When Work Doesn’t Work for Women: Saying Goodbye to Corporate America
Part Four: What to Do before Leaving Your Job and Starting Your Own Business
Starting a business requires a to-do list a mile long, but here are six things you should look at before you ever pack up your office and quit.
by Tracy Quinn McLennan
This is the final article in my series When Work Doesn’t Work for Women series. Part One, “The New Women’s Movement,” looked at the rise of women leaving corporate America to start their own businesses and why it was happening in greater numbers than ever. The second article, “Pros and Cons of Being the Lady Boss,” focused on the author’s personal experience creating her small business, including the pros and cons. Part Three included the 13 questions you should ask yourself if you’re considering quitting your job and starting your own business. In this last piece, I focus on the preparations you need to make to start your own business.
The cost of starting a business is at an all-time low, but owning and running your own business is not for everybody. The first step is to consider why you want to start a company. If it’s in reaction to a current bad situation — a horrible boss, bad commute, tedious work, etc. — consider making changes to the specific condition. Can you change your department if you work in a large company? Can you look for a job closer to home? Can you ask for different responsibilities to give your work some variety?
If you’re still thinking of starting your own business, Entrepreneur gives 25 characteristics of successful entrepreneurs here. Take a look at these and answer honestly. Finally, if your answers to the 13 questions in Part Three of this series indicate that becoming an entrepreneur may be a good fit for you, then maybe you’re ready to take the leap.
Here are the preparations to make before you throw open your shutters, so to speak.
1. Pick your passion.
I wrote earlier in this series about the joke that entrepreneurs have freedom . . . so they can choose whichever 23 hours a day they wish to work. It probably comes as no surprise that I don’t fully subscribe to the old adage “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” I love what I do, and I work very hard. The difference is that the concept of “work” feels very different when you do it for yourself and it centers around something with which you are passionate.
Talk with any successful entrepreneur and you’ll find one common thread: they all say you need to be emotionally invested in your business. “You have to start with what your true passion is and then work backward and find a way to pursue it,” MJ Gottlieb, author of How to Ruin a Business without Really Trying, a compendium of 55 mistakes he made while starting and running six successful companies in 23 years, tells Fortune magazine.
2. Research the market.
Regardless of your passion, not every interest can be a money-maker. Researching the market to ensure your business idea is realistic and that there is a real need for the service you provide or the product you offer is critical. However, transferring your passion into something that will generate income, particularly if you’re starting out as a “one-woman shop,” is a tricky challenge.
Many entrepreneurs start their own business in an industry in which they’ve already been working so they know the market well. In the professional world, at least when it comes to college graduates in America, many of us have had the opportunity to pick a career in something we love. (It’s a very different scenario for working-class, blue-collar workers, and laborers.) I had always done freelance work in editorial services while holding full-time positions in corporate America, therefore, I had contacts and experience negotiating agreements. In fact, that is one of the recommendations that Fortune magazine gives in their piece, “When to quit your job and start your own business.” They say that one way to try out your business without quitting your day job is to “build your company on the side, in your spare time, until you know for sure it can survive in the marketplace.”
3. Gather feedback and mobilize your network.
Liz Picarazzi, ex-senior marketing manager at American Express and founder of Checklist Home Services, recommends sharing your business idea with anyone who will listen and taking feedback seriously.
After all your years in corporate America, you’ve most likely met colleagues whose opinions you respect. Reconnect with them if you haven’t spoken in a while or reach out to say hello to those with whom you’re still in touch. (I’ve found a great way to reconnect and stay abreast of the industry is through LinkedIn.com.) Send a brief email saying how you hope they’re doing well, how you respect their business expertise and how you’re considering starting your own small business. Give a brief sentence or two describing your services or product and conclude with a request to meet for coffee or a drink (on you!) or have an email exchange in which you’d love to pick their brain about your idea.
In Part Two of this series, I wrote about the “sisterhood of women business owners” and how they make for wonderful mentors and a support system. This may be just a budding group for you, most likely starting with only one or two friends, but you’d be amazed by how many women are willing to give you advice and encouragement. You’ll also find new friends in other areas. There are many networking groups — both online in such forums as Facebook and offline in places such as the local library — of small business networks you can turn to.
“The concept of “work” feels very different when you do it for yourself and it centers around something with which you are passionate.”
4. Tighten up your personal finances.
In general, the rule of thumb is you’ll need at least six months of savings to get through the initial kickoff of your business to pay your bills. As you’re building your business and invoicing your clients, the turnaround time to actually receiving checks is usually a minimum of 30 days and sometimes longer. If you don’t have a direct deposit agreement, you’re also going to need to account for additional time for checks to clear. Owning your own small business means that your income is now unpredictable both in its dollar amount and when it arrives.
Before you say goodbye to that regular paycheck, it’s time to trim the fat. Take a realistic look at your “essential” expenditures: mortgage, car payment, etc. Perhaps you can refinance some of the larger APRs and free up some cash or combine some credit cards into one with a lower monthly payment.
Next, write a list of your monthly expenses that I call the “extras.” The easiest way to do this is to look at your bank account and credit card statements since we rarely use cash nowadays. I’m not talking about cutting out a Starbucks latte every day but rather looking at the big picture. Are you really using that gym membership? Are you subscribed to magazines that rarely get read and just end up in the recycling bin? Isn’t it possible to forego a regularly scheduled professional manicure/pedicure and take care of that yourself? What indulgences can be trimmed in order to invest in yourself?
5. Create a business plan.
A business plan will help you “map out where you are now, where you need to go and most importantly how you plan to get there,” according to Forbes. They have a list of the “Top 10 Questions Every Business Plan Should Answer” that offers a great starting point to building your own plan here.
There are also numerous resources online, including templates, software, and apps. Also look for local colleges whose business majors offer free advice and evaluations on business plans in order to receive school credit.
6. Take a leap of faith.
In a piece for Inc.com entitled, “How to Quit Your Cushy Corporate Job to Start Your Own Business,” Aparna Pande, a former vice president at Disney and founder of Kidstir, says she knew the potential rewards outweighed the risks of starting a company. She points out that the risks you take for your business should be intentional and calculated but at some point you have to take a leap of faith and jump.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and encourage you to share it with others. Remember that it’s never too late to make a change and to invest in yourself. And I’ll be cheering you on the sidelines!
Tracy Quinn McLennan, Contributing Writer
After 20 years in corporate America, Tracy Quinn McLennan decided to start her own business. She is the owner of TQM Communications, LLC (http://www.tqmcommunications.com/), a consulting company that provides editorial and marketing services to book publishing, marketing/advertising, and corporations. She lives in Central Massachusetts with her husband, son, and a menagerie of animals.
View all posts by Tracy Quinn McLennan, Contributing Writer
