As an entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur, you must have been faced with the dilemma of either choosing to stay at your day job or quitting to completely focus on your business. Being your own boss sounds like the ultimate dream especially when you’re stuck in a job you don’t like. But good intentions don’t pay the bills. And while quitting may seem like the better option, being impulsive might lead to disastrous results.
You have to be pragmatic when making this life-changing decision. There’s a lot of risk and reward involved. You’ll want to start with weighing both the pros and cons of quitting your job. And if you’re still struggling to decide, ask yourself these questions:
1. Are you ready to handle uncertainty?
Letting go of your regular pay-check means embracing an uncertain future. To be a full time entrepreneur, you’ll constantly need to push yourself outside your comfort zone. There’ll also be many risks to take and unfortunately a few failures might occur along the way. You’ll have to prepare yourself for all the new experiences as you figure out how to make the impossible possible. Entrepreneurship isn’t the smoothest journey but it can still be very rewarding if you’re ready to face both the good and the bad.
2. Do you have a clear business goal?
You might be passionate about your business idea, but that doesn’t mean success is right around the corner. You’ll have to have a very clear mission, vision and goal to achieve entrepreneurial success.
Having clear goals is what will ensure you’re not swallowed up by uncertainty. They will give you a path to follow and the right motivation to get to your destination. Remember, having goals is much more than planning in your head. Be intentional about what you want to achieve. You can do this by writing a mission statement for your proposed business. Make your goals SMART- specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Outlining your goals like this will help you decide whether it’s possible to achieve them when still being employed.
3. Are you prepared to stretch yourself?
Entrepreneurship means being willing to wear many hats. It’ll be a different experience from your regular day job where you’re likely to be performing the same tasks over a long period of time. When it comes to entrepreneurship, stretching yourself will be inevitable.
A growth-mindset will be necessary for success. You have to be open to constantly learn new things to grow your business. On top of many things, entrepreneurship is a great opportunity for self-improvement and self-fulfilment. But even your road to self-development will have its obstacles. So be prepared to handle both the pleasures and pains of growth.
4. What’s the reason for not starting your business?
Are you telling yourself things like; “I’ll start my own business when my kids are done with school” or “I’d like to do my own thing when things settle down.” While there’s nothing wrong with waiting for an opportune time to start your business, constantly giving yourself excuses will leave you a ‘would be’ entrepreneur.
There’ll always be a mountain of reasons to not start your business. And while some of them may be valid, often they’re just excuses masquerading as impossible obstacles. These statements may be masking an underlying limiting belief that you may not even be aware of.
This is why weighing out all your options and their advantages and disadvantages is necessary. Make sure all your reasons are valid so that your final decision will leave you with no regrets many years down the line.
5. How will you stay financially stable?
Pursuing your business with no salary won’t be a cheap endeavour. You have to at least have enough capital to get your business through its early stages as you look for other funding options.
You additionally have to plan how you will leverage the resources you need in order to be cost effective. You can plan to seek assistance from people close to you. But mixing business with friends and family is another major decision that has its own considerations.
Having a clear financial plan is what will ensure losing your salary won’t be detrimental to your business. Some of the things that your plan should include are an expenses budget, a sales forecast, a cash flow statement and income projections.
All in all, it’s important to have realistic expectations from the decision you make. There are so many assumptions people have entrepreneurship that aren’t necessarily true. For example, people believe taking charge of their own hours will somehow free up time for family and their social lives but with more freedom comes more responsibility. To be a successful entrepreneur, you’ll have to remain focused, disciplined and have top notch time management.
It may not be an easy feat, but it’s not an impossible one either. Just make sure you’ve thought clearly and carefully before deciding to quit your job. If you’re still feeling uncertain about which decision to make, just remember I’m always a phone call away. You can book an appointment with me through the button below.
Best wishes,
Samantha.
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