Are You Ready to Make Your Next Transition – Employee to Employer?

 Are You Ready to Make Your Next Transition – Employee to Employer?

Nearly everyone, at some point in life, dreams of being self-employed.  You have likely spent a little bit of time daydreaming about being your own boss, setting your own schedule, and running your own business.  I have literally done it at every single job I have ever had.  Many people follow through on those dreams, though not all in the same ways.

Some will test the waters by spending a few hours a week on a side hustle while safely working their nine-to-five jobs in exchange for a steady paycheck.  Others leap right into the deep end and leave their full-time employers to start businesses of their own. 

A May 30, 2020 article on Forbes.com reports that during a given week in 2019, up to 28.2% of workers were self-employed at some point. That's a whopping 44 million members of the labor force, a staggering percentage, even if it does include those merely testing the waters and not just those earning a full-time living off their own businesses.

With so many people trying it and so much conversation around it, you might be giving it serious consideration.  That begs the question:  are you ready to make the transition from employee to employer?

Here are five signs you're ready to leap.

You are financially stable and have a plan to stay that way.

Let's just go right ahead and start with the least sexy of all the signs you're ready and get it out of the way.  You have to have a solid financial strategy covering the basics, like how you'll pay your mortgage and buy groceries if you walk away from the comfort zone of earning a steady and predictable paycheck.

Some of you are pushing back, even now, because you realize if you wait until conditions are 100% favorable to take the leap of faith, that perfect time will probably never come. That's a valid point.  Starting a business is a risk. You absolutely must be prepared to assume the risk of failure, financial and otherwise, before you become a self-employed business owner.

But you can reduce a lot of stress and hardship by having a financial cushion to ease you through the early months of the transition. Odds are you won't be bringing home anywhere near your previous income when you're first getting started, so plan ahead, make any adjustments to your budget that will buy you some peace of mind, and try to avoid an excessive amount of debt. 

If your enterprise experiences early success, you'll be well-positioned to enjoy it.  But if it takes a while to build your business enough to pay yourself a living wage, you will be eternally grateful for that cushion to hold you over.

You are prepared for setbacks, struggles, and hard work.

Running your own business, no matter its size, is not for the faint of heart.  You should expect to invest a lot of hard work, time, energy, and resources into getting your endeavor off the ground.  Setbacks will inevitably come, and how you handle them will be critical to your business' long-term success.

View the setbacks and struggles that slow or even stop your progress as learning opportunities.  Be agile and willing to pivot when necessary.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you're heading in the wrong direction, you'll never reach the destination you were initially trying to achieve. Don't be discouraged, don't quit.  Course correct and carry on.

Then grind away.  While being your own boss, traveling when and where you want, setting your own schedule, and not punching any corporate clock holds great appeal, the reality is your forward progress and ultimate success won't come without plenty of time and sweat equity.

You have thick skin.

Unless you can handle rejection, self-employment might not be for you.  For your business to make enough for you to earn a living wage, you'll have to sell something.  Maybe you'll be selling a product, like hand-made quilts, custom-designed jewelry, fishing lures, computer software, a new mobile app, or wool from your freshly-sheared sheep. 

Perhaps you'll be selling a service, instead, like writing or editing, house-cleaning or lawn-mowing, photography or graphic designing, legal, accounting, or tutoring services.  Or it could be you'll focus on selling services better described as experiences, like sky diving, white-water rafting, or wedding planning.

No matter what your business is offering, you will have to convince consumers to spend money on it.  That means you'll be your own marketing director, sales manager, and customer service department.  If you've never worked in those roles, you should know they all come with high failure and rejection risks.

Not every marketing effort will yield a return on investment. More sales calls will result in turn-downs than purchases.  And some of those customer complaints will be brutal to navigate.  If failure, criticism, rejection, and ridicule get under your skin, you'll have difficulty persevering and maintaining your motivation.

You are passionate about what you're selling.

One sure sign you're ready to trade your traditional job to follow your dream of being self-employed is that you are passionate, obsessed, consumed with the product, service, or experience you plan to offer. You love it and believe in it whole-heartedly, and you are confident others will love it and believe in it enough to spend hard-earned dollars on it.

Don't leave a nine-to-five doing work you hate only to be the sole proprietor of a business doing something you equally despise.  It will be hard to maintain the self-motivation you need to succeed if you're not doing work you love or selling products or services you wouldn't invest in as a consumer.

Pursuing your passion is one of the biggest benefits and greatest joys of working for yourself. Don't do it if you're not 100% crazy about the idea of doing it full time.

You are educated about and connected to potential customers or clients.

You've done your due diligence.  You have confirmed there is a need in the marketplace for what you're offering.  You are connected to the community of consumers that will find your business appealing. You have a solid business plan to market yourself to those potential customers or clients.

If all of this is true, it's an excellent sign that you're ready to go beyond testing the waters and turn your passion into your profession. Do your homework.  Study businesses or entrepreneurs that have done well in your field.  Know who your competitors are. Have something up your sleeve that makes you uniquely able to meet a client's need better than anyone else.

Being an enthusiastic expert in your field won't make running your own business easy, but it will certainly make it more satisfying.  The reality is, only you know for sure when you're fully prepared to make that transition from employee to employer. Don't allow anyone to push you into it if you're not ready, and don't let anyone talk you out of it if you are.