How to Start a New Business in Your Spare Time
by Carrie Hinkel on April 25th, 2008
If you’ve been dreaming about starting your own business, but just can’t take yourself away from the security and steady paycheck of your current job, don’t fret. Many successful business owners started their company with just a few spare hours in the evenings and on weekends – and you can too! Here are some tips for getting your business idea out of your head and in front of customers.
Make an “after hours” schedule – Getting serious about your new business means making certain time commitments in order to get it off the ground. Whether it’s getting up a couple hours early or working late in the evenings or working ten hours on weekends, put a regular work schedule down on paper and stick to it. Motivation tends to wane when other engagements take precedence over what should be considered “work time”. So, stay focused and treat your after hours schedule as you would a second job.
Create a business plan – One of the most important things you can do for yourself and your new business is to create a business plan. This will force you to get realistic about the funds needed as well as the monthly expenses and the weekly hours needed in order to get your business running. You might find that you don’t need as much start-cash as you originally thought or that you’ll need to keep your full-time job for at least another year in order to build up some investment money.
Consider enlisting help – You may find that bringing on a partner will help to get your business off the ground (and you out of the rat race) even faster. Of course, entering into a partnership isn’t for everyone, and the idea shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, bringing on a partner with the same goals and who brings complimentary skills to the business could be one of the best decisions you ever made.
Think about when you could leave your job – Give yourself a motivating goal to reach. What will it take in order for you to work for yourself full time? Fifty orders a month? Three hundred website visitors a day? $5,000 in sales per week? Giving yourself this concrete goal will help to boost your motivation and hopefully get you to that point even faster. Be sure to take into consideration things like cost of health and dental insurance – as well as anything else that your full-time company is currently taking care of.
While the thought of quitting your job to work for yourself may sound both exciting and terrifying, preparing a plan can help make the transition easier. With a carefully thought out work plan and clear goals, all the guessing is gone and you’ll have real figures to base your decisions on. For most people, starting a business in their spare time makes the most sense and takes some of the financial risk and worry out of the equation. There are plenty of business owners who still clock in at a regular job in order to keep their benefits, regular salary and to share in the comradery of the workplace. Once your business is off the ground and showing signs of success, you’ll have the option of choosing to keep your full-time job or to devote all your working hours to your new business.