Questions you Must answer Before Leaving:
Taking the big leap from Job to full time business owner takes a lot of guts and faith. My advice, DON'T LEAVE YOUR JOB until you are ready to say YES to the following questions:
1. Are you ready for long hours?
Quitting your job and starting your own business may seem like a dream come true. This may be the case for many but there some things you have to consider. If you were quitting with the idea that you may work less hours, you are wrong. Owning your own business requires hours of planning before, during and after you are in operation.
Can you commit to the time needed to be successful? You must factor in your life's circumstances. Do you have children or family to give your attention to? If yes, you can still own your own business but make sure that you think about how much time you can afford to give your business and your family.
I am a wife and mom of a 1 year old, 6 year old and an 11 year old. I have been asked how do I do it? Fortunately, I have been able to obtain childcare for my children during the day but I am still working on balancing my evenings with family and business. I have to pick my children up and rush home to cook, feed the children, make time for homework help and then put the children to sleep.
Business doesn't end after the kids are asleep. After putting the children to bed, I find myself typing away on my laptop, researching ways to grow my business. My bookmarked space is filled with hundreds of sites. Owning your business and growing it is non stop research. Are you ready?
2. Are you ready FINANCIALLY?
Wow! This is a tough one. I would suggest that you count up your cost of living for a month. (If you want me to go into detail, let me know and I will create a blog on this.) Now multiply that amount by six. If you are the head of household or single, I would suggest that you have at least six months saved before you leave your job. If you have a partner who works, then you may get away with relying on his/her pay to help with your living expenses.
Next, you would need to add up the cost to run your business. Please consider marketing expense. So far, marketing and labor has been the most expensive for me. There are tricks to pay very little or no money for marketing but I am not sure how effective those methods are. Maybe we will discuss this in a future blog.
With starting a business you must consider upfront costs and then the ongoing costs. Think of little things like gas, vehicles, etc. This would require some homework. Multiply the ongoing costs by 12 and then add the start up costs. This will be the cost to keep you going for a year.
Do not plan to see a profit in the first year. Are you ready for this?
****Certain businesses such as consultant or Tutor will have immediate profits because there aren't many materials involved. Understand the business you are going into and count up the cost.
3. Are you Mentally Ready?
Owning your own business is a totally different mindset than going to a regular 9-5. You set your own schedule. That sounds great! And it is great but it can also be very depressing and confusing. You can find yourself at home, not sure where you should begin or overwhelmed by boredom because you are not as busy as you used to be with a 9-5. Good news, this feeling will go away once you take steps toward your goal. Setting goals are very important so that you will not fall into the trap of losing focus and getting depressed.
Are you mentally ready for a bunch of NO's? You own your own business so now you are in charge of getting clients. Are you motivated enough to fight through the NO's and continue until you get a YES?
You are the boss. You are in charge of marketing, getting paid and paying your employees. Yes, you are in charge!
Are you ready for this great responsibility?
If you answered yes to all these questions, then maybe it is time to quit your job and start your business. There is a lot more for us to discuss before you do it. Look out for my next blog on How to fight your fears.
Please leave comments. This will encourage me to continue to write these blogs and give my secrets away.
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