Should you quit your job to become an entrepreneur?
Many people ask me this question when they are considering to work for themselves, they look at their savings and see if maybe they can quit their job to focus on their new business.
They often say, that they are too distracted with their current job and if they feel the pressure of not having an income they will push themselves more aggressively to succeed, but is this really true? — And what is really the best way to start a new business? The answer is different for everyone.
I would ask you first to evaluate your current situation. Are you single? Are you married? Do you have a partner that can support you and family while you get to learn the first lessons of starting a new business? Will it require a lot of money to invest? Will it be a product that needs to be developed and some trial and error will be needed to test it if is a prototype? How much money do you have in savings and will these cover all your basic expenses, and the cost of the business? — Another thing to consider, is will you be fully motivated when you feel the ‘heat’ of starting to see the bills pile up and your money is quickly vanishing faster than you can make it? and more important will your emotional health be ok to handle the stress without affecting your relationships.
The hardest part of being an entrepreneur or starting a new business is not actually the work you will have to do, or the lessons you will have to learn. If you put aside the stress of the money factor, anybody can create a new business. The hardest part is how to be able to stay positive, strong, disciplined, energetic, at peace, confident, creative to develop new ideas, stay inspired, and more important be able to adapt to the constant changes without losing your mind, or temper. This is the most stressful part about being an entrepreneur when you start losing everything or your basic needs. This can take the joy and excitement away of pursuing your dreams.
I say, if you have a spouse or family that can support you and the business expenses, go for it! You are lucky! And more power to you, because you will be more empowered to succeed under better circumstances. The lessons to be learned will be to have discipline, driven, not get too comfortable and really see this opportunity as a blessing that many wish they had, and value the time to make it happen.
But if you are single, or have a family to support I would not jeopardize the stability of your current job, and is best to start small and slow until you see a good chunk of steady income coming in your way until you feel you have learned the tough lessons to grow confident the business, int other words make the transition more organically.
But if you must quit your job or feel you may have hit the end of your career and is time for a change, then let’s look at your numbers. The best way to know is how long really your money will last until you run out of cash and you have to find yourself another job to recover from the damage of losing your savings. A simple formula is to add the total of your cost of living down to the last cent, including a little extra for emergencies. Add the total of expenses for your new business, including extra for additional expenses. Divide your total amount of savings of a year by the total of both personal and business expenses. The total number will be the how long your money will last in months. This is why is important to have a basic business plan so you know by when you should expect to make some money, if not, you may realize that maybe you don’t have that much money saved after all, and you may reconsider your job is not that bad to hold on for a little longer until you are more comfortable to make the switch.
Another thing to keep in mind is to really know yourself and your personality type. Some people do have the stories that they started in a new city with only $1000 USD and they turned that into a multi-million dollar business. It sounds amazing. But in the many people I have interviewed I still have not met someone that succeeded under that kind of situation, but if you find yourself with only $1000 in your pocket, I am sure you will have to do whatever it takes to survive. This is where airbnb, uber, Lyft and those platforms that offer a quickly way to make some income are handy, they do not necessarily support your potential to achieve your best (this is why I created Successfuly), however those option will provide some income quickly without proving your professional credentials.
My advice is, if you can avoid this scenario, avoid it at all cause so you don’t suffer the stress in the process, you will already have to sacrifice a lot of things that will require a lot of adjustments so the less changes you create the more focused and prepared you will be for your coming success. Also do consider to find mentors, learn from experts, start working with people that are experienced in the business, not only they will be great connections to help you with the transition but you will learn from their lessons. Good and bad these will save you time in the beginning of your business. However you choose to start, never stop entirely or wait too long to start. As long as you are making progress, the results of your creation will have to show up!.