Employment & Running a business

[swalmsley7]

How many of you actually when starting your business/venture continued to work in your full time job. Im just trying to establish how long you can run a business and keep your job. I currently working reduced hours in my job to keep a basic income whilst i work on developing my website and whilst i wait for revenue to come in, i think uts slightly easier with a web based business as its their 24hrs a day so can be fit arround other commitments.
Do any of you still have your job and run your business as well? or Did you quit your job to start your business?

[aa412]

I'm so glad you started this thread. This has been a hot topic in my family recently. I waited for almost a year looking for a job after I graduated including several agencies. At that point I had the idea for my business and started working on it since I had nothing else to do. Then one of the agencies contacted me with a job for the first time ever! So I decided to work and carry on setting up the business. But it got to a point where I knew that I had to leave work because I was taking phonecalls in the corridor quite regularly and I knew that I needed to have more time to put in my business. Also I have to be honest it felt so demoralising being a small cog in a wheel and at the bottom of the foodchain when I could go and be the boss in my own company. However certain members of my family still think that I should get a part time job and in fact still apply for graduate positions for next year "just in case"!

So to answer your question, it depends on 2 things for me.
1) Being in a financially stable situation, you could be living at home like me or have saved up a little to help you through the initial months/year.
2) There comes a natural stage where you feel that working is starting to become detrimental to your ability to effectively set up/run your business.
When those things align then I think it can make sense to leave. But saying that I am sure that some people wait a long time or even carry on working and run the business on the side until the business is making them more money than steady employment.

[gem07]

Could you apply for graduate jobs to keep the family members sweet? By the time interviews and positions roll around you'll hopefully be able to show that the business is worth sticking with full time.

Personally I'm planning on working and doing the start up for as long as it takes for me to feel comfortable. At uni I worked 4 jobs to stay afloat, post uni I worked a full time and a part time job. My 'career' job that didn't work out involved 18 hour days, for weeks on end. So I'm used to working crazy hours. It's clearly in the family as I watched my mam and dad run one business they hated, while mam worked a full time job and dad started a second business. They ran like that for long enough to get the second established before selling the first business.

I think you have to do whats right for you. Which ultimately will depend on your personality, attitude and circumstances.

[mannie]

i have had my own business now for just under a year and i still work a night shift 5 days a week but it all comes down to what you need to do i work from 7.30am till 4.30pm for my own web company then get 2 hours with my kids a few hours sleep then at 9pm till 3am go and drive a fork lift but i only do it becoz i dont want to be paying back bank lones for the next 5years i could stop it and take the easy option but thats just not me im doing this to prove that you can set up a business with hard work and still make money

[instaoneman]

No, it’s not necessary to quit a job for going completely home based. With web based freelancing, you can do a fulltime job as well as your business. Below are some of the benefits:

- More financial growth potential than a traditional job
- Flexible timings
- Minimum starting cost
- Increase entrepreneurial skills

Kindly visit my signature to get in touch with freelancers, SMBs and more directly!

[carolinem]

I worked part-time whilst my business ran full-time at first.

Pros:
You're enthusiasm for your new business gives you extra energy for late nights and early mornings.
Your business won't be that busy for the first couple of months and it gives you a chance to make sure everything is running properly before cutting off your income without paying for the inevitable web site design delays, BT not putting in the phone line when they said they would, the bank account taking 14 years to set up etc.
Tasks expand to fill time, if you only have 2 hours to get the admin done, it'll spark you into action!

Cons:
Your customers may want an immediate response.
7/10 people who reach an answerphone hang up so you may be losing business.
Your boss may not appreciate your entrepreneurial flair, particularly if it's done on his time!
Long term working two jobs encourages burn out.

The best way of running your business and working full-time is to have competent deputies in your absence so it seems like the business is a real full-time business. Use a call answering service to answer your phones, check emails via Blackberry at lunchtimes and breaks, make sure you answer all emails and messages within a certain timeframe.

