7 THINGS TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE TAKING THE LEAP TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship is often glamorized. Cue: photos of working from a laptop on the beach in Hawaii, drinking a pina coloda, while working two hours per day (or four hours per week). Cue also: instagrammable quotes like “Follow Your Passion and the Money Will Follow!”
Not to be Debbie Downer, but oftentimes these visions are not quite aligned with reality. The truth is that entrepreneurship is incredibly rewarding, and also can be incredibly challenging. On average, micro business owners work 63% more than the average worker (Penelope); not exactly all pina coladas on the beach.
If you’re thinking about taking the leap toward entrepreneurship, here are a few things to reflect on.
WHY DO YOU WANT TO START YOUR OWN BUSINESS?
Often in the coaching world, the answer I hear from others is, “to help people.” While this is noble in many ways, it also is not compelling enough to quit your day job, take on a tremendous amount of risk and oftentimes financial stress while building the business, and leave behind the security and benefits of a full-time job - where oftentimes, there are plenty of opportunities to help others on a day to day basis (more tips for potential new coaches and entrepreneurs here).
Beyond “helping people,” what is the burning desire that is leading you to want to start a business? To become an entrepreneur? To not only share your craft and your calling (whether that is coaching, or art, or design, or consulting) but also to manage all of the inner workings of a business - which, at least at first, will likely include some of the non-sexy parts like processing payments, back end administration and fixing your own printer (goodbye, IT team; hello, instruction manual and lots of swearing).
Some questions to reflect on include:
Why do I want to start this business?
What is my stake in the ground?
What matters most?
What’s the thing I’m willing to risk it all for?
What is compelling me to take this leap?
What is the impact I hope to have?
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT RUNNING A BUSINESS?
A common phrase I hear from new coaches is, “I love coaching. I just hate the business stuff.”
I’m sorry, my friend, but if you truly hate the business stuff, I urge you to think long and hard about your decision to leave your job to start a business. The business stuff is what enables us to do the work we love; to serve others; to have an impact. If you strongly dislike and/or don’t want to do the business stuff, it is unlikely that you will create a successful business.
Some questions to consider include:
How do I feel about running a business?
What skills do I have that will enable to me to successfully run a business?
What skills do I need to learn in order to be successful?
What areas of the business could I outsource or hire someone for?
Do I have the financial resources to outsource or hire someone for these parts of the business?
What is that I most desire - is it to start a business, or simply to do something different than what I’m doing right now?
If I’m not excited about the business stuff, what are other paths forward that could enable me to do what I love, with less ownership of these pieces? (for example: joining an existing firm as a consultant, where the back end structures are already set up and handled)
HOW CAN YOU BEST SERVE OTHERS?
Often, when talking to new entrepreneurs and curious souls, I receive the question, “how do you get clients?” This question makes my skin crawl a bit, prompting visions of a networking event I once attended, where a woman who owned a cleaning company ran (literally, not figuratively) around the networking event flinging business cards at people. This, to me, is what it looks and feels like to “get clients.”
Instead, let us ask the question, “how can we best serve others?” and, “who is it that I can best serve?”
Some questions to consider include:
How can I best serve others?
What is the context I have - because of my personal journey or professional path - that will help me to be helpful to others?
What am I deeply passionate about?
Who are the people I can best serve?
What is about this population that makes us a great fit to work together? (consider: demographic details; lifestyle details; mindset details).
WHAT IS YOUR UNIQUE GENIUS?
We often hear about following our passions but not always about following our strengths. If we are building a business purely on our passion, and not taking into account our strengths, we might find ourselves in a bit of trouble.
Thankfully, in many cases, these two things overlap. That said, it’s worth taking some time to get clear by asking the following questions:
What is my unique genius? Unique genius means: the things I’m exceptional at; the things I’d do all day if I could; the things that give me energy. Note: this is different than what you’re excellent at but that doesn’t give us energy. You’ll likely have a mix of both in your business, but it’s worth getting crystal clear on your unique genius so that you can focus the majority of your time and effort on this. Note #2: often, in the corporate world, we spend a lot of time doing what we’re excellent at, versus our true genius, so you might need to spend a bit of time peeling back these layers.
What skills, experience, and perspective do I have? And in what ways might this be helpful to others?
What skills, experience, and perspective do I not have that I know will not be part of my core offering?
WHAT IS YOUR UNIQUE ESSENCE?
We can think of essence as our personal brand; our special sauce; our unique magic that makes us who we are. Essence is largely a way of being - and when people hire us/our company, they are often hiring us for our essence as much as for our skills, experience, and offerings. It’s important to get crystal clear on this, because it will inform how you show up as an entrepreneur/as a business; the content you create on your website or your blog; and the types of clients that will be a great fit (or not).
To get clear on your essence, I recommend reflecting on the following questions.
