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“Are you on drugs?”
That was the response I received most often when I left a six figure annual income salary at 24 to start my own business. Most people were shocked by the fact after I had spent so many hours with this company, dropped out of school, and moved out of state to a place where I knew no one. It would seem easy to say I was committed to this new job and that it would create an income for me for years to come.
Well the truth is when you have the entrepreneur itch, it doesn’t matter how well you are getting paid. This is the big question that you will have to decide when to leave your job: How do I want to live my life?
A work at home business opportunity can be exciting, but hard to figure out when you don’t have the experience. To help you sift through the madness of sleepless nights, the groggy mornings at a cubicle with TS reports, and angry management yelling at you for being late to a meeting about the weekly meetings; let us discuss what you should weigh before making this Robert Frost-ish decision before reaching the tipping point.
What do you owe the company you work for?
Often you will have contractual obligations to your current employer that require you to stay with a company for a certain period of time. You might also have a non-compete clause in your contract that you will make it hard to start up your business if they are very similar businesses.
Often non-competes can be pretty shaky because many states make it hard to enforce it when you have a right to work with your trade. You have a responsibility to feed your family and the government won’t hold you back from that. Companies tend to be more concerned that you are stealing their trade secrets. That might require you to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Even more than contractual, you might feel that you have a moral responsibility toward your company because of what they have done for you. They have provided a living for you, possibly an education, a chance to feed your family, and put a roof over your head.
One of the smartest things you can do is figure out if you can trust your employer and be honest with them about your feelings to move forward with your life. This is what my business partner did with his job and it made it easier for him to move on. Businesses are created by employees improving on business ideas of their former employers.
What responsibilities do you have toward your family?
This very well could be the most important aspect you will have to face when deciding to leave your job. I once heard a man say, “No success in the world can compensate for failure in the home.”
Your family is your legacy and what you will leave behind when you pass from this world. Never forget that work is just a means to spend more time with them and take care of them.
Decide what will help you spend more quality time with your family. If you are stressed all the time with your job, but still get to spend time with your family; is that what you want? Do you want your time spent with them to be less significant because you are cranky?
Would it be even more stressful for you to leave your job and work from home while you are trying to start your business? Can you leverage your business enough so you can still spend time with your family? What will help you to provide for your family’s future, such as retirement for you and your spouse, or college funds for your children?
There are a lot of questions to be asked, but you have to decide what weighs as the most significant aspect of your relationships. Look at what you are doing right now and ask yourself, “Is this day-to-day routine getting me what I want?”
How stable is your job?
Google is well known for not paying their employees amazing salaries, but compensating that with stock options and restricted shares. Well in less than a year the stock options have dropped from $747 to $348. That is a 53% drop. I am sure the package is not looking as enticing to Google employees right now.
So many people rest on the security of their job, but they don’t realize that it can be gone faster than an ABC sitcom. Numerous industries have struggled since 9/11, and it has spread farther with the mortgage crisis and subprime lending. It looks like it will get worse before it gets better with the current $700 billion bailout.
You can’t count on retirement, social security, or pensions. You might be lucky to have some, but it doesn’t mean that it will be enough. It might be hard for you to believe, but one day you will be obsolete and useless to the workforce. The only way to solve this is to prepare now while you have the chance and put some dollars in the right investments and under your pillows.
This is why it is always important to have a business of some kind. Even while you are working you should have a business running on the side. Robert Kiyosaki used the term, “Mind your own business”. Always look to create an asset on the side even if you like your job enough to stay with it forever.
Why do you want to leave your job?
Think for a moment why you want to leave your job. Were you offended? Are you just plain tired of your cubicle? Are you frustrated because you are putting on weight or feel pointless in life? Not enough fantasy football preparation for your $60 pot? There are many reasons to hate doing the same thing every day for forty years.
Decide if now is the time to leave and if you are exiting for the right reasons. Any one can leave their job, but are you prepared or is this something that you are doing out of frustration for your current work situation?
