Starting one's own business has always been appealing, and is an integral part of the American fabric. Most American workers spend some time thinking about being their own boss and reaping the rewards of such enterprise. This fantasy becomes especially prevalent when you've lost your job or reached a point of dissatisfaction with your present one. When we're about to be between jobs, it's the natural time to wonder whether this is the moment we should strike out on our own.
Maybe it is.
Maybe it isn't.
Whenever I talk of "career insurance"-taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure your career-I advocate having strong interests outside of your full-time employment, interests that can be nurtured into a part-time source of income and, should you be without permanent work, can be quickly turned into a primary source. But that's different from striking out on your own without the support of a steady paycheck.
Let's look at both options, being totally on your own at moonlighting. First, moonlighting.
Each person has his or her own reason for moonlight. For many, it represents nothing more than additional time to supplement a regular salary that's being fetched thin. People in this category generally do not art their own businesses. Instead, they take a job on nights and weekends and, in general, are not looking to develop their after-hours activities into anything more than a set wage for hours worked.
A second category of moonlighters are those people who enjoy the psychological payoff of being in charge of a business venture, even though it may not provide significant additional income, or is not likely to be developed to the extent that it would one day replace the need to be employed.
The third category is represented by people who, while making a living by working for someone else, have dreams of building their personal creation into a viable enterprise that one day will prosper and will provide them with all the money and perks of entrepreneurial success. These men and women generally spend a great deal of their spare time developing such ventures.
Before I talk about each category, let me introduce some thoughts that apply to all three.
Employers have mixed reactions to employees who hold outside jobs. It depends entirely upon the perception of the boss. Some applaud the kind of initiative demonstrated by employees who go out and use their off-hours to make more money. For others, it represents a threat. These bosses are concerned that employees who either wish to or need to supplement their income are not paying sufficient attention to their primary jobs.
In either case, I've always recommended that employees who intended to moonlight inform their boss of their intention and, in effect, seek their approval. Obviously, this is not necessary in many cases particularly when lower-level employment is involved but if you're in management, you might find that moonlighting on the sly could seriously hamper your advancement opportunities with your current employer.
The type of job you choose to moonlight on has being here. Working part time for a competitor will always guarantee your dismissal from your full-time job and with good reason. A while back, I knew a highly experienced CPA with a major accounting firm who was discovered to be doing tax preparation on the side. The discovery was made during the height of the tax season; and no accounting firm wants to lose a valued and experienced staff member during this peak period. But this individual was fired on the spot.
Moonlighting is an American way of life. Just be sure you don't earn extra money at the expense of your major income.
If you decide to run your own small business on the side-probably out of your home-you're one of more than 25 million Americans in 19 million households whose office is their basement, spare bedroom, or dining-room table. Approximately 16 million are part-time home workers, and 9 million are running full-time businesses from a house or apartment. The total number increased about 40 percent between 1985 and 1988. It's estimated that by the year 2000 there will be more than 40 million Americans working from home.
Eight out of ten small businesses fail. The reason usually given is that there wasn't sufficient capital to sustain the business through the difficult start-up years. While that undoubtedly plays a role in the demise of many small businesses, my instincts tell me that a lack of business experience probably plays a greater one, especially in recent decades characterized by a need for instant gratification. How many failed businesses were started by men and women without sufficient experience and knowledge can't be measured. I suspect the percentage is high.
Working is a teaching experience in and of itself. Our St Jobs, as menial as they might be, expose us to the business world and its demands. Unless we've absorbed sufficient information and knowledge through the process of working, we start our own businesses with built-in defects that are potentially more damaging than a lack of start-up capital.
That's not to say that we shouldn't act upon our dreams of striking out on our own. America was built hat way, and will continue to be. Be certain that if you do leave a permanent job for your own business, you do it for positive reasons, not as an escape from what you consider an unpleasant and stifling full-time job. There are better ways to "escape" than jumping into the tricky entrepreneurial waters without a life jacket.
If you are determined to start your own business, first do it on the side. This means giving up leisure time. If the dream is compelling enough, you won't consider yourself deprived. Be sure you don't short-change your permanent employers by "stealing" their time, materials, and services. Apply the concepts of ethics, loyalty, and hard work to both endeavors.
Finally, if you go it alone because you don't like having a boss, remember that everyone has a boss, including the owners of any business. For them, the customer is the boss, and is more demanding than any person in a corporate chain of command.
