‘Be your own boss’ has become a very popular phrase; especially around the internet community. There are popularized saying like, “if you don’t build your dream, someone will hire you to build theirs”
But in reality, everyone shouldn’t have to start a business. In fact, most people don’t need to start a business; most people are better off not starting a business.
If you are caught in the dilemma between keeping your job or quitting your job to start a business, in this video you will learn why you should not quit your job to start a business; and why and when it is right to do so if that is what you want.
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Let’s look at the 4 common deceptive reasons people want to quit their job to start a business. Then we will look at 3 practical reasons you should actually quit your job to build a business.
1. Because it’s the new cool
Its looks cool to adopt the name tag – entrepreneur. The media businesses covering business stories do a good job of glamorizing entrepreneurship. You read the heroic stories of people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Strive Masiyiwa, and are sold the dream to become an entrepreneur. There are many valid reasons to choose entrepreneurship; glamour is not one of them because behind the glitz’s and glamour is blood, sweat and tears.
I mean, look at the numbers in perspective; if 100 people should start a business today; 40 of them will fail within the first year. In five years, only 20 will still be in business. By the tenth year, only 4 of the 100 businesses would have survived. Now how is that cool? There is nothing glamorous about that. Don’t quit your job to start a business simple because being a business owner is the new cool.
2. Because you hate your boss
Another common reason people want to quit their job to start their own business is because they hate their boss and are tired of dealing with their boss’s overbearing demand.
People are so attracted with the idea of being the boss, that the phrase ‘be your own boss’ sounds so appealing. But before you swallow that, there are some questions you have to answer yourself; do you have the discipline to push yourself to do what is right for your business when you are not accountable to anyone? Can you deal with the pressures of being responsible for every outcome from your business? Do you have the capacity to lead people from behind without interfering with their job? Can you commit to meeting your business operating cost, even when the business isn’t making money?
You see, it’s easy to look from the outside and believe you can do better than the person at the helm of affairs. But what you see from the outside is often different from what you get when you are inside.
3. Because you want freedom
It’s funny when people say they want to quit their job to start their own business because they want to have freedom to work when and how they want. This may be a valid goal if you hope to achieve it in 5 to 10 years of starting. But if you run out of your job with the hope that you will gain freedom within the next year, you are going to be disappointed.
A business has the potential of giving you the freedom to work when and how you want. But you have to commit to build it to become that business. And this would take working more than you do from a job. Freedom may be your goal to start a business, but you have to pay the high price of slaving for the business to get it.
Most people are not cut out to make the sacrifices and pay that price. That is why 96 percent of businesses fail within 10 years. I know you would say you are among the 4 percent that would succeed. Well, that’s actually what everyone would say.
4. Because you have developed a skill
People often think that once they understand the technical part of the services a business renders to the market, they have what it takes to start a business. But that is not true. Technicians don’t build successful businesses. It requires a combination of technical, managerial and entrepreneurial skills to build a successful business. In fact, you have a better chance at succeeding in business if you don’t have the technical skill. Because, then you can focus on developing the more important managerial and entrepreneurial skills while you hire people to deliver the technical role.
That you have developed a skill working in a company is not enough reason to quit your job to start your own business. Knowing how to do the job is not the same thing as knowing how to build the business.
Why and when you should quit your job to start a business
In reality, most people are better off working at companies that fit their life goals and purpose. You can build a career working as a freelance professional or as an employee at jobs that affords your learning experiences, while being financially responsible.
But if you do want to start a business, there are more logical reasons you should quit your job and dive into it. Here are three reasons you should quit your job to start a business.
1. To develop yourself
This was my primary reason of becoming an entrepreneur when I left school over a decade ago. And many business gurus agree to this. According to Robert Kiyosaki, “the only reason to start a business is for personal development” Although Robert is one of those business gurus that are out rightly anti-jobs, he could still pass as a valid authority to mention here.
As I mentioned earlier, there are three personalities required to build a successful business; the technician, the manager and the entrepreneur. Studies show that majority of people are 10 percent entrepreneur, 20 percent manager and 70 percent technician. The people who have a balance of these qualities are extremely rare. If you find the prospect of developing your other personalities particularly intriguing, and a challenge worth taking, then you may have a valid reason to start a business.
2. To pursue an opportunity
Let’s take Mo Ibrahim founder of Celtel for example. While working at a telecom company – O2 – Mo Ibrahim observed that telecom operators were spending billions of dollars on hardware, and that they could use minimum amount of equipment to produce superior coverage while saving substantial cost. But his employer failed to accept his feedback. After spending six years dealing with corporate politics, he resigned and started his consulting company – Mobile Systems International, to capitalize on the opportunity his employer had failed to see. His company was later sold for almost one billion dollars.
An entrepreneur is simply someone that envisions how things could be better or what is missing, and takes action to build a system that develop product of commercial value to fill that gap. Most people who start a business are simply carried away by hypes and promise of fast road to wealth. Very few people actually do so to capitalize on an opportunity they’ve identified. If you identify a gap that needs filling, it may be a call for you to take the step and fill that gap.
3. You already have a side hustle
If you want to understand how business works, your best chance is to actually run a business. You don’t learn business from reading books or taking classes. You learn by getting your hands dirty. You might have read stories of people who jumped into the ocean of entrepreneurship without any form of preparation and became successful. But as much as you may not want to believe it, these stories are very rare.
The bills won’t stop coming when you quit your job; that includes personal, family and business bills. You have a better chance at dealing with the financial obligations associated to building a business when you already have a side income that can maintain the cash flow.
Before you take that leap to fire your boss and become your own boss, think about it critically. Don’t fall for the hype and over-selling from online course creators and business coaches. Business is tough; it can take everything you have; both material and immaterial. And still demand for more. You have to make sure you are mentally ready for the challenge and not fall for some pipe dream from a video you watched online; and that includes a video from this channel.
Until next time, YOUR SUCCESS MATTERS!
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