You Don’t Need to Quit Your 9–5 To Be A Successful Entrepreneur
There are many stories out there of people quitting their jobs and betting on themselves to make their dreams come true. It often times leaves us inspired and thinking that this may be the best option for us too.
We hear about all the sacrifices and the grind it took for them to get to where they are from the 1 bed room shack, working round the clock non stop, and even going into major debt to achieve their goal. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach and I applaud anyone who has the courage to take this route.
However, many of us aren’t able to take this leap of faith and bet our entire lives on a business idea due to a myriad of factors. Family plays a huge part in this, bills play an even bigger role in this decision as well. So this is for the person that’s debating leaving their 9 to 5 to go all in.
First things first there are plenty of entrepreneurs out here who built their side hustle until it was profitable enough to make that jump. Some of them you may know and others you may not but they all started somewhere. Check out these examples.
Daymond John
Many of you may know him as the smooth talking investor from Shark Tank but before he was a shark he built his wealth as the founder of FUBU. Back in the early 2000’s this clothing brand dominated pop culture, being featured in music videos and rocked by all kinds of stars. It was definitely a movement. What people didn’t see was Daymond working as a waiter at Red Lobster while also laying the foundation for FUBU.
He used Red Lobster to bring some money in to keep him afloat while also being able to put time into building his brand. Working as a waiter gave him the flexibility to pick up and drop shifts as he chose. As his brand grew he relied less and less on his 9 to 5 and soon enough was able to leave. FUBU became a house hold name.
Sara Blakely
I had a chance to hear Sara speak at a conference earlier this year and to my surprise she was truly a dope individual. I thoroughly enjoyed her story and how transparent she was. Sara is the founder and owner of a shape wear brand called Spanx. You’ve probably seen one of their locations in the mall. Before she built her billion dollar fortune she had a trouble finding a job after college and eventually landed a gig as a door-to-door fax machine salesperson.
I’ve been in sales for years and going door to door is one of the hardest types of sales you can make. So for her to hold down this type of job, pay bills, and push her business is astounding!
One evening she couldn’t seem to find the right hosiery to fit under her white pants and decided to invent her own. Thus, Spanx was born. She held down her job for 2 years trying to get her business off the ground on the side. Eventually it all paid off and she’s recognized as one of the top entrepreneurs in America.
J. K. Rowling
J. K. Rowling’s story is pretty amazing. We all know her as the author of the Harry Potter series which many have grown to love. It wasn’t always peaches and cream for her though. It actually took her years to finish the first book.
During that time she became an English teacher and when she and her husband split she survived off of government assistance. Eventually she got a break after 12 major publishers denied her book. A small publishing company decided to take it on and the rest is history.
Mark Cuban
The world famous owner of the Dallas Mavericks. I remember when I first learned about him as a basketball fan but didn’t quite understand his impact as an entrepreneur. While he was in college, somehow he managed to get his hands on $15,000 and used it to purchase a bar.
Now, for those who have gone to college know how difficult it is to mange that schedule alone and maybe have a part time job. Mark literally ran an entire bar while in school and it became the go to bar on campus. Talk about turn up.
After graduation he would end up in a dispute with an employer who wanted him to clean instead of closing an important sale, and Mark responded by creating MicroSolutions, a computer consulting service. 7 years later he sold his first start up for $6 million.
Sacrifice
My point in raising those examples is that you do not need to quit your job to make your dreams come true. Be smart about the decision you’re making and understand that you can use the income from your job (just like the people mentioned above) to keep you above water while you put things in place for your business.
I know a lot of people hate their current jobs but understand that this is also an opportunity to have some sort of stability while you go through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.
In order to take your business to the next level you have to accept that sacrifice is apart of the game and no matter who you are you’re not above that. So if you’re analyzing your situation questioning why you aren’t further along, make sure you’re real with yourself about how much time you’re really investing into this dream.
If you can find a way to give more then do it. It’s easier said than done but when you crave sugar you eat something sweet. When it’s time to clock out from work you don’t think twice about it. Apply that same energy into your business and watch your life change.
If you do anything cool with this information, let people know about it in the comments below! If you want to take a look at some of the other pieces I’ve written check out my profile.
