Starting A Successful Business As An Employee (The Startup Boost!)

A lot of people are having the thought of starting a business while working but they are scared of taking the bold steps for many reasons.

Well, you may be wondering if starting business as an employee is doable, then you should dive in to find out what I think.

You might be thinking that it is not the right direction but the truth is that it is the right direction because we all have the ability to do business but if you do not make use of that ability you will never know it’s in you.

Some people might be scared of failing and that is their reason for avoiding going into business but the truth is that you might also succeed also if you try, I mean only if you try. Do not look at the negative side of doing business instead you should focus on the positive possibilities a business can offers you.

I understand how cruel some employers could be at times and you just feel like quitting, that’s a normal feeling but you might not be able to quit right now because you have nothing to fall back on.  That’s one of the reasons you need to start your business now so that you can quit your job later on when you want to.

Here are some tips that will help you when starting a business as an employee

1 Have a business plan

It is important you have a business plan because if you do not have a plan, you will just be going around in circles without achieving much.

I’m not saying that you should spend your whole time to develop a comprehensive business but you can create a simple business plan that will help you achieve your business goals.

You should also know that everything doesn’t end at having a business plan because there are a lot of people with business plans but they have never made a move to start their business.

Your business plan should include the following details

What problem is your product or service solving?

What is your product or service?

Who are your target customers?

What is your strength?

What are your plans to promote your business?

What will be the source of your revenue?

What are your major expenses?

What are the goals you intend to achieve?

What will be the pricing of your product?

With a business plan like this, you can easily start your business and understand what you need to succeed in your business.

2 Set goals for your business

You shouldn’t be in business because you just want to get busy and be seen as an entrepreneur. If you run your business just because you want to get busy then at the end of the day you will be running the business for years without making any progress.

When starting a business, take the business serious and set goals you want to achieve. When you set goals for your business, you have clarity of what you want to do and you will easily make progress in the business that you do.

One of the reasons why you need to set goals is that it will help you keep to deadlines and it is when you meet up with deadlines that you can experience consistent growth in your business because you will be able to achieve a lot within a short period of time.

3 Invest in your business

One of my friends usually makes a statement which I feel is correct and the statement is that  “you spend money to make money”. I understand the fact that you might want to save more funds so that you can have enough funds as back up but if you focus too much on saving without investing in your business, you might not get a good result.

The truth is that when starting a business, you will need to spend money for several reasons which includes, creating awareness about your business, promoting your business, developing a website and purchase of other resources.

I’m not saying you should spend money on everything you just feeling like doing but you should spend money on the important things that can move your business forward especially promoting your business.

4 Do your legal findings

Some employers will actually give you an offer with different clauses in it which may include that you cannot transact business directly with their clients, you cannot start a business in same field as that of your employer or you cannot take up appointment with competitors.

Whatever the case maybe there is always a way around it. On your own part make sure you study the employment offer letter given to you to determine which clauses might have effect on your business.

You should also avoid doing same type business with your employer and also avoid using your employer’s resources for your own business.

5 Get a business partner

Starting a business as an employee can be cumbersome, so it is advisable you get a partner that can assist you.

You can get partners based on the skills they have to offer, you can get partners based on the fund they want to invest or based on their network and influence.

Irrespective of the reasons for choosing your partner, your partner should be someone you are compatible with, someone you can trust, someone that’s competent and can handle business when you are not around.

Sometimes it usually hard to get a partner because your partner might be demanding for too much and the business isn’t making profit yet. Nobody wants to work for free; they all expect something in return.

It is also not compulsory to get a partner if you can handle the whole task by yourself and outsource sone of the task you might not be able to handle. This will save you the stress that might come through partnership because partnership can really be stressful at times.

6 Test your ideas

A lot of time I see musicians record a song which they love and they feel it is the best song out there but it is the listening audience that determines if the song is cool or not and not the musician that recorded the song.

Sometimes we create a product based on our assumptions or what we think people like. That could work for you sometimes but it is definitely not going to work always.

