How do I know if I’m ready to start my own business?
“I think you’re ready to start a business when you no longer want a W-2 job. When that does not motivate you. When you can get another W-2 job, but that’s not where your heart is.” Plenty of people—business owners, married couples and more—will often tell you, of any big venture, “You’ll never be 100% ready.” And there is some truth to that. No matter how motivated and excited you are, and no matter how good your idea is, you can find a million different things to prevent you from taking the plunge. The biggest deterrent to entrepreneurs starting their own business? Fear.
Working for someone else, you have a lot of stability. Knowing what you will do on a day-to-day basis, when (and from where) your next paycheck will come—you don’t have much to worry about. When you work for someone else, however, you can only move so far within the company before your growth has to stop. You can only grow if your boss grows.
This isn’t a problem for most people. And, there is nothing wrong with being comfortable in your current position and craving that stability. Making sure you have the means to live the life you want is the most important thing—how you get there is up to you.
For those of us who want more than what working for someone else can give us, we have to learn how to leave our comfort zones. Starting your own business requires taking a lot of risks and facing a lot of uncertainty.
How do you do this? What are the first steps you have to take to start a business?
There is no right or wrong way to start your business. Completely quitting your job before you have your new business on the ground doesn’t seem like a sound idea, especially in the event it takes longer than projected for your business to be up and running. Many entrepreneurs starting a new project start first with a side-hustle—something that they can manage after hours and on weekends. As business grows and you need to increase capacity, consider asking your regular full-time employer if you can work reduced hours. Once you’ve outgrown part-time work on your business venture, you are ready to work for yourself full-time!
Key takeaway: make sure you have the means to support yourself through your business before diving in head-first. Ensure you are still able to support yourself or your family, while still pursuing your goals.
How to get over the fear of starting your own business
“One way is to hire a firm like ours.” The team at Tom Dunn CPA has clients that come to us once a year for their taxes; however, the largest portion of our clients is comprised of small business owners, mid-size business owners, non-profits, families and trusts—meaning this is what we do day in and day out. We focus on smaller clients and give them the guidance and attention they need. We have the capacity that larger firms don’t have to forge genuine relationships with each of our clients. Without any guidance, entrepreneurs have around a 5% chance for success in their new business; with guidance from a team like ours, that success rate jumps to about 50%. We want to see you succeed and will help you through one, two or more business ventures until you get it right.
The most important piece of advice I can give to any entrepreneur starting their own business is to get some guidance, get some support and don’t try to do it all on your own.
