Why you should get your website started ASAP

This article is for oil and gas professionals who dream of starting their own business

At some point, the dangerous working conditions, monthly rotations and endless flights start to take their toll. What begins as a voyage of adventure can turn into a chore where a more straightforward life starts to look more attractive. One way of making this transition is by starting your own business.

It’s nothing new; the very first employee probably dreamed of being an employer within weeks or months of starting work. That might have occurred 5000 years ago, or even 500,000 who knows?

What’s new is the capability of starting a project on the side. One where you can put in as much time and money as you want. If you were to add one article a month to a personal blog, before long, you’d have a powerful marketing tool. This marketing tool is likely to result in job offers and business opportunities without you even trying, as long as you know your stuff.

Start building your website, instead of merely boosting other peoples

The younger you are, the more likely you are to have used a plethora of online publication channels. The hippest teenagers are publishing messages, pictures, videos, GIFs and blog posts. They are publishing to ten or in some cases twenty or more online channels.

If you’re nearer the end of your life, the chances are that you’ve recently embraced Facebook as a way of staying connected to family and friends in a busy world.

If you’re reading this article, the chances are that you are midway between Tweenage and Twilight…

You’ll understand the benefits of building an online presence, but will be too busy to go to the lengths that an obsessed teenager does. You won’t be uploading selfies to Snapchat or short video clips to Vine every time something happens during your day.

What you’re probably doing is reading, liking, sharing, publishing, and commenting on places such as LinkedIn. You’re helping to build other peoples websites instead of your own!

I’m a big fan of spending time on other peoples websites in conjunction with my own. I wouldn’t dream of helping to add content everywhere EXCEPT my site…

How is the job security situation for you at the moment?

I’d go even further and say that if you’re reading this, you’ll be experiencing some job uncertainty. It’s natural to feel that way based on the regular oil booms and busts.

No matter how good you are at your job, only a fool would think that they’re untouchable by downturns. Anyone can find themselves out of work for an extended period.

Many people in the oil and gas industry have dreamed of going alone and starting their own business because this is the same in every industry. It used to be a considerable gamble, when you go it alone, you lose your income and spend your savings with no guarantee of success. No wonder that so many budding entrepreneurs never do pull the trigger.

Now, in the internet age, online businesses can be started on the side and built as quickly or as slowly as time allows. Published content can attract visitors for years. Sales pages can get swiftly created. Offers can get tested without having to hire staff, rent buildings or purchase inventory.

It has never been easier to take a step or two towards your dream, without losing focus on your main job.

It’s still a challenge to find the time, of course, there are only so many hours in a day. To suddenly free any time to learn about internet marketing or website design can be daunting. People still put off their dream side business.

So, here lies a paradox.

When you’re busy and successful at work, you have the money, but not the time to invest in a new company or online presence for your services.

When you’re out of work, you have the time, but not the same financial runway. You see, it can take a year or two to create a successful online business. Any business (online or offline) can take up to five years to develop into a job replacement.

Being out of work, then starting right at the beginning of the new business runway is a challenge. Starting right at the beginning, with limited capital and lots of pressure, is the result of bad planning.

When hoping for the best and preparing for the worst is the same thing

So, you start your new website today, and it starts to evolve into a very professional looking asset for your future company. Every month it gets bigger, covers more topics, and over time attracts more citations and backlinks. If in a year, you lose your job then you’re already a year into the entrepreneurial journey. There would have been valuable time for you to plan, publish, network and test.

Having a website dedicated to your skills is an asset even if you’re looking for a new job. It’s the most credible showcase for your knowledge and experience that you could create.

You hope for the best, but with two goals in sight. You hope that you keep your job AND that your side business takes off.

You prepare for the worst by getting started on the runway for your new business AND create a place online which shows how talented, experienced and committed you are. One day a future employer may be looking at your website, comparing it to a pile of old fashioned CV’s.

One day your company and website will be five years old, then ten — a much larger resource and showcase, with hundreds of articles and perhaps thousands of backlinks. Your new company will have the implied credibility of age and online authority. That’s even if you haven’t made a penny and have kept your day job.

Every month or year that passes while you are building your website will make the runway shorter when you do eventually make the jump (or get pushed).