I was wondering about some of the experiences of the members. I work in a corporate environment now and I was thinking about starting my own business. But as you know it is difficult to leave the safety net. How did you do it? Did you always work for yourself? How did you make yourself take the leap?

We spent about 5 years planning it and we looked into health care, website etc well in advance of our leaving and we felt well prepared because most of the difficult things were in place.

I was in a similar position about 8 months ago and I finally took the leap. You have to just do it as Nike says. If you think too much about it you will talk yourself out of it. I remember in my MBA class the instructor said that the worst entrepreneurs were people with with a Phd because they knew all the potential shortcomings or challenges that they would have and would never make the bold moves. Some of the best entrepreneurs and most famous rather dropped out of college or never went to college.

It is not as hard as you think and you will quickly adjust to the new evironment. Just realize that everything will always be a lot slower than you thought from sales to the development of your website because you will have to focus on many areas at the start. Make sure you also have about 1 year of the cash flow you need to live on in the bank - good luck!

It is harder than you would imagine. Don't leave the stability of your job until you have plenty of savings to see you through. Depending on what you go into, it can take a long time to achieve enough profitablity to cover both personal and business expenses.

I often advise people that if they can keep their regular job and start their businesses on the side they should do that. Or if you have a spouse that can run the new business while you continue working you might consider doing that.

The beauty of an Internet business is you can start that on the side while continuing with your "day" job. It is much less costly to start than a brick and mortar business. It can however, take a long time to make enough to replace your regular paycheck.

You also need to keep in mind that you will need to provide your own health insurance. You may no longer have the perks you likely have from your corporate job. It can be a tough adjustment. However, being your own boss...priceless.

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Sylvia
http://smallbusinessstartup.BIZ
Small Biz Startup & Business Plan Help

Exactly the same with me.
Meanwhile I am preparing the most time consuming items that will be needed and my plans are to start as suggested by bizdev

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One of the biggest problems I see when repairing businesses where the owners who have left the corporate world have gotten into trouble is not necessarily in the planning, but in the fact that they confuse working in a company with owning and running one. There are two entire jobs that need to be done that have no mentor in that model.

The job of ownership, which includes everything from understanding how cash behaves, to what employee taxes need to be paid and when, to how to hire a bookkeeper who is honest and who actually knows how to give you a proper score. There is much more to it than that, but that's a start.

The job of President includes planning and then managing to that plan. It includes a little psychology, some sociology, and a system's approach to setting things up. If the President starts working inside the business rather than at a level that is meant to hold it all together, then he or she will likely never extract themselves from it. This behavior has consumed and bankrupted many business owners.

Learning how to be a President and a Business Owner would be the first step in my opinion.

I hope this helps.

Find out more information on this and other small business management subjects at blog.businessbooming.com

Sue Canyon

Thanks Sue great post.

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