Some time ago, I posted an article on how to start your own business while you work a full-time job. I provided a variety of reasons why this is a good idea. I also included some concrete steps.
An entrepreneur and marketer who teaches others how to make worthwhile self-employed careers. (His online course “Launching A Business while working” and “Writing an Effective Proposal for Freelance” will teach you how to create and grow your own company while also working full-time.)
Article continues after video
We’ve never seen this rapid growth with regards to the amount of new entrepreneurs who are now working on their own. Starting with app development, to content marketers who are freelance, entrepreneurs, business advisors and even startup founders There’s no shortage of people who are willing to take huge and calculated risks to create their own dream jobs as self-employed.
Furthermore, a lot of these entrepreneurs are quick to grow their small businesses to millions of dollars.
A recent study conducted by Bentley University, over 66 percent of millennials claimed to are interested in starting their own business. But, as of 2013 just 3.6 percent of the businesses within the U.S. were owned by individuals under 30. It’s clear that there’s a significant difference in the number young people who want to be their own bosses, and those who actually manage to achieve it.
It’s not because of a insufficient education. Access to cheap and free online educational resources, through platforms like CreativeLive, Lynda.com, General Assembly and many others have significantly reduced learning curve and obstacles to entry into a variety of industries. With online learning options as easily accessible as the internet, you have really no reason to not learn new ideas and developing impressive skills, if determined enough.
Through my research I’ve identified the top three reasons why people fail to follow through when they decide to start their own business A lack of confidence in their abilities and a perception of a insufficient amount of resources and, lastly the lack of motivation.
The process of starting and growing a profitable company is a challenge. Being able to do it while still working full-time, and making a profit for yourself is more difficult. (I am aware of this because I’ve tried it several times.)
Beginning a business when you’re working full-time may provide you with a variety of luxuries and investments that are thrown out of the window once you leave your job to pursue your business idea. Apart from the obvious benefit of earning a steady income to help fund your venture, to the additional advantages, like having to concentrate on what will yield the most impact and reducing the pressure on your own self, I’ve personally seen positive outcomes from starting while working.
However, to achieve this, you’ll need a strategy. Here are my top 10 steps to start your own business, while you continue to work full-time.
1. Consider how much you would like it
The process of starting a business can be difficult, and will strain your relationships and always force you into making difficult choices.
Note down the various commitments and activities you’re involved with in your daily life along with the amount of time you commit to each one during the week. Make note of those you are able to cut back your involvement in and let others know you’re taking a step back little to concentrate on a new endeavor that is important to you. Take note of the things that are easy first: watching television or playing video games or browsing Facebook as well as Instagram.
the more hours you get rid of, the quicker you’ll begin realizing outcomes.
2. Take note of your strengths, talents and weak points
What skills does your new venture need? It’s likely that you already have one of the skills required to get your business off the ground If you don’t have them, you’ll be faced with the difficult decision of. Learn something new or outsource the work to another person who can assist.
This Skill Assessment In this assessment, you’ll lay the skills and assets that your business idea needs and determine what you are able to or not able to do right now for yourself.
3. Test your business plan
Fortune magazine has recently carried out a comprehensive analysis of 101 failed ventures, exploring the reasons why startups fail, according to their founders. The No. one reason why companies do not succeed Fortune discovered, was the lack of a market demand in their service (this was the reason cited by over 42 percent of businesses that failed).
This highlights the necessity to thoroughly validate your idea and seek honest feedback from your potential clients before starting making, designing, or spending money. It’s human nature to believe we’re right, and that your ideas will always be great.
Many times, the business strategies and ideas for products are often not well thought-out or useful, let alone thoroughly investigated.
4. Record what your advantage competitively
Competitive advantage is defined as an advantage that lets you as a business to increase profits or sales, and also to acquire and keep more customers over your competition. It’s what makes you yours.
This could take the shape of your pricing structure, product offerings distribution system, customer support or any other area of your business.
5. Create detailed, measurable, and attainable objectives that are realistic, measurable, and detailed
If you don’t establish attainable goals and deadlines that are realistic for you You’ll spend much of your time doing nothing but spinning your wheels. It’s tough to make progress without knowing exactly where you’re headed. My experience has taught me that it is best to establish daily as well as weekly and monthly objectives for me. This helps me stay with my short-term as well as long-term goals.
At first your goals for the day are probably small successes or to-do list things, but you’ll eventually begin to hit milestones as you are close to the launch of your company.
6. Plan your game plan for the launch date and then beyond
It’s one thing setting your goals but a totally different task to sketch the exact route you’ll take to reach point B, C, D, and more. You must be active in this process. It’s not easy for anyone to do this to you. However, you will not be able to accomplish it all by yourself as well.
WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann is a strong advocate for “always having a backup plan.” He’s transformed his co-working spaces into multi-billion-dollar business.
Your ability to think through and overcome your challenges will determine the extent of success for your company.
7. Find a way to outsource everything
It’s all about focusing. Consider outsourcing all aspects of your business’s development that you could.
You don’t need someone else to plan your objectives, your roadmap or telling you 100 % the way your service or product needs to appear like. The main point is that you must focus on the things you’re best at. Although it would be wonderful to be able to code your personal website to test your service online idea in the event that you don’t have an understanding of programming websites, you’re in for some months of learning time to reach the stage where you’ll begin to grasp the fundamentals.
8. Always seek feedback
The goal is to create an item or service that will be beneficial to customers. It’s useless to create something that no one would want. It’s essential to get external, impartial feedback to ensure that you’re creating something that’s commercially viable.
Start this process from the beginning and don’t ever stop. To determine your first feedback group, you must target people whom you are confident will provide you with only a true and honest review. Contact them directly. My preferred group is several my closest entrepreneurial friends as well as a handful of mentors who I often keep in contact with.
At this point, you are able to begin to broaden your options for feedback, and start incorporating Facebook, LinkedIn Groups, Reddit, ProductHunt, GrowthHackers and even the local Starbucks.
9. Do not make a distinction between your personal work and work
It’s appealing to design the “better version of the Company You work for,” but unless your employer failed to learn a few important lessons during the course of their work Your contract likely states that you’ve not agreed to create a better version of the company. In addition, it’s a poor practice, and it could (will) ruin a lot of relationships which could help you in the future.
If you’re subject to non-compete clauses or assignments of invention clauses or non-disclosure agreements you should consult with your lawyer for guidance on this issue.
It might seem obvious, but do not work in your work during office time.
It is also important to stay away from using resources provided by the company for your own personal projects regardless of how tempting it may seem. This includes avoiding working with your computer from work, or any software, tools, online notebooks, subscriptions or even notebooks and not requesting assistance from other employees.
10. Attain critical mass before quitting your job
It’s not a secret that I’m in favor of doing things I’m interested in and doing them 100% of my attention. However, I’m able to invest the time thoroughly evaluating the idea, finding my market of choice and then testing the idea with them before making the decision on my own that “this must be fantastic!”
The time you spend considering the options and asking for the opinions of other people will greatly help your business.
More important, unless you’re working on a fast-growing startup and you’re able to get investor financing (or you’re able self-fund) it’s likely that you’ll require a steady income before your venture becomes the sole source of food for you.
The idea of starting your own business when you have in full-time employment will definitely be challenging however, it’s possible. There are many avenues to entrepreneurial success just as entrepreneurs the world. Consider these tips and you’ll soon be on the road to becoming your own boss.