Did you decide to start but do not know whether to dedicate yourself to your business full or part-time? Analyze the following factors and choose the model that best suits your needs. You finally made the decision and decided to start a business. Now you have another question: should you do it part-time or full-time? Many expert entrepreneurs say that starting part-time can be a good idea because it allows you to reduce risks.
Maybe you have a job, and you are not sure if you leave it to devote yourself fully to your venture. Do not do it: managing your time to combine your work and your venture will give you the possibility of having a cushion of resources to test if the entrepreneurial activity is for you and will help you make your business grow gradually.
However, the part-time option is not without dangers and disadvantages. This alternative will leave you with limited time to market your offer, create strategies, or become customers. In addition, since it will not be available to answer calls or solve customer problems for most of the day, they may have the perception that you are not offering adequate service or that they do not respond quickly enough to their needs.
Perhaps the greatest risk that part-time entrepreneurs face is exhaustion. Maintaining a full-time job while running a part-time business will leave you with little or no free time, and as a consequence, your personal and family life may be affected.
But this does not mean that a part-time business cannot work. It will, especially if you have excellent time management skills, great self-discipline and have the support of family and friends, says Arnold Sanow, business coach and co-author of You Can Start Your Own Business. “But don’t think that, since you already have a job, you don’t need to work hard in your company. You must have an attack plan,” he warns.
Where to start Your plan should start with a thorough assessment of the market potential of your idea. Often, this step will be enough to tell you if you should start part or full time.
If you find that there is a great unmet need for your product or service, there is no significant competition and a ready supply of anxious customers, then start full time. On the other hand, if you discover that the market is not compatible with a full-time business, but that one day it will be with adequate commercial and marketing development, it is probably best to start part-time.
Research the competition in your industry, the economy in the area where you want to establish your business, sociodemographic factors, and the availability of potential customers. For example, if you are thinking of opening an exclusive beauty salon, evaluate the number of similar businesses in operation, as well as the number of women in the area willing to pay for services.
Once you have determined that there is a need for your business, describe your objectives and strategies in a comprehensive plan. You should always conduct a thorough investigation, make market projections, and set goals based on these findings. Writing your business plan will help you transform your part-time venture into a full-time one in the future.
Analyze your finances
Before starting a full-time company, most experts recommend reserving enough money to live between six months and a year. Your business plan will show you in detail how much you should wait before your project starts to generate profits.
The basic factors you should consider include the sum of your savings if you have assets that could be sold for cash, if your friends or family could offer you financing or loans, and if the wages of your spouse or other family members could be enough to support family expenses. If you do not have the financial resources to operate the business, doing part-time fully could be your alternative.
According to Sanow, as a rule, you have to wait until your part-time venture generates income equivalent to at least 30% of the salary you currently receive. The emotional and psychological aspect of starting a business is less complex than the financial and market aspects, but it becomes relevant when defining whether you start part-time or turn to it completely.
Start discussing the situation with your partner or family. Do they support your decision to start a business? Do you understand the sacrifices that both full-time and part-time businesses will require of you and your whole family? The time to do this analysis is now, not three months after committing to your business; it will be too late to retire.
Work together to find practical solutions to possible problems. For example, could your partner take care of some of the household chores you currently do? It establishes some basic rules: not working on Sunday afternoons or not discussing matters at the table may be the alternative.
“Having excellent time management skills, self-discipline and having the support of family and friends will help you realize your business,” says Arnold Sanow, business coach.
Everything in the balance
If the idea of dedicating yourself full time to the business and giving up your salary and its benefits keep you awake at night or biting your nails, then maybe a part-time business is best. But, if your current job requires you many hours of work, it involves heavy hours of relocation, and you must also arrive home to meet countless family obligations, adding to these activities a medium business could be the drop that spills the glass and What I sent you to the hospital.
While a full-time business requires long hours, a part-time business combined with a full-time job can be even more stressful. If this is the route, you are considering, carefully evaluate the effects on your life. You will use the nights, weekends and lunch hours and, most likely, your holidays, sick days and vacations to take care of business.
How will you feel the next time you crawl home, exhausted after a night at the office and then have to sit down and spend four hours working on a project that the client needs the next morning? Consider carefully if you have the mental and physical resistance to work both in your work and in your business.
If it must be half or full time, it is a decision that only you can make. Whichever path you choose, the secret to success is to make an honest self-evaluation of your resources, your degree of commitment to the project, and the support systems available to you. If you have these factors in mind, your business will surely become the company you always dreamed of running.
Seven tips to operate part-time
- Include your family. Even in small tasks such as filing documents or answering calls. That will allow you to spend more time with them without neglecting your business or your work.
- Sacrifice your free time. Although during this time you probably won’t have vacations and have little time for yourself, you should keep in mind that every effort has its reward. Reading, exercising, or going to the movies that will not take you much and will help you relax.
- Do one task at a time. Try not to do work things while you are in your business and vice versa.
- Avoid the last moment. Keep an agenda with your earrings, rank them, and avoid distracting yourself in matters that take a long time and that do not serve any of your purposes.
- Use technology. Having a smartphone, a tablet, or a laptop can make your work much easier. Also, download apps that will make your tasks easier.
- Separate your finances. Define what income you get from each activity and what are the business expenses and which are yours.
- Be honest. If your boss or one of your colleagues asks you why you are so fast, do not be afraid to talk about your business, he will not care if you do your job well.