OERs the learners (disadvantaged youth) deepen their knowledge on Life-Style Entrepreneurship and also have a possibility to discuss the results during the face-to-face mentoring sessions.

During the project totally 24 OERs are developed in three following thematic areas:

1. Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE);
2. Life-Style Entrepreneurship;
3. Business principles and Marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE)

Under this thematic area 6 OERs were developed:

1. Understanding of entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE).
2. What are similarities and differences between entrepreneurship and Lifestyle Entrepreneurship?
3. What are the differences between Entrepreneurship and Life-style Entrepreneurship?
4. What are the similarities between Entrepreneurship and Life-style Entrepreneurship?
5. Understanding the skill set and environment for self-employment (SE)
6. What are today’s benefits and challenges that self-employed professionals face?

Life-Style Entrepreneurship

6 OERs were developed under this thematic area:

1. What traits are typical of lifestyle entrepreneur?
2.  Should I become a lifestyle entrepreneur?
3. Skills of the self-employed entrepreneurs
4.  What skills does the self-employed entrepreneur need?
5. What are the basics of Life-Style Entrepreneurship?
6. Good practice of Life-Style Entrepreneurship.

Business principles and Marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship

This theme consists of 12 OERs:

1. What are the main principles that I have to follow to develop my own business?
2. Business principles in Life-Style Entrepreneurship.
3. What marketing strategies should a lifestyle entrepreneur be aware of?
4. How to promote my own business – what do I have to know?
5. How do I develop my business plan? What do I have to know about the main principles of the business plan?
6. Main parts of the Business plan.
7. The importance and impact of Social Media for LSE
8. What social media principles should a lifestyle entrepreneur be aware of?
9. The importance of ICT for life style entrepreneurship.
10. Prerequisites of using ICT for life style entrepreneurship.
11. The basics of Personal Data Protection and GDPR on Life-Style Entrepreneurship.
12. Implementation of Personal Data Protection in Life-Style Entrepreneurship.

The fulfilment of OERs is an integral part of SELF-E training course for disadvantaged learners and the detailed plan with an explanation on how to use the OERs for facilitation of the mentoring process is provided in the section “Lesson plan for innovative “SELF-E training course”.

Lesson plan for innovative “SELF-E training course”

Sample of lesson plan for innovative SELF-E training course for disadvantaged learners based on social mentoring which includes face-to-face mentoring sessions and on-line learning using set of the practical exercises-OERs.

SELF-E training phase	Sessions	Duration hours	Content; OERs
Preparation		At least two weeks prior 1st session	Selecting mentors and mentees; Matching mentors and mentees Check eligibility
Initial Mentoring meeting	1st session. Initial face-to-face mentoring meeting	4	Getting to know each other Introduction to the social mentoring Short presentation of SELF-E training course Assessment of learners’ competences – using online tool Developing individual plans for mentee Introduction to learner’s guide Setting tasks for individual on-line session
First thematic area – self-learning	2nd session. Online sessions on “Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE)”	10	Working individually online on first thematic area: “Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE)” Learners choose OER’s from the first thematic area
First thematic area – deepening knowledge in the classroom	3rd session. Face-to-face meeting on “Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE)”	4	Working in the group to deepen knowledge on first thematic area through practical exercises Motivation to become self-employed Giving tasks for the fourth on-line self e-learning session on second thematic area
Second thematic area – self-learning	4th session. Online sessions on “Life-Style Entrepreneurship”	10	Working individually online on second thematic area: “Life-Style Entrepreneurship” Learners choose OER’s from the second thematic area
Mid-term monitoring & Second thematic area	5th session. Face-to-face meeting on “Life-Style Entrepreneurship” Mid-term monitoring of the mentoring	4	Working in the group to deepen knowledge on second thematic area through practical exercises Motivation to become self-employed Giving tasks for the 6th session on-line self e-learning session on third thematic area Mid-term monitoring of mentoring sessions
Third thematic area – self-learning	6th session. Online sessions on “Business principles and marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship“	8	Working individually online on third thematic area: “Business principles and Marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship” Learners choose OER’s from the third thematic area
Third thematic area – deepening knowledge in the classroom	7th session. Face-to-face meeting on Online sessions on “Business principles and marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship”	4	Working in the group to deepen knowledge on third thematic area through practical exercises Giving tasks for the 8th session on-line self e-learning session based success stories on LSE
Self-learning on success stories	8th session. Online sessions on “Life-Style Entrepreneurship – a way to success”	6	Working individually online on area: “Success stories on self-employment based on Life-Style Entrepreneurship” Filling in the Feedback sheet in order to bring it to 9th session
Final mentoring meeting	9th session. Final face-to-face meeting Finalizing mentoring process	4	Feedback on the success stories Finalization of course and personal development plan. Assessment of learners’ competences – using online tool Feedback collection and awards
	Total	54 hours	2 credits

As seen in table above there are nine main sessions. But also before the starting of the mentoring sessions, the mentors and mentees should be selected and paired and/or grouped. The detailed explanation of the selection and pairing/grouping procedure is provided in the Module I. After the mentoring pairs and/or groups are formed, the mentoring sessions start.

