According to the article “Burning the Midnight Oil: 5 Tips for Starting a Business With a Full-Time Job,” by contributor Raphael Locsin on business.com, giving up your steady, nine-to-five job may not be an option, despite how much you want and are ready to start your own business. Locsin offers five pieces of wisdom for keeping your job while also starting one:
- Make sure you want this business. You have to be willing to put in the work to make your business a reality, which means that coming home and relaxing after work is not an option. It’s easy to lose the drive to see a personal project through, but if you are completely dedicated, then the following pieces of advice should come easily.
- Find a trusted partner. Starting a business is one of the toughest journeys to take, so make it easier on yourself and find someone to share the load. If you can find a cofounder (or two) who shares your vision and has what you need, you not only have someone to take on the extra work if you fall behind, but also to share the emotional burden. However, make sure your partner fits just right with the company. Startups often fail because of dissent between cofounders.
- Make realistic plans and goals. Plan in which direction your company should be heading from Point A, determine what Point B is, when you’d like to reach it and where the company should go from there, and so on. Be flexible, because the business world is constantly changing and you are bound to run into problems that make your plans go awry.
- Effectively use your downtime. Whenever you are not sleeping, eating or working at your job, you should be putting as much effort as possible into your business. So the next time you’re invited out or want to spend an hour vegging and watching television, remember what you could be doing for your company instead.
- Wait to quit your job until you absolutely must. Keeping your job is your fallback plan and can allow you to step back and observe your company as you think about your options and its future. Wait until the right moment to fully invest your time and energy into your company.
Read the entire article here.
