Going off on your own, either as a full time or part time entrepreneur, may be your best career move. It puts you in the driver seat to manage your own time, it opens the door for unlimited earning potential and to opportunities a nine to five doesn’t allow for. You also open yourself up to more work opportunities as new business trends show corporations increasingly hiring independent contractors to work on short term projects instead of bringing on full time employees. This helps companies save by needing less office space, not paying for unproductive time spent by employees at their desk and by not having to provide healthcare and other benefits.
If you are not really sure what business to start don’t worry too much, realize you don’t need to invent the new Facebook. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you need to come up with something completely original to build up from scratch. Evaluate your dreams, interests and what you are naturally good at and start brainstorming from there. I myself made this mistake, while having a solid background in fashion retailing I kept trying to start businesses that did not have anything to do with clothes. Once I finally circled back and combined my love for vintage with my retail experience I started a little online boutique that I now run full time.
Think small, yes we are told to dream big (and you should) but when starting out a new venture, specially while still at your day job, small steps are what will get the ball rolling. There is a lot less risk involved in starting small, you need to allow time to test out your ideas before jumping full force into your new business. If you are interested in fashion a small step would be opening a little online shop or starting a for profit style blog. Once your new project moves beyond a hobby you can start researching how to officially register your business and set up formal bookkeeping practices. Only do this after you already have something that works, you do not want to waste your time formalizing something to later realize that is is not truly your passion.
Make the time. You will want to start your business on the side while still gainfully employed somewhere, this means you need to carve out time on nights and weekends. Schedule your time and make it a priority, it may be a slow start but once the ball is rolling the momentum will keep you going. Realize that creating something for yourself outside of your nine to five will elevate your confidence and open up doors for you. To keep you going I suggest having a personal mantra, positive words of wisdom keeps in line when I feel discouraged. While you take the time to collect your own inspirational words of wisdom you can meditate on one of my personal favorite old sayings “You can never get rich working for someone else”.
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