by Sunday Steinkirchner, Contributor
Going off on your own is not an easy feat. We know- it was a risky
move when my partner and I quit our day jobs to pursue bookselling
full-time. Our first few months were scary, but we had prepared
ourselves for the shock of lost comforts and the gamble of living on one
income. While you can’t be prepared for everything, here are some
questions you should ask yourself before taking your big leap:
1. Do I have the foundation I need to start right now?
The best time to prepare for launching your own business is while
you’re still working another job. With steady income as your safety net,
you can experiment and take risks with various business opportunities
before going solo. Use this time to build on your experience and
establish a customer base. This is also the time to save money. You’ll
need enough for business start-up, but don’t forget what you’ll need for
the ongoing cost of running your business. New businesses need time to
become established, and yours will not be able to grow if your new
income is paying for your day-to-day expenses. By the time we quit our
day jobs, we had been running our book business on the side for four
years. Our financial safety net was enough to cover our running costs
and living expenses for one year, plus extra so we could continue to buy
inventory.
Note: This is also a good time to think about other expenses you’ll
be taking on (health insurance, retirement savings, office rent and
materials, etc.) These are often the easiest expenses to overlook when
your employer has been providing them up to this point.
2. How do I handle the unknown?
When someone asks us for advice on starting a business, we tell them
our horror stories: low sales months, deadbeat clients, the economic
crash of 2008. This works as a litmus test of sorts, to test their
readiness for dealing with challenges. The best business owners rely on
their creativity and determination to get themselves through tough
times. Do mistakes halt your progress, or do you treat every failure as a
learning experience? We pressed our friends and colleagues for their
horror stories first. Ask yourself (or other business owners) “What’s
the worst thing that can happen?” and “What’s the strangest thing that
can happen?” When something goes wrong in your new business, there won’t
be a superior to help you out. Write your own policies and solidify
your business practices before these situations arise. Thinking about
worst case scenarios can ready you for unsettling situations, and you’ll
be less afraid of the unknown.
3. How will I fill my day?
One of the perks of business ownership is that you can manage your
own schedule, but it could take some time before you’re used to this.
Give yourself some structure before you fall head first into a time
warp. Good business owners are naturally independent and self-starting.
Do you have the training and expertise to be a good leader and a
competent manager? I find that if too much freedom is getting the better
of me, giving myself more structured hours increases my productivity.
Treating my home office like a real office (and getting out of my
pajamas) helps, too.
4. If all else fails, what’s my exit strategy?
This is not to get you discouraged before you even begin, but another
part of preparing and planning ahead. Even solid business models can
struggle, so consider ways of reducing your expenses to get yourself
through lean times. If you can’t trim expenses, save for a larger safety
net before you start (see Question #1). When you leave your job, make
sure not to burn your bridges. Keep in touch with your old employer,
especially for the first few months. If all failed for us, we planned to
return to our old trades, and possibly move out of NYC for a while to
reduce our living expenses. Thinking about our Plan B motivated us to
work even harder so we could avoid resorting to it.
Running your own business takes much more than having passion and the
belief that you will fill a need in the marketplace. Instead of taking a
shot in the dark, plan your moves carefully to reduce your risk of
failing.
kumaran nadaraja
No comments:
Post a Comment