Planning Your Escape From Your Day Job To Start Your Business

Do you get up every day to head to a job that you no longer want or feel fulfilled by?

The job you once had so much enthusiasm and passion for is no longer working for you.

Do you find yourself constantly thinking starting your own business?

What’s stopping you from just walking out of your job to start your own business today?

It’s likely to be one of three things: common sense, Integrity or concerns about finances. These are very valuable commodities and concerns.

So, instead of just pulling the plug, it’s important to plan your escape from your current employment with common sense, integrity and finances in mind.

Common Sense and Integrity

Common sense says that you will most likely have commitments, obligations, and responsibilities that show up monthly, weekly, and even daily. It would not be smart to risk any of those commitments with any brash, cavalier action. It could cost you dearly both in the immediate future and long term.

Also, you would put both yourself and your new business under immense pressure if you were under the gun right off the starting blocks.

It’s significantly better to have the support of your family, your bank, and countless other individuals and institutions when you are starting a new venture.

Integrity takes a long time to earn, including the integrity you have earned at your current place of work, both with your employers and with your work colleagues. These could well be some very useful and influential contacts a little further down the road.

It’s unwise and unhelpful to put your integrity in jeopardy when it’s absolutely unnecessary.

Finances

It is completely normal to worry about the financial side of things. Your job provided you with reliable and steady income that you need in order to put a roof over your head, feed your children, pay for your car or simply afford you the lifestyle you’ve grown accustomed to.

If you start a new business, how quickly can you recover or generate that income you’ve given up?

Working with start-up and small businesses, I can tell you that some fly by the seat of their pants and it magically works out for them.

I personally don’t suggest that.

For the majority, flying by the seat of your pants doesn’t work out.

I’ve also seen people return to a job they do not want, because they have not generated the income they had anticipated in their own business.

I definitely recommend that you have a plan in place. At the very least, do some research in this area to get a better idea of what needs to happen in your business for you to generate the level of income you’re accustomed to.

Preparing for Your Business

It makes good sense to do plenty of research on your new business and get all your questions answered before you make any decisions on anything.

Consider these ideas:

Get an insider’s opinion. If you could get an insiders’ view of that business, it would serve you well. Standing on the outside looking in is a lot different from being on the inside looking out. It could save you a lot of time and money.

• Find someone who has already walked the path you intend to tread and ask them, “If you were doing this all over again, what would you do differently?” Their answer will probably be the most valuable conversation you could possibly have for your new business.

• Do the work yourself. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many people decide to start a business in a field that they’ve never worked in themselves.

  I’ve personally worked with a few people who decided they want to open a restaurant, yet have never worked in a restaurant themselves. Having that hands on knowledge can be a real eye opener for some. Personal, non related work experience can be a benefit when starting some businesses, but doesn’t necessarily translate to success in others.

How will you generate a profit? It’s important to figure out, to the best of your ability, the easiest and most effective way of generating a profit from your new business.

I’ve created a spreadsheet to help you do just that. If you would like a copy of this spreadsheet. Click the button at the bottom of this blog post if you’d like to receive a free copy.

How will you scale up? Determine what you need to have in place to scale it to handle ever larger volumes of customers. Customers are the key, because they are the people who will provide your profits.

How much time do you need to get the business started? Determine how much time you have available to get your business off the ground. Naturally, the more effort and energy you put in the quicker everything will go. If you’re a stay at home mom, you may have time during the day, while your children are at school to totally devote to starting your business and make quicker progress than the person who works a 50 hour week in a factory.
How long will it take for your business to generate some meaningful profit?

• Make a reasonable estimate based on the information collected.

• Consider starting your business as a side-hustle. Many people do this and do it successfully. This not only gives you the experience, but the time to generate the income you need to, to walk away from your day job. I’ve worked with individuals who were able to leave their day job in three months, while it’s taken others a few years.

• The spreadsheet I created will help give you an idea of a timeline as well.
  Once you’ve determined these aspects, it should be possible to calculate with some reasonable level of certainty what needs to be done in order for you to create a timeline for escaping from your current employment.

A Wise Way to Start Your Business

So, now you can quit your job, right? Hold on! You’re almost there!

Many smart people get their business into the marketplace by working part-time from home while they keep their regular job intact. This is “the side hustle.” Many people take this approach to starting a business. Even if it takes 9 months or a year, or even a couple of years, to get it working efficiently and effectively, it’s got to be worth it, right?

Remember to factor in some wiggle room for the unexpected, some down time, and even some holidays.

Talk to people who have already made this kind of transition to get a clearer idea on what is reasonable and doable for someone in your situation.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Remember, your new business should have no requirement for you to work 40, 50, or 60 hours a week.

Your intent is to move on up in terms of profit and income potential and move down in terms of time needed to create it.

Seriously consider working smarter, not harder. If hard work was any guarantee of success, most people would already be wealthy.

It’s not about working hard.

Implement as much automation as you can. This will help you to eliminate spending time on the mundane tasks, in order to focus your efforts on tasks that will make an impact in your business.

Your success will come from having a plan, an effective strategy, and the discipline and enthusiasm to follow through on it.

Once you’re confident that you have a profitable business plan, and you’re working part-time on your business and showing some profits, that’s the time for you to work out a sensible plan to quit your job.

Yes, it all takes patience. But remember: “All things in their season.” Soon, you’ll be looking back at the job you once had and looking forward to greater profits in your own business.

GET THE SPREADSHEET

Send me an email:

Terre@TerresBusinessSolutions.com