How to start a business while working full time

You do not need to quit your job. Yet.

Money and time are your most important assets. You need to free as much of each of these things up as you can in order to invest them in your new (side) business.

Lean out. Bank your money. Sell your expensive cars. Don’t buy the overpriced house. Rent for now. Pinch pennies for now. The less money you need to live the less dependent on your job you are to live. The longer you can go without reaping profits from your business the more momentum you will get and the faster you will grow.

Every dollar invested in your business will become 2 or 3 dollars in the near future. Every dollar invested in everything else will either be gone or worth pennies. Free up your capital so it can work for you.

Free up your time because it is your most valuable asset. I know you have a job and you can’t free up that time. I know you are overcommitted and you are busy. Start saying no. Say no to your friends for now (they’ll understand its temporary). Say no to your hobbies for now. Hide the power chord to your TV and your Xbox. Make the sacrifices in the near term to get out of the rat race and reap the rewards in the long term.

Make sure your spouse supports you – it will be a long road if he/she doesn’t.

Figure out what service you want to offer from this list of businesses I love.  Make a list of 10 and go through my analytical approach to vetting ideas and finding opportunities. Feel free to stray from these models if your market analysis, network or skillset warrants.

Utilize my list of essential tools to get off the ground.

Get out and grind. Sell. Service customers. Make money. Work evenings, nights, and weekends. Delay your gratification now and sacrifice your fun and normality to build the life you want a year from now or three years from now.

Spend a lot of time making and analyzing your financial projections. Revamp them daily as you collect data. Get uncomfortable and push through the barrier where most small businesses stop growing and become a job.

Naming your company and securing a domain is hard but very important. Put some time into it and try my method if you’d like.

Set measurable goals with time deadlines attached. Add value first. Market like a guerrilla. Start lean with rented, borrowed or used equipment to reduce risk.

If you realize your business doesn’t have the potential you thought it did and can’t become what you desire move on. Quit right then and shift gears to your next business. Don’t get emotionally committed to anything. Use your logical mind to make decisions. You haven’t quit your job yet. No harm no foul.

When do you quit your job?

Only you can answer that. Study your pro formas. Study your market. Study the trajectory. How much risk are you willing to take? Do you have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay? What is the worst that could happen?

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About Me

I started the Sweaty Startup in December of 2018 because I believe the Shark Tank and Tech Crunch culture is ruining the real spirit of low-risk entrepreneurship.