Balancing Your Day Job and Your Business
One of the hardest things to do when starting a business of your own is to juggle your day job and your new business. Obviously you want to start being your own boss as soon as you can, but realistically speaking you will have a little while at least before you can leave your current job.
Juggling your existing day job and your new business is difficult, but there are ways to do it without jeopardizing your position with your existing employer too much.
Be upfront only where necessary
Depending on the contract you have with your current employer, you may not have to disclose anything about your new business until you hand in your notice. However, many firms have a policy where they assume ownership of anything created at their place of business.
So, if you’re creating spreadsheets or graphics for your new company on your lunch break, your employer could ask you to give up the rights to them. You might also be liable for dismissal, for misuse of company property.
Use vacation time
If your new business is one that has trade shows you’d like to attend, use any vacation time you have to do this. Very few trade shows operate over the weekends these days, so use whatever time you can to attend them. Besides, using your vacation time is a lot less likely to raise eyebrows than the need to take sick days, especially if there’s any inkling of what you’re off work for.
Keep it simple
The worst you can do when trying to juggle your day job with your business is to try and bite off more than you can chew. Not only will this seriously impair the chance of success with your new business, but there’s also a good chance that it will affect the ability to do your current job.
If you’re too tired for work that your performance is dropping, or your concentration is lower than normal, you may soon find yourself up in front of the boss. Continue to perform poorly due to tiredness from combining your day job and your business venture and you may just find yourself out of work altogether.
Knowing when to quit your day job
Of course, the main reason for starting your own business is to be able to quit your existing job and work full-time for yourself. However, unless you’ve properly planned for this moment, you’ll more than likely fail. Don’t be too eager - make sure the time is exactly right.
This means having enough capital to justify quitting your job. Because you’ve been used to having a steady income from your existing job, it can be quite a culture shock when you realize that safety net has gone. So make sure that any extra money you have, and can afford to spare, goes into preparing you for working without a guaranteed income for a while. This will ensure that you don’t join the other 95% of small businesses that fail in the first year.
Although it can be tough, it is possible to juggle your day job and your business - and with a bit of luck, it may be sooner rather than later that you don’t have to juggle at all.
Posted on December 12th, 2007 in Starting a Business |
