You
have a full-time job but secretly you yearn to break
free of the corporate shackles and strike out on your own.
You have a great idea for a business but you need the income
from your job to pay your mortgage and to feed yourself
while you get it underway. Sound familiar? This article
considers this dilemma and suggests how you might make the
break from paid workforce to your own full-time home business
when financial necessity dictates a regular and
uninterrupted monthly income.
This
may be obvious but it bears restating: if you need a
regular paycheck to survive, DON'T give up your day job
until you have another regular, consistent income stream to
take its place. This applies even if you are absolutely
convinced that your business idea is a surefire formula for
financial success. It may be, but even the most successful
businesses take time to get of the ground and most have a few
false starts before they finally take off.
If
you can't afford to give up your paid income while you
build your business, then you have no choice but to start
your home business as a side project and run it alongside
your job. To make any sort of progress in your home
business, plan to devote two to three hours a day at an
absolute minimum to your business.
Because
your time is extremely limited, you need to be
ruthlessly efficient with what you do with it. For example,
can you find spare pockets of time during your workday? If
you are running an internet-based business and use a
computer as part of your day job, this MAY be a possibility
but be careful here. Don't risk your job for your business
if you can't afford to lose that income. I'm not suggesting
here for a second that you conduct your business on company
time, at least when you have work to do. If you have some
downtime during your day, though, then do look for ways to
use that time productively.
Other
ways to squeeze time out of your day include foregoing
TV in the evening and/or getting up an hour earlier. In
other words, get your priorities straight.
If
your home business is related to your paid job, be
extremely careful not to create a conflict of interest for
yourself. In particular, do NOT deal with your employer's
clients as part of your business. Not only is it unethical
but, when the time comes and you make the break from
workforce to full-time home business, those clients may well
follow you and your employer would have every right to take
legal action against you for breach of your employment
contract.
Another
difficulty you can get yourself into in this area is
where to draw the line, if challenged, between what is
confidential information and what is just general knowledge
you carry around in your head. You cannot use confidential
information you obtained in the course of your job in your
business. Your general knowledge is not considered
confidential information. Examples of confidential
information include customer lists, knowledge of the systems
and procedures of your employer's business, trade secrets and
the like. For these sorts of reasons, it really is advisable
not to choose for your home business what you do in your job.
It
is a good idea to be discreet in the workplace about your
extracurricular activities. Don't go out of your way to
advertise the fact that you have started your own business.
At best you will expose yourself to the increased scrutiny
of your boss who may be concerned you will conduct your
business on company time. At worst, you may jeopardize your
chances for advancement if your outside activities convey
the message that you are only a temporary fixture who will
leave as soon as your business starts generating enough
income for you. Although you may not be particularly
concerned about career advancement because you plan to leave
to run your own business, at least consider your position if
your home business dreams don't pan out the way you hope.
It is very difficult to resurrect an ambitious image once
you've let it slide.
Finally,
and especially during this 'double duty' period be
sure to allow sufficient time each week for relaxation and
taking care of yourself. This means paying attention to
your nutrition, exercise routine and getting adequate sleep
and well as allowing for pure downtime. The demands on your
body during the double duty period can be pretty intense.
You don't want to be taking on this challenge if you're
rundown, unfit and aren't getting enough sleep. All areas
of
your life will only suffer if you're in this state. So, stay
ahead of the game by eating right, exercising and getting
plenty of sleep and relaxation.
After
some time, your business will begin to generate income
for you. As you start generating more income, you will
begin to turn your mind to deciding at what point it becomes
uneconomic to continue your day job. This is because, at a
certain point, your business will reach 'critical mass', the
level at which it becomes uneconomic to continue your day
job because the return you get for your time and effort is
greater from your home business. This is because your
salary doesn't vary according to effort and results (at
least not directly), but your home business income does.
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Elena Fawkner is editor of the award-winning weekly ezine,
A Home-Based Business Online, a down-to-earth publication
containing practical home-based and online business ideas,
telecommuting job listings, original articles, free e-books and
much more. She also runs the A Home-Based Business Online
website at at http://www.fawkner.com.
You can subscribe to her newsletter at the site.
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