So You Want To Quit Your Job & Start A Business

You've listened to all the gurus. You own all the motivational books and audiobooks, you have read them multiple times. You are watching webinars during your lunch break or after work. Your weekends are packed with seminars and workshops. You are motivated and ready to start your first company. You know you will be successful and your company will flourish so you decide that you will quit your job!

STOP! DON'T DO IT YET!

Let's go over your options before you decide it is time to quit.

Is it really time for you to quit? This is a question you really need to ask yourself. Although you may strongly dislike your job or maybe you are ready for a change, you need to know whether you will be able to survive without your job and you have to know if your business will survive without your job.

Jobs are where we exchange our time for money and we use that money to pay our bills. These steady paychecks can help you on your journey to entrepreneurship. When many entrepreneurs look at jobs we see them as balls and chains. We feel as though trading our time for money is not the most effective way to earn money. This way of thinking can lead you to quit your job prematurely.

Leaving your job prematurely can have a lot of negative consequences such as unable to pay your bills, cash flow issues, unable to make payroll, etc. While your job may not be where you want to be at the moment, it can be easier if you switch your perspective. Your job can be the thing that funds your dream.

Your dream of starting your own business is an amazing dream and goal to have. It can be very rewarding, but there are challenges that come along with that dream. Money happens to be one of the difficulties. Many new businesses go out of business because :

82% – Poor cash flow management skills/poor understanding of cash flow
79% – Starting out with too little money
78% – Lack of well-developed business plan, including insufficient research on the business before starting it
77% – Not pricing properly or failure to include all necessary items when setting prices
73% – Being overly optimistic about achievable sales, money required, and about what needs to be done to be successful
70% – Not recognizing or ignoring what they don’t do well and not seeking help from those who do

(https://www.preferredcfo.com/cash-flow-reason-small-businesses-fail/)

Money issues are a huge issue for entrepreneurs. If your business suffers from cash flow issues, things aren't priced right or you underestimated the cost of starting your business your personal finances, as well as your business finances, will suffer. But holding onto your job until your business is able to sustain itself can help.

Staying employed during the early stages of the startup can help in many ways. One way that it can help is you can hold off on giving yourself a salary in order to put all the profit back into the company to allow for growth. Another way that it can help is if your business is in need of cash you can put money from your job into your business rather than taking on more debt by borrowing.

Now many of you are thinking about taking on investors and that can be a great idea. Angel Investors and venture capitalists can really help take your business to the next level. By taking on investors you are starting a business with other people's money. While many investors are eager to put their money into a project that they think will be successful, many investors want to see their prospective entrepreneurs invest some of their own money into the project as well. Keeping your job and putting your own money into the project can help to get you more money from investors.

Investors are available to put their money into your project, but it does come with a price. When an angel investors or a venture capitalist put their capital into your business they become part owners of the business. You are basically selling them a portion of your business. When money trouble arises in a startup many entrepreneurs will look towards their investors for more capital, but when the investors give you more money you must give them more equity in your business. If you still have income coming in from your job in the beginning stages, you can put more of your money back into the company and maintain majority control.

Quitting your job in order to focus on your business can be a great feeling. There will definitely be a time during your journey as a business owner and founder where you will have to devote more time to your company. When that time comes quitting will be an option, but do not make the mistake of quitting prematurely.