So you're burned out at your job and your side hustle is going well. You might be thinking it's time to turn that gig in to your main source of income. I'm a big supporter of small businesses (I'm a small business) and following your calling. While there are many areas to consider when deciding to start your own business, there are three main areas to consider and contemplate before you leave your day job.
First: Figure out all of the finances. For example figure out all of your expenses on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. If you have a store front some things to consider will be your rent, all of the over head, insurance, marketing, advertising, book keeping, taxes (pay quarterly and year end) and employee costs. In addition cost of products. Same goes for E-commerce (minus the store front costs but you may have to pay rent to store your products and where to offer your services). Then figure out how much you need after you pay your expenses. Figuring out your net sales is important. You may all of a sudden realize you're working more than ever and not making what you need to live.
Second: don't quit your day job until the business is making money. Unless you have money saved to help the first few years. With that said, don't talk about your gig at your job. You want to keep doors open and talking about your new venture will send the message that you've lost interest in your current job. Keeping the door open may entail you coming back to that field if needed in the future or having references.
Third area to consider is that you will have to be the everything of the business. You will need to know book keeping, basic tax information, how to design and update your website, social media marketing, customer service, buying products or offering the service you are selling and much more. Basically as a small business you will need to know how to do everything. Until in the future you can hire people to do it for you, even then you will have to still be involved to ensure you don't suffer loss.
The world needs more happy people! It's important to do what you love and enjoy your life, just be prepared!
Sherry Ellingson
Business/Career Coach + Yoga Teacher