Are you ready to start your own business?

Day 18/90 — How you know it’s time to start your own thing.

People like to ask me: how did you know it was time to start your own business?

I sigh. I shrug. I shake my head. I just knew, I think to myself. But that’s not the entire truth. Being the risk-averse person I am, I actually did assemble quite a few things before taking the self-employment leap.

There’s never a right time. But there are times that are more right than others.

Here’s how you know your moving into a good time zone for starting your own business.

It’s time to start your own business, when you’ve thrown away your business plan.

A friend once told me that writing a business plan is like reading about having sex. While I do believe that working on a business plan is a great way to force yourself to ask the uncomfortable questions like How big is the market really? and How strong is the actual competition?, I know way too many people who have half-finished business plans lying around on their hard drive.

When an idea strikes you and won’t let you go, sure, do some research, but most of all talk to people about it. Here are things you should be looking for:

• Do others understand the idea?
• Are you excited when you talk about it?
• Does it align with your brand as a professional and your current experience?
• If it doesn’t align, can you make that work for you?
• Can you get others to believe in the idea?
• Can you get others to believe in you?

Now this sounds fluffy. But what I’m after is this: it takes a certain kind of personality, gut, skillset, attitude, and posture to start your own business. The people close to you (personally or professionally) are likely good at accessing if you have what it takes.

After taking my ideas to a bunch of people and hearing the same feedback over and over, I was pretty confident that I was ready. This time. I had gone through this process before a few years back and the feedback had been dramatically different. I clearly hadn’t been ready.

It’s good to believe in yourself and your ideas. But it’s just as important to validate both. In the end, you can’t succeed if people don’t buy into you and your idea.

It’s time to start your own business, if you really want to grow.

I’m not saying you can’t grow in a corporate career. But you’ll definitely grow faster and in more ways, when you start your own business. Starting your own business is challenging on so many levels.

You’ll need to use your whole array of knowledge, and learn new stuff all the time.

It’s financially less safe and often unstable.

It’s demanding in every way possible — for you, for your body, for your relationships.

But losing some money will teach you stuff. Making some money will teach you something else. Failing, succeeding, constantly adjusting and changing will teach you so many invaluable things that will forever influence the way you work and do business. For me, these things have been so influential, they’ve dramatically shaped my character.

I think everyone should start their own business at some point in their life. Instead of a gap year, let’s introduce the startup-year.

It’s time to start your own business, if you’re bored (or depressed).

Some of us are fine with a job. Others want to constantly feel like they’re making a difference — otherwise they get bored (or depressed). If you fall into the latter category, you should think about starting your own business.

The two major depressions I had in my life came from a) studying something I found boring and b) working a job that wasn’t challenging enough.

If you like a good challenge, are disciplined enough to stick with it, and every job you take leaves you bored after a few months, your own business could be the solution.

It’s time to start your own business, if you’re really independent.

No matter if you start a business on your own or with a co-founder, you need to be fine with putting hours of work into something on your own. You are your only motivator. You track your own results.

This is actually a lot more challenging for most people than they expect.

Several friends of mine fell off the startup wagon because they struggled working independently without external structure and motivation.

If you already get shit done on your own, excel at self-leadership, and can measure your own results, you could be ready to start your own thing.

It’s time to start your own business, when you can sell.

You’ll need a lot of skills to excel with your own business. One of the most underrated ones, however, is the ability to sell. You’ll need to sell yourself, you’ll need to sell your idea from day 1.

Are you confident enough to reach out to strangers? Are you good at pitching? Can you communicate clearly? Are you willing to cross your own boundaries when it comes to contacting people over and over again?

For most people, reaching out to strangers, following-up unanswered messages, and pushing people toward a decision is far outside their comfort zone. Unfortunately, it’s a vital part of running your own business.

Make sure you’re ready for it.

It’s time to start your own business, when you’ve been hired as a consultant before.

This one was super important for me to know it was time, but may be less important to you.

When I became more and more knowledgeable in the field I was working in, I started applying for smaller consultant gigs. I got hired (and was offered to be hired) many times before I decided to take the leap of independent work full-time.

Getting hired as an independent consultant is difficult. You will need to convince people you have the knowledge, the skills, and the determination to help them solve whatever problem they have. You usually only have a few minutes to convince several stakeholders. Once you’ve mastered this art, you’re definitely ready to take independent work to the next level — starting your own business.

There are many more indicators that can show you when it’s time to start your own business. The more self-aware and honest you are with yourself, the more likely you are to know when you’re ready.

Because that’s the only question you really need to answer:

Am I ready to start my own business?

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This is day 18 of 90 days that I will be sharing something I’ve learned here in this publication. Don’t miss it.