Walking your own path...shift from a "job" to business

Hi all,

At first I was going to name this thread "switch from corporate to business". However then realised there are people here who are investors but not necessarily working for the corporate world.

I've been pushed to post this thread tonight due to the constant whispers of my intuition which keeps saying..."wake up, there is something bigger to do in life to make a difference for self and for others."

I read the Richest Man in Babylon and the Kiysosaki book "Rich Dad Poor Dad", earlier this year which have literally turned my mind upside down. These whispers have gotten louder and louder over the past couple of weeks. Since we did our recent IP purchase there has definitely been a step up in financial consciousness and wisdom/experience under the belt and that may have played a role in the shift. The Universe has been talking to me and what I hear is, I was not cut out to work for someone but to lead the way somehow. I hope I don't get bashed for this, but this is my truth. I am not sure how it is going to materialise, but I'm feeling there is something bigger in store for me. And since I work for the corporate world in the investment banking / finance sector, there has been doom and gloom talk everywhere. From now appraisals and promotions will be based on how much you can contribute to cost cutting. It is in stark contrast to the abundance I intend to fill my sub conscious with. I am sure, there are people and businesses who are prosperous, abundant and thriving regardless of the current world economy. In this idea age of the world wide web, I know there will be umpteen ideas (though I am yet to unearth any within myself) and believe anything is possible.

I believe that it takes a lot of courage to go on your own and say you will manage your own time, money and life; that you will be your own boss! And even that realisation means a lot for myself because I was literally brought up to be a good dedicated hard working employee which I'm no longer comfortable with. Also what it does impact is the need for approval (by the way of promotions and pay rises) that exists when you are working for someone! (So I believe one needs an intrinsic shift in mindset to say, meh who cares about those...). Further, I've already tasted the contrast in ownership every time I've increased the rents...and it feels good to give yourself a payrise - regardless of whether work gives you a pay rise or not!!! Hence the thought...ought to go out on your own!

So here...my purpose to post this thread is, how did you switch from a "job" to a business? What motivated you? What did it take for you to say "enough is enough!"? What did you have when you started out? How did you stick to your plan? I bet at times things would have looked grim...Or is this something you have considered doing? What actions are you taking in this regard then?

I'd love to hear about the path you've walked...and I'm sure there will be plenty of stories to inspire and motivate myself and others!

Thanks!

MsAli

Ms Ali

I am in a similar situation. I am building a strong team of part timers who have drive and ambition. We are doing it without debt and keeping our day jobs. But our idea is sufficiently powerful that if it catches on it will change the world. If we fail we will have lost nothing and gained fantastic experience.

Watch this space.

All power to you.

Bt

Hi,

I am in a similar phase, thinking of shifting my focus from job to business. I had decided to quit my job in 2 months time, however constant thought of having a mortage has held me back.


I have been learning mortage brokering on the side, but it gets really difficult to get attention of your mentor, because they are doing it full time, and I can only devote weekends and evenings to this part time business. Mentors are enjoying family life on the weekends and they are not keen on doing evening appointments.

I have been fortunate enough to learn as much as possible from the internet, magazines, and by talking to the mentor over the phone or sending them emails.

I have also turned 4 clients in the first month, makes me feel happy.

On the other hand, I have worked really hard and sometimes tend to think, is it really worth it, because I am on a good package.

When you do the sums i.e. say if you write 2 mortages a month as a part time broker = 24 mortages a year, sothat would equate to approx lets say 24K commission, but then that sort of figure I can get if I move 1 more step ahead in my professional career.

I come from a business family, where my dad was doctor but gave it up after 3 years and then started his own Export business and he is doing really well.

I am still not giving up, but there needs to be clear vision as to what you expect from your business.

More exp forum members would be able to shed more light on this

Regards,
TV

I thought about it for a long time - but I could never actually pull the trigger. Fortunately my employer made the decision for me and since then I have gone on my own and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It's very, very liberating and there is nothing like being your own boss and being responsible for both the success and failures you may have.

