Taking the Leap from Employee to Entrepreneur

When it comes to making the leap from employee to full-time entrepreneur, do you follow your heart, your gut or your money?

It’s a hard question and one that I still don’t have the answer for. If it were up to my heart, I would have left my job a week after I started. If I were to follow my gut, I would have left a couple of months ago. It felt right then and still feels right now!

But if I follow the money, well let;s just say at this time I should probably just sit tight. After all my entrepreneur ventures are still no match for my current salary and I have those two growing kids at home to feed.

I decided to enlist some advice on twitter and asked, “When it comes to making the leap from employee to full-time entrepreneur, do you follow your heart, your gut or your money?

Here are some of the responses:

@tracilove:  Follow your heart & trust your gut – but remember that if there’s no $, it’s a hobby (not a biz).

@multitaskingme: Your gut, your heart, your money in that order

@weddingsites: Definitely your heart, it’s just a feeling you get, plus it becomes too much of a struggle juggling multiple jobs and family

@KenClicktoy: Your gut will remind your heart to remember to make money

@chatterboxcgc: Heart and gut definitely! But money is always there in good ways and bad.

@AskWifey: A little bit of all three – smiles!

While I agree that it’s time I follow my gut and heart and move forward, I thought it would be best to develop an exit strategy.

Set a Date: Decide when you would like to makes the transition to running your business full-time and develop a schedule around that date.

Review Finances: Amanda Steinberg from DailyWorth.com says, “If you’re leaving a full-time job, set up a savings account six months before you announce your departure. Commit to adding to it regularly. Save as much as you can. While six months saved in cash is a pipe dream for many of us, it’s a good north star to shoot for.”

Eliminate Debt: You may need to incur more debt as you vamp up your business, so clearing out old debt will give you some wiggle room.

Build Your Credit: Apply for extra credit.  Save those checks that you get in the mail from the bank and those pre-approved loan offers. They will come in handy if need some extra money for business expenses at a later date.

Create Your Vision: Make sure you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish. Consider getting a business or life coach that can help support you and create a realistic plan.

Talk to Family: Discuss your plans with your family, they make a great support group, so if issues arise you can work them out together.

Networking: Being a full-time entrepreneur may mean spending a lot of time alone. Start connecting with other entrepreneurs by joining support groups on and offline.

Starting a business takes motivation and determination, leaving the security of your full-time job takes courage. To ensure the highest potential of success formulate a plan before making that transition.

For some more great tips, advice and coaching on taking that final step to full-time entrepreneur visit Deborah Bailey’s blog: The Secrets of Success . Deborah is the author of an eBook called “Boost Your Marketing & You Visibility with Internet Radio”. She is also the founder of Deb Bailey Coaching for transitional entrepreneurs and is the host of the weekly Internet radio talk show “Women Entrepreneurs – The Secrets of Success”.

Good luck on making your transition to full-time entrepreneur.

Read more from Stephanie at BizzieMommy.com.