1. During the first face-to-face session an initial mentoring meeting is organised. During this meeting the mentors and mentees get to know each other. Also an introduction to the social mentoring and short presentation of the SELF-E training course is given. Participants are invited to make initial assessment of their competences using the developed online tool. After completing it, the mentees develop individual plans with the help of their mentors. Later on the learner’s guide is introduced to the mentees. At the end of the meeting mentors with the mentees set the tasks for their individual on-line learning sessions. The mentors also present and suggest the OERs for the mentees from the first thematic area to complete during the on-line sessions.
2. After the first face-to-face session, an individual mentees’ on-line learning sessions start. It is the online self-learning sessions on the first thematic area “Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE)”. During these sessions the mentees completes OERs suggested by their mentors. They could also complete more OERs than suggested if they feel need for that.
3. During the third session the face-to-face meeting is organised for deepening the knowledge in the classroom on the first thematic area “Entrepreneurship and self-employment (SE)”. The mentees discuss the results of the self-learning with their mentors and give the feedback on the completed OERs (practical exercises). Then the discussions on the motivation to become self-employed are organised. At the end of the meeting the tasks for the fourth on-line self e-learning session on second thematic area “Life-Style Entrepreneurship” for the mentees are given. The mentors also present and suggest the OERs for the mentees from the second thematic area to complete during the on-line sessions.
4. After the third face-to-face session, an individual mentees’ on-line learning sessions start. It is the online self-learning sessions on the second thematic area “Life-Style Entrepreneurship”. During these sessions the mentees completes OERs suggested by their mentors. They could also complete more OERs than suggested if they feel need for that.
5. 
   Source: Pixabay
   During the fourth session the face-to-face meeting is organised for deepening the knowledge in the classroom on the second thematic area “Life-Style Entrepreneurship”. Also during this meeting the mid-term monitoring of the mentoring is done. The first the mentees discuss the results of the self-learning with their mentors and give the feedback on the completed OERs (practical exercises). Then the discussions on the motivation to become self-employed are organised. After the discussion the tasks for the sixth on-line self e-learning session on third thematic area “Business principles and Marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship” for the mentees are given. The mentors also suggest the OERs for the mentees from the second thematic area to complete during the on-line sessions. At the end of the meeting the mid-term monitoring of the mentoring is done following the instructions given in the Module I.
6. After the fifth face-to-face session, an individual mentees’ on-line learning sessions start. It is the online self-learning sessions on the third thematic area “Business principles and Marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship”. During these sessions the mentees completes OERs suggested by their mentors. They could also complete more OERs than suggested if they feel need for that.
7. During the seventh session the face-to-face meeting is organised for deepening the knowledge in the classroom on the third thematic area “Business principles and Marketing in Life-Style Entrepreneurship”. The first the mentees discuss the results of the self-learning with their mentors and give the feedback on the completed OERs (practical exercises). Then the discussions on the motivation to become self-employed are organised. After the discussion the tasks for the eighth on-line self e-learning session tasks based success stories on LSE for the mentees are given. The mentors also present and suggest the success stories for the mentees to review during the on-line sessions. The mentors also present the Feedback sheets to the mentees which have to be filled after reviewing each success story.
8. After the seventh face-to-face session, an individual mentees’ on-line learning sessions start. It is the online self-learning sessions on area: “Success stories on self-employment based on Life-Style Entrepreneurship”. During these sessions the mentees watch and read the success stories and complete the Feedback sheets to be discussed during the final face-to-face meeting.
9. During the final (ninth) session the mentees gives the feedback on the success stories and discuss their individual results achieved within the training course. Then the personal development plans of all mentees are made. In order to assess the progress of the training course, the mentees make final assessment of their competences using the developed online tool. The final feedback on the whole training course is collected and the final monitoring of the mentoring process is done following the instructions given in the Module I. At the end of the meeting the certificates for the mentors and mentees are provided.

The mentors should encourage their mentees to fill-in the Knowledge portfolios during the mentoring on LSE process. The KP could become essential later on when the mentees would decide to validate their entrepreneurial skills and knowledge acquired during the mentoring on LSE process. The mentors should work a lot on the motivation of the mentees to become lifestyle self-employed and one of factors which could help to motivate the mentees is introducing them the possibility to validate later on their skills obtained during the SELF-E training course.

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• http://www.ace-erasmusplus.eu/modules/1/module/index.php?lang=en
• https://advantech.co.ke/2016/10/12/ict-as-a-tool-for-entrepreneurship/
• https://www.impulsecreative.com/blog/benefits-of-social-media-marketing-for-small-businesses
• https://blog.constructaquote.com/gdpr-a-guide-for-tradespeople/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Data_Protection_Regulation
• https://www.brampton.ca/EN/Business/BEC/resources/Documents/What%20is%20a%20Standard%20Operating%20Procedure(SOP).pdf