Aaron, somehow I thought this thread would interest you, and bang after I finished my post, I could see you had already posted

cheers,

tvadera said:

Aaron, somehow I thought this thread would interest you, and bang after I finished my post, I could see you had already posted

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It's something quite close to my heart actually. I come from what people would say a 'high achieving' background; and naturally I associated and continue to associate with people like that. I see them, after graduating, being stuck in 'high flying' jobs but are miserable and not getting anywhere. Everyone keeps talking about quitting but no one ever does so. They always rationalise it by saying 'Oh I shouldn't quit because I get paid for doing nothing anyway', or 'the job isn't that bad' etc.

I was in the same situation and it's so hard to remove that logical decision making that the job provides income, surety etc whereas self-employment does not provide any security whatsoever. So I never try to tell anyone to quit because I know that no matter what I say, ultimately they will probably just stay in that PAYG job until they get fired - which may be never!

I am not sure how to calculate how much you should be earning in a business, but would like to know what is a decent amount to justify that shift had paid off

E.g. Person in a job working for a corporate is earning say 200K pa, and that person jumps into business then as a 1 man army what should be decent income in a business (500K starting point) OR 250K or 300K?

Or I am naive and shooting too low, and realistic figures should be 1Mil

Forum members, shower your wisdom and enrich this thread with your experiences.

tvadera said:

I am not sure how to calculate how much you should be earning in a business, but would like to know what is a decent amount to justify that shift had paid off

Click to expand...

You can't really work it out like that. If you ever approached it like that you would never ever leave, honestly speaking. Lots of people leave the workforce, start their own business, fail, and then re-enter a PAYG job to make ends meet. But it's the intention and attitude that matters, I think, more than the 'net financial gain' because comparing that is just comparing conjecture vs conjecture that doesn't mean anything.

I've gone from employee to owner to employee again. In all situations, I have been in management and growing a business.

To be honest, I am much better at making money for other people than I am for myself and I prefer to play with other peoples money. I'm in the midst of doing an interview for Yman (which has only taken me 8 months to do), so hopefully it will explain more of my journey.

But you need to be aware that running a business is unfortunately more likely to decrease wealth than grow it, and the vast majority of businesses fail. options for IP loans etc become limited. If you go in with stars in your eyes, you run the risk of being very disappointed... make sure you count the cost before jumping in.

I'm not anti-business, but I think some of the stuff that Kiyosaki etc say is extremely naive and pie in the sky. Being an employee generally gives you more time, opportunity and freedom to invest than the average business owner.

Of course, I'm fortunate to have an above average income and a job which I love and which provides those "world changing" opportunities, which definitely helps. It would take something fairly drastic for me to consider going back into my own business. If I did, I would keep it much smaller and more conservative than last time.

Think of Kiyosaki like an OTP or a timeshare presentation... and make sure you dont get sucked in by the excitement and promises. the reality is that hard work and heart ache lay before you, with no guarantee of success. Sounds very negative but you need to be prepared to accept that risk before you move on. I'm not saying you wont be successful, but I dont know any business owner who has not suffered heartache along the way.

MsAli said:

Hi all,

I know there will be umpteen ideas (though I am yet to unearth any within myself) and believe anything is possible....

How did you stick to your plan? I bet at times things would have looked grim...
MsAli

Click to expand...

Hi Ms Ali,

In reading your post, you certainly have the motivation.

From my experience, the trick is to unearth something that you are passionate about. If you completely believe in what you are doing, you will be able to stick it out when you face difficulties and setbacks.

If it is just something that you are half-hearted about, you will find it difficult to keep going when faced with obstacles.

When you unearth an idea or choose a path, if you have to ask other peoples approval before taking the plunge than it is not something you believe in and you will likely quit at the first hurdle.

Conversely, when you do not need to ask for anyone else's approval, that is when you are on the right path for you. You will just know it is right.

