How To Start A Business When You Have A Full Time Job
There is a whole bunch of reasons why people would love to start a business.
Some hate their job. Others are fed up with the long commute to and from work. Some hate being away from their
family for so long while others are desperate to create a much better lifestyle for themselves and their family,
pay off debts, and actually enjoy life.
Do you fit in there somewhere?
If you decide to start a business or are in the process of starting your own business, you may be
attracted by the dreams of freedom, working the hours that suit you instead of someone else, and being your own
boss. This is often the kind of goals that motivate people who want to make money online. Those ideals are great things to aim for but with
freedom there comes added responsibility.
Due to the lack of cash flow or budget constraints or simply because you are not certain that if you start
a business it will support your family and pay far more than your job does, you may need to keep your full time job
going at the same time you start a business. The price to pay for this is that you will definitely need structure
and a lot of discipline if you want to stand any chance of succeeding.
So how do you start a business when you have a full time job?
Structure and discipline are needed because the picture you have of no more commuting, not having to account to
anyone, and only working a few hours a day may seem idyllic but, remember, until that day arrives you have
to make money doing a 9 to 5 job, start a
business, run a business all at the same time.
If you are not structured in your working methods you are going to waste a great deal of time and be a lot less
productive.
While you continue to work and prepare to start a business take the following points into consideration:
Set the expectation in your own mind and the mind of others such as family and friends that it is going to be
tough at the beginning.
Decide how many hours a day you can dedicate when you start a business. Let’s get real here – when you start a
business while holding down a full time job you are going to think that there just aren’t enough hours in the day
to accomplish everything that you want to. If you think about this for a moment, none of us have time to do all the
things we want to so we prioritize and compromise.
It doesn’t matter which method you prefer, some form of time and task management is absolutely necessary.
Whether you use a diary, time manager, a spreadsheet, or other software, what is important is that you have the
structure in place and the discipline to use it.
When you start a business with the knowledge that your time is limited, using the structure of time and task
management tools will maximize your productivity and definitely stop you from stressing out.
Still on the topic of structure and discipline, if you start a business from home, do you:
- Have a suitable room or private place where you can work uninterrupted?
- Have all the equipment and resources in place?
- Have the discipline to work at home without being distracted?
- Have a family that will respect your business time?
- Have the discipline to focus on the priorities?
- Do you have the determination to succeed?
When you start a business while fully employed you also need to think about key strategic concerns such
as:
- Making time to research your market
- Learning the business skills needed if you don’t have them already
- Developing your business and marketing plans
- Marketing offline and online
- Delegating or outsourcing non-critical activities
- Financial accounting
- Management accounting
Before you are ready to start a business, what plans do you have in place to finance it? Do you know how much
money is needed to start a business based on your idea? Do you know what the operating costs are? Do you have all
the resources and equipment in place so that you can start a business with the least amount of investment and fuss?
If you don’t have savings or all your full time job pays is already accounted for, this is all the more reason for
having a well constructed and documented business plan in case you need to raise finance when you eventually start
a business.
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