How To Quit Your Job And Start Your Own Business

3 min read By eCompareMo on July 29, 2016

Whether you are aiming to go solo (sole proprietorship), partner up with a trusted buddy (partnership), or band together with an all-star team (corporation/cooperative), entrepreneurship opens up a window of opportunities you wouldn’t normally find in a 9-5 job.

Quitting your dayjob and taking a shot at being your own boss has its limitations, though. Owning your own business venture is not exactly sitting down and barking orders at your subordinates. While you can have things just the way you want them, your position also calls for you to be flexible to whatever the situation demands—even if it involves literally getting your hands dirty.

Aside from devoting the basic T’s—time, talent, and treasure—to your company, there are also other important things to consider when building your startup venture.

Realize a justified motivation

How do you know it’s time to quit your job and be your own boss? Just because you lack motivation or hate your former boss doesn’t mean you should be on your own. Make sure the reason is an off-shoot of passion or fulfilling your ambition. You will be taking multi tasks for everything to work. “You need to have an idea you are really passionate about or you’ll never make it through the first couple of years, which are extremely tough,” says Ashish Toshniwal.

Gear up with thick skin and iron-clad heart

Acquisition of commercial supplies, setting up for retail space, acquiring license and permits are tedious enough, yet they’re only the tip of the iceberg. With trial and error, you’ll feel disheartened too. Ross Levine, an economist and chair in banking and finance from the University of California, underscores on the importance of confidence: “There are failures, it’s risky, there are rejections, it’s difficult. You need a thick skin a lot of confidence about your own abilities,” he says.

Learn from your possible competitors

Probing is part and parcel of business planning. If your business is not first in the industry, look for business patterns and observe how competitors run their business. With such information at hand, think of ways to improve the products or services they offer. It’s going to be a race between you and your competitors. Remember that it doesn’t matter who started first—it’s always who becomes more successful. Look at Mark Zuckerberg’s Poke (201X) and Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy’s Snapchat (201x).

Face your money monsters

Aside from the capital you are going to shed, take into consideration your living budget and prepare a sizeable savings. Calculating your expenses will help eliminate or minimize possible financial burden. You should have an approximate savings for six months-worth of expense. Before you leave your job, it’s advisable that you bag your bonuses, 13th/14th month pay and other perks to aid in your finances. Importantly, make sure you are free from accumulated and swelling debts.

Strike while the iron is hot

Even the most genius business ideas fail due to lack of timing. Consider if your proposed business is in season by examining the current market and local economy. Will your target market be ready for your concept? Don’t forget to consider future business trends for long term sustainability. Make sure that you also know the basic money principles and the business language of accounting.

Plot for an efficacious customer acquisition

Gathering your customer through executing marketing strategies is also a must for a business to soar. Aside from a catchy business name, an attractive physical retail space, you can also create a buzz through building a website and boosting your company’s social media presence. Notably, however you wish to present your company’s image, you must consider the cost as well.

Make that noisy tap and fortify your support system

Now that the business blue print is all settled, start tapping relevant people and ventures. Ask colleagues and family members to help you mobilize your network. Word of mouth is a powerful medium of advertising, but be sure that it is positive news that are spreading.

With all this at hand, you will be able to formulate your own business forecast. You are the one who can tell if you are truly geared up and ready. At the end of the day, you are the only one who can maneuver the flow of your new venture.