Good luck in your journey.

I think leaving PAYG is the wrong choice particularly if your PAYG is high paid.

Work your *** off and do both and once you are taking home more in your business than your PAYG in a stable fashion you can leave.

boomtown said:

Work your *** off and do both and once you are taking home more in your business than your PAYG in a stable fashion you can leave.

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I don't think you can truly do both at the same time as you will fail at both. Logically it makes sense but the reality is very, very different.

Thats a real insight, thanks

I thought people running business would be better investors because of the cashflow, and ability to take risks because i believe money pulls money

E.g. If I am operating a business and I have a health cashflow of say 25K a month, and I would assume that I would be have relations with prople who would be on a similar or higher business position

So if I come across a good opportunity wherein I can make money, but if investment is bit high to my liking (say 2.5Mil), then i can make few calls and get some other business people intersted and all can chip in and make handsome return

If in a job, going for big investments becomes a limiting factor, because most of the times you are only associated with people with high paying jobs but their risk taking ability might be on the sliding scale

regards,

pennyk said:

I've gone from employee to owner to employee again. In all situations, I have been in management and growing a business.

To be honest, I am much better at making money for other people than I am for myself and I prefer to play with other peoples money. I'm in the midst of doing an interview for Yman (which has only taken me 8 months to do), so hopefully it will explain more of my journey.

But you need to be aware that running a business is unfortunately more likely to decrease wealth than grow it, and the vast majority of businesses fail. options for IP loans etc become limited. If you go in with stars in your eyes, you run the risk of being very disappointed... make sure you count the cost before jumping in.

I'm not anti-business, but I think some of the stuff that Kiyosaki etc say is extremely naive and pie in the sky. Being an employee generally gives you more time, opportunity and freedom to invest than the average business owner.

Of course, I'm fortunate to have an above average income and a job which I love and which provides those "world changing" opportunities, which definitely helps. It would take something fairly drastic for me to consider going back into my own business. If I did, I would keep it much smaller and more conservative than last time.

Think of Kiyosaki like an OTP or a timeshare presentation... and make sure you dont get sucked in by the excitement and promises. the reality is that hard work and heart ache lay before you, with no guarantee of success. Sounds very negative but you need to be prepared to accept that risk before you move on. I'm not saying you wont be successful, but I dont know any business owner who has not suffered heartache along the way.

Click to expand...

Aaron_C said:

I don't think you can truly do both at the same time as you will fail at both. Logically it makes sense but the reality is very, very different.

Click to expand...

Only if you are a one man band. You need to be able to delegate and to outsource. Which means the pie needs to be big. No good chasing small pie.

boomtown said:

Only if you are a one man band. You need to be able to delegate and to outsource. Which means the pie needs to be big. No good chasing small pie.

Click to expand...

Hmmm in a way...but even if you are delegating people to do things for you - that takes time and effort. How are you going to focus on that side of things when you have responsibilities at your PAYG job? If I was your employer I would certainly not like you taking phone calls during work hours to manage your side business.

boomtown said:

We are doing it without debt and keeping our day jobs.

Click to expand...

Is there any real or perceived conflict of interest with your day job? Do you employers know you have a business, and how do they feel about it?

tvadera said:

I am not sure how to calculate how much you should be earning in a business, but would like to know what is a decent amount to justify that shift had paid off .

Click to expand...

Obviously it depends on what sort of business you are running, and your expenses etc. I think you have to make enough money to pay all expenses plus give yourself a similar income to what you are currently earning. You will probably need to reinvest profits back into the business for sometime, so dont expect to have a large personal income for some time.

But I dont think its that viable to be working in a day job and trying to run a business part time. As an employer, I have never had a good experience with someone running a busness and working for me, even when its in a totally different area. Apart from the potential conflicts of interest, its difficult toreally focus on 2 things at once, so your performance on both is likely to be less than optimal.

