There’s nothing as interesting as the idea of being your own boss. The idea of supposedly being answerable to no one.
The idea of having your own thing and working on your own terms although the actual reality is usually slightly different. This idea has seen many flirt with the likelihood of quitting their job as soon as yesterday. Many have actually gone a head to take that leap of faith blindly.
Every one surely has a different experience if you asked them but generally it doesn’t end well for those who make the decision emotionally.
Quitting your job to start up a business shouldn’t be an act of emotions. You shouldn’t do so simply because you had a misunderstanding with HR or are not happy about something in the company that just happened abruptly.
Your decision shouldn’t be made because you woke up in the morning and felt like you no longer want to go back to work.
The transition from fully employed to starting and running your own business has to be a very well thought out one. Very well planed and executed otherwise the out come may not be the desirable one.
Transition can’t be an overnight thing it’s something you have to plan and prepare for for some time . It’s also something you need to prepare those around your for more so those that depend on you for survival like your family. You don’t want the resistance to come from so close to you, your household.
If you have a partner and children, you need to prepare them for the transition because it’s surely going to affect you and affect them too inherently. You will have unstable incomes which will affect your previous way of life when you had a job with predictable income.
You surely want your family to be prepared for this because how much you have to spend will be grossly affected and the transition may require making certain reasonable adjustments.
For example if your monthly expenditure was 1M you may have to cut it by half to fit your new life style as a start up business owner.
Don’t plan with the presumption that when you open up tomorrow, right away money will start flowing in because truth is most small businesses may need averagely a year before they’re in a good position to be able to take care of themselves and you the owner.
This means in that one year you will have to have another plan to be able to take care of yourself since life won’t come to a standstill till the business is in a good place. Saving an equivalent of a years salary my be wise or at least saving an equivalent of 6 months salary and cutting down your expenditure by half. As you raise capital for the business don’t forget to raise money to take care of your needs and responsibilities during the time the business is gaining financial stamina to finally be able to take care of you.
You could chose to just walk away and go try your luck or start something on the side and move when it is in a promising place.
This all gets down to how much risk you can afford to take. Going all in gives the business more chances of success because then you get to give it your all but not every one has the luxury to take such a risk.
The other thing would be going into a partnership with a partner who has the time to have boots on ground full time. The priority here is to make the transition a smooth one otherwise when it becomes a rocky one or failed one it’s something you may never recover from.
That’s how people go back to where they came from swearing never to try again. “I will never try starting a business ever again” they swear to themselves forgetting they never gave themselves a good chance from the start.
So before you move have it planned out don’t make an emotional decision. Chances are so high you’re more likely to regret than be happy.
I know every rule has an exception but don’t bet on you being the exception to the rule. Give your self all the chances there are to succeed.
Jaluum Herberts Luwizza is a Speaker, Writer also a Business Consultant at YOUNG TREP East Africa’s No.1 Business Management and Consultancy firm that helps people start and grow profitable businesses.
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