When do you take the leap from full-time work to full-time on your start-up business?

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Permalink Reply by Anjuli Burrell on May 30, 2009 at 6:41pm

This is exactly where I am at the moment - working full time in an ok job, admittedly it is helping me learn some relevant things that I can use in my business, but when it comes to the time left outside of work - when you divide it between the normal household things you have to do, trying to fit in some exercise, see you partner friends and family in there, and have time to focus on building the business, its a juggle!!! So any top tips would be great.

Permalink Reply by Keri Clarke on July 15, 2009 at 12:41pm

I've just gone through this- my employer was really helpful, and I was able to drop down to four days a week, and now I'm contracting back to them. I think it's amazing what you can get when you just ask- it's pretty exciting. But sometimes it's also good to take the leap (I heard a saying that "Once you take the leap, the net will appear") - for a year I was running the business at home in the evenings and on weekends, and I got SO burnt out. I'm so excited to be able focus solely on my business- and creating more of a balance between work, family and me-time.

Permalink Reply by Emma Clarke on July 21, 2009 at 7:22pm

This is one of the typical challenges when starting a business. In my experience its not uncommon for the founder(s) to have no wage in the first 2 years if the business cannot support it and to be doing other contract or full time work to support it until revenue can allow them leave their jobs. As a marketer who works with many start-up businesses I often meet great people with great ideas who underestimate the funds required to get their business off the ground. You can have great ideas but unless you have the funds to help get the product or service launched into the market place your target customers may never know about it. Obviously every business is different and will require different levels on investment, so depending on how much capital you need to launch your business, often staying in a full time job until your business starts returning a profit is really the best place to be.
Alternatively, to enable you to increase the hours that you are working in your start-up business sometimes finding a partner or investor (depending on what your product or service offering is) is often a good way to help alleviate problems with paying the bills. This is a good option if you can find the right person, especially when you need to spend more time in the business (rather than in your full time role) getting it set up and going. Alternatively there is the equity option i.e giving away a percentage of your business to someone who will not charge you for their time in return for expertise or services. Giving away equity in your business in exchange for services can be hugely beneficial when launching a new business - provided you choose the right person. Not only can that person provide services which you may have weaker skills in, they also provide their network of contacts and knowledge base to help get the business off the ground. They also have a vested interest in making the business successful.