The best way to find out what your customers need is by asking them, you can do this by conducting an interview or a survey and you will be amazed at the ideas you are going to come up with.

You can also offer your product or services to people for free initially to get feedback from them. The feedback you get will enable you fine tune your business to meet your customers need.

You can also carry out a research online to see what people are searching for and willing to buy. You can do this using Google, Bing and other search engine sites.

7 Generate report regularly

It is not just enough to do your business and set goals you intend to achieve, you also need to be able to measure how successful your business is growing.

When you have a detailed report system, it will help you to know if your business is profitable or not.

What makes a business interesting is when you start making the profit. It serves as a source of motivation, helping you to make more investments in your business.

8 Network with a lot of people

As an entrepreneur you should learn to network with others regularly and you can start with your colleagues at work or you can start with other individuals you’ve been doing business transactions with.

You might think it is not so important to network with others now but I can assure you that it is going to be beneficial to your business later on. It might help you in terms of financial resources, human resources or startup ideas.

You should also join groups related to the business line you are into. You can look up for such groups on Facebook or LinkedIn and also attend their meetings to have the opportunity of meeting with professionals in your business industry.

9 Make good use of your nights and weekends

Running a side business while working can be very stressful and you might just want to give up but one thing that should keep you going is the fact that it is rewarding.

When you’re doing business and also working, it seems you are doing a double work but it’s even more for some people who need to take care of their children, spouse and home. That is like a whole lot of work and women are usually the ones found in this situation (let me give all female entrepreneurs a big thumbs up before I move on)

You just need to manage your time very well by doing the things that are important only and you might need to cut off some activities from your to-do list. This includes playing games, spending time on social media watching movies especially the series with a lot of episodes.

I’m not saying you should stop these activities forever but you should be looking at cutting down on these activities for about 6 to 12 months so that your business can have enough of your attention that it needs.

You know what? You are definitely going to get a little stuck along the way but you should just keep moving because that’s when the reward comes.

10 Start acting like a big company

You don’t need to act like a small company because you are the only one or maybe you have 3 people running your business. Nobody knows how big or small your business is but they can have an idea based on how you treat them as customers.

You can get people to do some of your work for you. For instance you can get people on sites like fiverr to help you with some of your work like designing logo, developing a  website and you don’t need to do it all by yourself.

You also need to start acting like the big companies by delivering on your promises without giving excuses and do not give customers the impression that you are the only one running your business. Just work like a professional and that’s the way your customers will see you.

11 Avoid running several businesses at the same time

Don’t get caught in the syndrome of doing several businesses all at once instead you should focus on one business and grow it then you can think of moving on to another business.

It is so easy to start a business and quit and start another business and quit but that’s not how successful entrepreneurs do. You need to be able to start a business and keep doing it until you get a convincing result.

Focus is the key, stay focused in any business you are doing and your chances of succeeding will increase tremendously.

12 Avoid taking loans.

I know a lot of people would not like this but I strongly believe that it is not a wise decision to take a loan from financial institutions when starting your business.

I know most financial advisors working with financial firms would tell you otherwise because if you take loan, it is going to be beneficial to them.

The reason you shouldn’t take loan when starting a business is because most of your profit goes to the financial firm and it just seems you are working for them to make profit.

You can approach your friends and family if you need to raise funds for your business because they are going to be more flexible in dealing with you.

When your business is well established then you can apply for loan from a financial firm if you want to because by then it might actually do more good than harm to your business.

13 Time to take up your new role

When you get to the level whereby your business is growing and making profit, then it is time to take up your new role as a full time entrepreneur.

The reason why you need to go into business full time is for you to be able to invest more time in your business and not a time for you to start relaxing.

That’s the mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make, they mismanage their time because they feel they are their own boss but this shouldn’t be so.

When going into business full time, you should channel your time towards growing your business.

In conclusion

It is not just about reading post that’s related to starting a business that matters, what matters is doing the things you’ve read.

Succeeding in business requires a lot of hard work but what can keep you going is that dream of you quitting your job when you want and resuming your new role as a full time entrepreneur.