The Pros and Cons of Running a Business on Your Own. Belinda Eden Opens Up on Life as a Solo Entrepreneur.

Welcome back to the "Perfect Pitch Show" where Brandon Burns, Head of Community - Runway Virtual, interviews small business founders / entrepreneurs about the secret sauce to their successful start-up journey.

Hospitality is one of the biggest industries with new businesses and events popping up constantly, Belinda Eden is working on bridging the gap between employers and job seekers. Belinda is the solo founder of Troop Employment, an agency built for the purpose of helping businesses in hospitality connect directly with active job seekers in regional Victoria. Troop Employment now has a portal that provides business owners with a search application recommending staff based on availabilities, location, qualifications and experience, making finding staff even easier. Belinda has been a part of Runway's Accelerator Program in both Ballarat and Geelong and has found the experience to be rewarding and eye-opening on life as a business owner.

We hoped Belinda's experience and insight will provide our regional readers some inspiration and advice on setting up their own businesses. Belinda shares her biggest achievements, smallest wins and the challenges she faces as she braces the world of solo entrepreneurship.

About Troop Employment

Troop Employment is a recruitment agency that specialises in a better process for job seekers and businesses in hospitality to find each other. With the new online portal, job seekers can make profiles outlining what they have experience in and are looking for and then businesses are able to filter through and find the staff they need. Troop Employment can be used to find permanent staff, or staff for a quick fill-in when someone is on leave. Job seekers can lay out their availabilities, whether it be weekend only work or evening only work, they can specify their needs. It works for semi-retired people who might want to work in a winery for a week or help out at a local event that's coming up, it's completely tailored to your requirements. Businesses can read reviews from their past places of employment and it is direct to the person. No middleman!

Troop Employment is a membership platform, and anyone can sign up. For businesses there is a subscription fee that provides you 24/7 unlimited access to local staff profiles on their smart phones and computers. Job seekers can create profiles for free and be contacted directly by potential employers who want them!

The Hardest Part About Doing It Solo

Being a business owner is hard work, and even more so when you're the doing it alone. Belinda is the solo founder of Troop Employment and she knows the difficulties that comes with this. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the tasks you know you must get done, but there are easy ways to take a step back and keep yourself grounded. Belinda participated in Runway's Accelerator Program and has learned a lot from the seminars and classes we put on, and one of the most important things she learned was the 'Brain Dump'. Les Watson gave the advice to get everything down, write it on paper or type it up but get it out of your head. It's a lot easier to keep track of what needs going and what needs to be done when you can see it physically in front of you. Belinda loves lists, and in practising this method she found that most of the items on her lists would be 5-minute jobs and every seemed a lot less daunting once she had a plan. Once it's in a list type format and you can begin checking things off, you will really be able to see how much you have accomplished and how long it took you. Belinda found that this was the most effective way in making sure she didn't get too overwhelmed doing this on her...