Quitting Your Job and starting a business is not easy. For many people, it’s challenging to make the difficult decision to leave a current position, start a new career towards a dream job, and come up on top of the game for a better quality of life. But it’s not impossible either.
What you need is not a rash decision, a plan, a transition plan, and an action plan preparing any scenario and avoiding as much as possible any bad decision before signing your resignation letter.
We’ve put together this post with 10 Things To do Before Quitting Your Job and starting a business, as well as including tips for building your action plan for a smooth transition!
Whether you’re just about to quit or just thinking of quitting, these 10 points for starting your own business are well worth considering before making that big leap in your career path and with an informed decision.
1) Figure out what type of business you want to start
Go through this exercise to figure out if your type of business will work. New businesses fail for two main reasons: the owner doesn’t have enough capital or market their business properly. Evaluate your area, your skills, and the popularity of various types of businesses in your area.
2) Examine your passions
A passion is a driving force inside of you that you want to realize. If there is no strong desire to do it, it will be hard to succeed.
A passion may be something far off: a new kind of product, a niche market, or some other personal goal that you want. Or it may just be something you always wanted but never had the time or money for. Please test it out by brainstorming and outlining the potential of your idea.
3) Get an idea of what you’re going to do with your personal life
Get some work experience under your belt, and then spend some time thinking about what kind of job you want to have before quitting your job and starting the new venture.
This will help you determine (based on the above 2 points) whether the type of business you want will fit into any area you are interested in working in.
4) Research your market
Okay, so you’ve decided that you’ve got a decent idea of what kind of business to open. But where do you find customers?
The internet is a great place to start when researching your market and your competition. Googling and visiting websites can give you an idea of what kind of business you would have to be in, as well as what potential customers are looking for.
In addition, you can look at the bigger picture: demographics of your area, the trends of business in your area, and even federal and local government statistics. This will give you a more in-depth understanding (and preparation) of what kind of business plan you will need to start with.
5) Find a niche that is profitable (The Opportunity : The Business idea)
A niche is a subset of a market—it is not just something that you enjoy doing. A profitable niche will help you make a ton of money and get a feeling of satisfaction out of your business.
If you want to start some home-based business, find a lucrative niche that will increase the value of your business over time.
6) Establish goals and objectives
What is it that you want to do? What is your goal for starting this business? What do you want it to accomplish? Describe the kind of business that you want to start in great detail.
You can come up with a description that will be useful for you: “I want to be able to earn a good income from this business by working 2-3 days per week and taking care of my family. I want the source of my income to be a daycare for my children.”
Be as specific as possible, and plan how much money you’ll need each month. You can plan how many hours are needed, what expenses you need to cover, etc. This plan will be beneficial during your transition period.
7) Create a budget
Create a budget, and allocate the necessary amounts for each expense. Based on the current situation, keep track of your expenses and cash flow for at least 3 months to regularly predict how much money you’ll need.
You can also make monthly budgets and spend down your reserve funds first, then continue expanding by setting up income goals and preparing for taxes, etc., through your business plan.
8) Get an idea of how much money you will need and create a financial plan
How much money do you need? Is it enough to open your business, or do you have to borrow it? Consult a financial advisor for this step. You can find a sample of what a business plan might include at the bottom of this post.
If you already know from experience or the internet about how much money you will need, base your budget off that—but never be under the impression that any amount is too much.
9) Find a place for your business
If you’ve gotten this far, you must be pretty serious about going ahead with your business. So it’s time to take the next step—find a place for your business.
Talk to friends, family, and colleagues about any suggestions or leads that they can give you. You can also check out commercial real estate or inquire about starting a business in your own home.
Being more specific about the location you are looking for will make things easier when talking with potential landlords.
10) Write your Action Plan (Game Plan and Back-Up Plan)
It’s time to put everything together and build your business plan. A good business plan should lay out your strategy for building the business, how much money you’ll need, how much money you’ll make, the location of your business, and any other relevant information about your target market, competition, and ideas for marketing the business.
This is what it takes to start a business quitting your job and build different career paths: some effort and research, some money, strong mental health, and a passion for your product. The hardest part about starting your own business is finding that passion, executing a financial planner, and working hard.
You don’t have to jump right in with both feet—take your time and get everything planned out. Then when you do take that leap of faith, you’ll be more confident and ready to go and start your entrepreneurship journey.