Often that frustration can be fruitless for you and for your future. A successful business is not started out of anger, but in providing value with your innovations. People are not going to give you money just because you hate your boss (unless you get picked to be on some reality show).
What is your business plan?
Providing value leads to our next question and that is a business plan. Do you know exactly what it is that you want to do? Do you know who your client is and what it is that they want? Do you know then how you are going to market that to your audience? How are you funding the business?
You might need to get to know the industry and prospects a little more before you leave your job. This will give you a good idea of what they want instead of what you think they want. This will also help with any product or service creation that you will embark upon.
Create a clear path, both short-term and long-term, of what you want to accomplish and how you are going to achieve that. Set realistic income goals and work your butt off to achieve that.
Understand that business opportunities don’t always go the way you anticipate it. In fact, business plans are killed by performing a business. Which means there are always variables in business that you can never anticipate and can permanently alter your direction. Remember when we talked about BI (Business Intent)? You need to ask yourself daily, “What is the main objective that I need to accomplish today?”
How committed are the other business partners and potential investors?
It can be a nightmare to get into a business and find out that your business partners are not a good match to work with or vice versa. You have made this huge transition away from a job, only to find out that you jumped into a pool full of sharks. This is something else you are can’t anticipate, but make sure you are joining a partner because they bring value that you can’t provide on your own.
Also make sure that if you are getting venture capital that you have a contract and a solid relationship. I emphasize the solid relationship part because the truth is that contracts can be twisted and broken by corrupt businessmen. Prepare for the unexpected.
If you are franchising or starting an organized business opportunity you want to make sure that you have a disclosure agreement in writing for any home work business opportunities. This will be important for you to see all of their financial dealings, what type of branding and marketing you will receive, and also what education you will get.
How is your credit?
Not only will this be important for your business, but possibly more important for your personal finances. Business owners have a way of struggling initially until they figure out an effective business model and chances are you are going to be no different.
It might be necessary to live off of credit for a while during your start up process. This can be dangerous, but often the only option if you don’t have a lot of savings. I have a business partner that is prepared with over $100,000 over a couple lines of credit. It will allow for him and his family to live for over a year on that, but obviously that isn’t what he wants.
A lot of people shun borrowing because debt can be taxing on you physically and emotionally. The truth is that debt is one of the biggest reasons for divorces and relationship struggles. Be on the same page as the other members of your family.
If you are all willing to borrow in order to create success then do it. People borrow money for countless things that will never make them money like clothes, cars, nice restaurants, and other accessories. Why not go into debt with something that would create value?
What experience do you have running a business?
Your experience is huge. I am not just saying it is important to have a trade, but it is also necessary to have experience running a business. You have to know how to organize a business with each vital position. Create a business organization chart with each position of the company and their vital roles. Then fill in each position with the name of the person performing that role. If you are a one man show, then you are going to put your name in each one of those boxes.
When you do this you will quickly see that this could be a lot of work. Most people get in trouble because they try to be the owner (creative side), manager (delegating responsibilities from the owner), and the technician (performing the physical trade). Often people get caught up in doing all three. Now you are the same employee, but you have numerous other responsibilities on top of it.
Try to find your way out of that and just focus on the creative direction of your business. The more time you spend on creativity, the more efficient your business will be.
So What Do I Do?
That is a lot to chew on. The best thing you can do is take your time, write down a list of pros and cons, put together a thorough business plan, discuss with potential partners and investors, and make sure that you are fully ready to make the transition. In the end, it comes down to your confidence in your own abilities. There is never a wrong time to leave your job as long as you are prepared physically, emotionally, intellectually, and every other -ally that you can be to start a business.
Know that there isn’t a perfect time to leave, but there are better times. Don’t wait too long to jump into a new business. Whatever decision you make, ‘mind your business’ now so you can prepare for your future.
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