Hope that helps!
Caroline

[gqbabe]

I work full time and run my business. I delegate where possible (when I first started, I contracted a firm to do a bit of direct sales for me). Now I've got my blackberry with unlimited internet. I can respond to e-mails in real time. There's someone at hand 9-5.30 to collect my messages from my business line. When I get back from work, the first few hours of my evening are spent responing to other e-mails that needed more brain power and to follow things up e.g. post.

I think in the financial enviroment that we are in now, it is wise to get a permanent job and organise your business around it. Once your business is up and running and able to sustain itself and pay all your bills, then you can look into giving up on working for someone else.

[gqbabe]

ps, you can use a virtual office to take calls for you when you are unavailable. I'm sure Caroline wouldnt mind giving you a good deal.

[gem07]

Out of interest Caroline, what do you charge to answer the phone for a company during office hours?

[Jarvooo]

To be honest, it was being out of work that made me take the step on my own, and i dont regret a single part of it really. It was a case of sink or swim - and fortunately ive done nothing but swim since. Id say its a good idea, if you're confident enough in your own potential as a person and as a business, then go for it

[Baldykev]

I work full time nights much the same as mannie

trying to launch a buisness is hard enough without the time constraints

The buisness would move faster if I had more time to spend on it but the real comminments (bills) would not hold off for the profit to become enough to pay them

I have planned to drop some shifts as the buisness grows but its the classic chicken and egg thing

Jarvooo has had to "just do it" and I intend to take some of that attitude about the buisness this year because with a steady income you tend to get compaciant and easily distracted

Focus is the key element - if you want it to work then focus on it - quality planned time - follow your buisness plan in a structured way...and Just do it!!!

[VDO]

I graduated a few months back and am unemployed and am debating whether to still pursuit getting a job or work on my business full time. Does anyone have any advice? I have a great idea for a business but i'm worried that if i don't pursue the business someone else will come up with it and then i'll regret not having done it when i could have. But at the same time starting a business requires upfront money which I don't really have right now. I'm thinking of getting a 'crappy' dead-end job whilst I start the business. Is that a good idea? Sorry to go off topic but I could really do with advice

Thanks!

[aa412]

My advice as someone who was in the exact same position as you is this - still look for work but in the meantime start doing your research on the business idea. Do a business plan and see if you can get access to any grants etc. There's the Shell Livewire comp that gives you £1000 if you win, Business Link has marketing and other grants available. If you do get a job, stay on till you feel comfortable leaving (either the business is doing well enough to support you or you feel you need to spend more time on it). If you don't get a job then you'll still be in a better position than you are now because you'll have a business basically ready to go.
Hope that helps.

[Jarvooo]

Originally Posted by aa412

My advice as someone who was in the exact same position as you is this - still look for work but in the meantime start doing your research on the business idea. Do a business plan and see if you can get access to any grants etc. There's the Shell Livewire comp that gives you £1000 if you win, Business Link has marketing and other grants available. If you do get a job, stay on till you feel comfortable leaving (either the business is doing well enough to support you or you feel you need to spend more time on it). If you don't get a job then you'll still be in a better position than you are now because you'll have a business basically ready to go.
Hope that helps.

Some very sound advice there, dont rely too heavily on getting grants or funding though - certainly dont rely your business on doing so, banks and some foundations can be quite sceptical about the type of business they want to invest in, where there is a will, there is a way. Ive built without any funding and turn over well in excess of my own projections, so it can be done with no regular income and no funding, i guess the situation you are in makes it highly important as to whether you sink or swim.

[heimdalls]

I'm currently doing both working a 40 hour week with my main "job" and working on my business evenings and weekends. I have to agree that i may be losing some sales due to the 40 hours a week "job". but given the product & service im selling im not finidng it too bad at the minute.

The Majority of my meetings are done over the phone, and customers have so far been happy with any face to face meetings being conducted outside of "usual " business hours. One of the services i supply actually seems to have a larger market due to the time of day it operates (IT Support)