What is my unique essence - my way of being that is distinctly mine? Hint: usually these are adjectives. For example: bright/sharp/sassy, or gentle/flowing/intuitive, or funny/witty/sarcastic. To warm up, you might consider doing this exercise for other entrepreneurs or brands that you love. How would you describe their essence?
What is my unique essence not? For example, the unique essence of my business is not overly formal or traditional. This means that if a company is looking for a partner who wears a black pants suit every day, I am likely not their gal.
How do others describe my essence/way of being? Hint: ask close friends, colleagues, and family members to give you a few adjectives. Write them down, capture them, and circle the ones that resonate most.
WHAT RESOURCES DO YOU HAVE AVAILABLE TO YOU?
This is another non-sexy but wildly important part of the entrepreneurial journey. I have watched from afar as countless entrepreneurs quit their jobs and launch their businesses, only to realize that they don’t have the resources to sustain, leading them to take a job that they like less than the one they left in the first place - because they didn’t have money to pay their mortgage or rent.
Before quitting your job and before going all in on your business, I recommend taking some time to sit down with your calculator and spreadsheet (groan, I know), to consider the following:
If I don’t make a profit in my business right away, how much of a runway do I have to sustain myself? 3 months? 6 months? A year?
If needed, what other strategies could I implement to create cash flow, while I’m getting my main offering off the ground? For example: new yoga teachers also filling in at the front desk of the yoga studio; new coaches also taking on a few consulting projects until they build up their coaching practice; new at-home chefs working an evening per week at a great restaurant in town while they build up their private client base.
What will my suite of offerings look like? For new entrepreneurs, it can be helpful to take what I call a portfolio approach: multiple revenue streams that roll up to the same compelling Why (see #1). In my business, this make-up includes leadership development/partnership within organizations; 1:1 and small group coaching; workshops; retreats; speaking; and events. Over time, you may decide to shift, narrow, or further specialize - but at the beginning, it’s often wise not to have all of your eggs in one basket - especially if you haven’t yet tested what the market really needs.
When I started my business, I gave myself a year to make it work. My agreement to myself was that I would go all in on the business for a year, and if I wasn’t generating any profit one year from the day I left my job, that I would take that as a sign that I was meant to do something else. Having a predetermined threshold of both time, and money, when you’re starting out is incredibly helpful to avoid sustained periods of uncertainty and floundering.
WHAT SUPPORT, MENTORSHIP, AND/OR GUIDANCE WILL YOU ENLIST?
Starting a business is hard. And, it can feel lonely - especially if you’re used to showing up at an office each day with a team of people. To maximize success, it’s crucial that you have a network of support - ideally, a network of support outside of your friends and family.
Why develop a trusted circle outside of our close friends and family? This was recently described perfectly by a dear client:
“I have been contemplating a few things regarding where I want to my career to head lately, and after the 50th time of watching my husband’s eyes glaze over as I repeat the same conversation, I realized I should probably set up an appointment with you!”
Some questions to reflect on include:
Who are the people in my inner circle who I might connect with for support, guidance, and/or perspective?
Who are the mentors who could help me along the way?
Who are the coaches, experts, and/or teachers that I could hire who are skilled at working with people like me and/or who have taken this road before?
Tip: when setting up meetings, be transparent about your intention. There’s nothing wrong with asking someone for mentorship or advice, as long as you’re transparent about your goal for the conversation. For the sake of everyone involved, please refrain from inviting someone to coffee to “catch up,” when “catch up” is disguised as asking for an hour of free advice. If what you’re looking for is an hour of free advice, ask for that up front and let the person opt in or out. More on this topic here.
IN CONCLUSION
Entrepreneurship is a wild and wonderful journey. It is thrilling, fulfilling, and incredibly rewarding. It can also spark levels of self-doubt that we didn’t previously know existed, and create levels of stress and challenge that are unlike anything we experienced in the corporate world. As a result, it’s helpful to take the time up front to think through why we want to take this wild and wonderful journey in the first place, the help we might enlist along the way, and how to increase our odds of success.
RESOURCES
There are so many great books on entrepreneurship and starting a business. Here are a few to start with.
Profit First - fabulous resource and framework for setting up the financials of your new business. I highly recommend following this approach; it will not only help to ensure that your business is profitable, but also it will make tax season so much easier!
The Big Leap - uncover your zone of genius; become aware of upper limit problems; reframe your relationship with time.
Essentialism - get clear on what really matters. Do more of that; do less of everything else.
Atomic Habits - develop small but impactful habits that will allow you to make progress on your key goals related to your new business.
Company of One - a great read for anyone who wants to intentionally stay small.
The War of Art - for dealing with resistance that will inevitably arise along the way.
What do you think? Any advice you wish you would have had before your own entrepreneurial journey? Or great advice you’ve received along the way?
