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Starting a Business While Still Employed

 

STARTING A BUSINESS WHILE STILL EMPLOYED 
 
 
For those of us who already work long hours to fulfil the obligations of our current employment the thought of launching a new enterprise while still in paid employment might seem like the sure road to a nervous breakdown! You may be surprised, however, to hear that that’s exactly what many successful entrepreneurs recommend. Why?
 
 
BUILDING UP INVESTMENT CAPITAL
 
Firstly - money.   Ideally you wouldn’t want the capital you need to launch your business to be gradually eroded by all-too-necessary living expenses - mortgage, household bills, groceries etc. Continuing in paid employment to cover these bills will give your new business the best financial platform from which to launch. 
 
OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIMENT
 
Secondly, starting a business as a sideline not only keeps your options open but it gives you an opportunity to experiment - to try different trading approaches, tweak or perfect your product mix, conduct really extensive market research etc. In other words it’s possible to check whether your business really is likely to be viable before actually burning those bridges!
 
BUT WHERE WILL I FIND THE TIME?
 
 
But surely you’ll be too exhausted to give your new enterprise the attention it deserves? Not necessarily. With some creative management it’s often possible to free up a considerable amount of time in a typical week. Have you heard the old saying ‘Work expands to fill the time available’ ? Obviously you can’t create more hours in a day but we can all generally make more productive use of the ones we’ve got!
 
Write a list of everything you need to do to meet the obligations of your paid employment.   Then write another list of what’s needed to achieve the goal of launching your new business. Then prioritise. Decide what really needs to be done and what could be shelved - at least in the short term. Then decide what could be delegated to others. You’d be amazed how supportive family and friends can be when inspired to help you achieve your goal! Think about ways in which your new business would be of benefit to them in the longer term - will you be happier? Will you eventually have more time to give to family? Will you earn more money? ’Sell’ your family and friends on the plus points and gather as much help and support as you can. Once you’ve honed your list, break it down into small, manageable steps and try to achieve as many as you can in a given day/week/month.
 
 
BUT CAN I GROW IT AS QUICKLY?
 
But surely - you might ask - even with the very best time-management you won’t be able to grow your new business as quickly as you could if you devoted yourself to it full time? Yes, that’s obviously the case but many successful entrepreneurs would argue that slow, steady, organic growth gives a new enterprise a sound, solid foundation which will stand it in good stead in difficult times. Many new and not-so-new businesses go under because they grow too quickly and suffer from a problem known as ‘overtrading’. ie growing faster than the company’s financial and personnel resources can support. A word of warning, however! Grow too slowly and you increase the possibility of attracting competition - either copycat businesses or competitors looking to adjust their product offering to compete with you. If they are able to move faster they may erode any competitive edge you may have had in the beginning. It is - as always - a question of balance. 
 
 
SHOULD I TELL MY BOSS?
 
So should you alert your boss to your new entrepreneurial endeavours? That’s a difficult one. Certainly if there’s likely to be a conflict it can make sense to discuss it with your boss, particularly if you have a good relationship. Reassure your boss that you’ll continue to be as professional as you have always been and that you’ll keep the two activities entirely separate. Emphasise the extent to which you’ve delegated home responsibilities so that your boss doesn’t assume that all the ’spare’ time has been excised from your paid employment! Don’t take time off or make phone calls for your new business while at your ’old’ job. If your new business turns out not to be viable the continued good relationship with your boss could be a godsend!  

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