Member Article

Is it time to ditch the day job?

Catherine Blackburn and Chris Garden, authors of Employee to Entrepreneur, share their view on switching from the day job to starting your own business.

If you are reading this article then to some extent you may be harbouring thoughts about starting your own business. Perhaps you have been a victim of the recession, or maybe it’s a longer held dissatisfaction with your current job or corporate life in general. On the other hand it could be that you may have always planned on running your own business and just need to work out if now is the right time.

Whatever has prompted you to consider leaving the comfort of life as an employee, the very best reason is less about what you don’t like about corporate life and more about the different opportunity that comes with being your own boss.

You will be able to create your own long-term vision for your work; planning when you work, how you will manage your earnings and ultimately an exit plan into retirement with much more control than if you are working for someone else. You will have the chance to improve the certainty in your future, increase the control over all aspects of your life and be able to properly plan for the long term.

In addition to these very tangible benefits there are also many intangible benefits including the satisfaction of building a business, working according to your own principles and values, working with people you like and respect and perhaps most of all, the psychological advantage of not being reliant on any employer for your living

Critical to your success as an entrepreneur is having a strong business idea and the means to execute it well. But equally critical is your personal motivation and mind-set. Without the right motivation you are unlikely to find the career satisfaction that you desire. If your motivation is only driven by the frustrations of corporate life, this is unlikely to be enough.

The right mind-set is in part about being brave but it is certainly not about being gung ho. It’s about having personal confidence in your judgement and a determination to follow it. In a small business most decisions will fall to you and you need to be sure that you will both cope and perhaps more importantly enjoy this.

This issue is less about risk tolerance. The right mind-set is about confidence in yourself; understanding that your experience and judgement combine to great effect. You will not always make the right calls but you can always move forward with the confidence that you have learned and improved and are more likely to make the best decision next time.

So in determining whether it’s time to ditch the day job, you should be very honest with yourself. Do you have the mindset to make a go of it, a real belief that it’s your time and that you are truly driven to make it work? If so, you have a unique opportunity to wrestle back some control in your life rather than be at the beck and call of your employer’s fortunes within a roller coaster economy. This could be your opportunity to take control of your future working life – are you ready to take it??

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Employee to Entrepreneur .