In the words of MsAli, there is also something 'in the universe" which happens when you just focus on your business. I saw an immediate, significant increase in turnover when I resigned from my job. I was on maternity leave, so I wasnt doing any actual work for them even, so the amount of time I had available wasnt the cause for the increase in turnover. I think it was the commitment and focus that made the difference.

MsAli

I started my own business from scratch 6 years ago. I can relate to the feelings you are having about the curiosity from 'job' to 'business' mindset.

Now dont get me wrong, there are some great 'jobs' out there, but when you own/run your own business, there is an extra sense of satisfaction (which I believe you are desiring), the extra thrill of the chase of new business, networking opportunities, the perks of business, the feeling of leadership, exponential remuneration (and equal risk of negative bearing), even the sense of urgency for some to reach targets and goals - it really is exciting! You are the maker of your own destiny.

Coming back down to Earth though, it really is a lot of hard, honest work at the start! The varying amounts of paperwork, cold calls, late nights, meetings, hard work etc can take their toll on you, but its all not doom and gloom. If you start out slowly and build a great team around you, it does get easier. Focus on the end result and it doesnt seem like a chore to do those little extra things.

For me, in the past 6 years I have come a looooooong way. At 23 I wasnt taken seriously at all. I had to work really hard, and rediculously long hours to make sure everything was delivered to perfection, I had to further educate myself so I at least appeared to know what I was talking about, and further to that, within the early stages, things got tight and I had to work extra hard, and extra long to make ends meet.

Gradually things started falling into place, I was getting quotes coming across my desk, I was becoming quite good at what I did, and I was teaching 1 staff, then 2, then 3 etc. My phone steadily needed charging at the end of every day!

Things then started to get to the stage where I needed to expand greatly. I had some concrete contracts in place (still many to this day), so took the plunge to buy a lot of capital equipment. I stopped outsourcing a lot of trades/services, and we are now fully self sufficient from start to finish of our refurbishment capabilities. This was a great cost saver. I also employed my own accountant (Financial Controller) to sort out all our books, a safety officer (I am big enough to justify this, and safety is #1 priority) and an Operations Manager, who looks after day to day running of workshop/site works etc. I estimate mostly, and do the quality assurance and consulting to clients. I do put my hand in when needed though, as I feel its good that my employees get a chance to learn new techniques or they need a break or sometimes it is just needed another body on site! Sometimes I let my supervisors still maintain that role while I just fall in to be an 'employee' for the day.

These days, the work is more freely flowing. I know the market, I know how to price very accurately to my staff capabilities, I know how to maximise profits and I know how to tackle varying jobs at once. Oh, and my phone needs charging from about lunchtime onwards ! Voicemail is a good friend I listen to often!

I am again in another expansion stage - Im actually going to China tomorrow to look at some factories and importing equipment to provide even more services to our clients. One new service alone I believe will double my turnover/profit with very little effort.

You answered your own best advices in your own post - make a plan, stick to the plan. You will deviate and change little bits of your plan here and there, but the end goal is still the finishline. The only other best bit of advice I can give you is 'work smarter - not harder'.

pinkboy....whatever you do, good luck with it mate!

Pinkboy thats really inspiring

good luck with ur china trip

Well done Pinkboy... very inspirational.

I started into business 3 years ago with no idea what I was getting in to. Using equity from my property I went from working in a kitchen (qualified chef) to importing containers from china and selling on the net. I had to start working in the kitchen from 6am-4pm and deliver my goods after work to get home at 10pm.

I now take it super easy and grow my business when I feel like it. For me the trick seemed to be finding something that I enjoyed, and that was learning ecommerce, importing goods and building websites, three skills that I can't see becoming redundant anytime soon.

I would have had no idea that I enjoyed these things until I took the leap of faith that I did. Don't get me wrong, It was effing hard work. It was easy to keep at it though, all I had to do was imagine going back in to a kitchen and working my *** off to line someone elses pockets.