My Top 3 Tips For Starting A New Business… Before You Leave Your Current Job Or Business

As an entrepreneur, I often get asked this question:

How exactly do you transition from being an employee to being a business owner?

They want to know how they go from making money for someone else to making money for themselves.

And they want to know when they should quit their job and start their own business.

My answer is always simple.

I’m going to outline my top three tips for starting a business before you leave your current job. After being in business myself for decades (and struggling for 12 long years), this advice comes from my firsthand experience — and could save you a LOT of valuable time and money in the long run.

Ready? Here we go…


1. Make Sure You Have Money Coming In

One of the things that really bothers me is when people drop their current income to zero in order to start something new. I’m not just talking about a job here — I mean income.

They go from making something to nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch.

There are two types of people in the world: there are waders and there are divers. Do you like to just dive into things, take a big risk, just go for it and put all your attention on it at once, or do you like to just wade in slowly? Simply asking this of yourself will come into play when choosing whether to start a business (or not).

Regardless of who you are — a wader or a diver — when you’re starting out in business, it’s crucial that you take care of cash flow. There is no point in jumping in and running hard only to find out you’ve run out of cash two months in. Instead, it’s super important to make sure you have money coming in, so you can give your business the chance it deserves.

So if you think you’re a diver — suck it up for a little bit. Don’t lose your income. You can lower it, yes, but don’t lose it. 

Why? Because if you’re starting out in business and cut yourself off financially, you won’t be happy and you won’t be successful. You’ll be stressed, in fear, and full of anxiety. You’ll start coming from a place of scarcity, as opposed to abundance. There won’t be any joy in your new business, and it will feel like a burden… before it’s even started.

Do you know what that is called? That’s called diving with no water into a pool. And what’s going to happen if you jump into a pool with no water? You’re going to crack your head right open. I have 2 million students, and I’ve heard thousands upon thousands of stories about this. It happens all the time.

The good news is that it’s easily preventable: Take care of your cash flow and make sure you have money coming in.

2. Start Your Business Part-Time

Whether you’re in a business that isn’t doing well and you want to start a new one… OR if you have a job and you want to start a business that you think you’ll love… here’s the route I recommend you take:

Keep your current situation and start your new business part time until it’s stable enough for you to fully transition.

Of course, this would mean working overtime, late at night, and on weekends. But if this sounds unappealing to you, you shouldn’t start a business. If you want to be successful in business, you will have to work weekends and you will have to work at night. Boohoo!

The truth is, when you own your own business, at the beginning you will have to work your freaking buns off, with 1,000% attention and 1,000% focusYou do whatever it takes. That’s how it works.

I didn’t make up the rules. It’s just the way it is.

So again, stay in whatever current situation you are in now (whether it’s a job or another business) and work nights and weekends on a part-time basis, earning some income with your new business, until it’s making enough income for you to fully transition. This is something I go over in more detail in my free signature web class, Zero To MultiMillionaire. You can click hereto learn more about it.

3. Get Hands-On Experience In Your Field

This is a big one so pay close attention.

If your new business is similar to what you’re already doing, then you’ve got a nice head start! But if you want to jump into something new and different than what you’re doing right now, what do you have to do? You need to get hands-on experience!

Think of it as an investment in your business and your future success. Even if it seems like a downgrade at first, think long term: You’re investing in yourself to gain the knowledge and skills to ensure that your business will succeed.

When I knew I wanted to start my own business, I was 95% sure that I wanted to open a restaurant. So I started working in the restaurant industry. I was a broiler cook, a sous-chef, a host, a busboy, a waiter and a manager at a pie store. I went through the garbage every night to see the boxes they threw out, and who their suppliers were. I had seven different restaurant jobs in four months. I would leave each one, sometimes even before I got paid fully, because I was simply there to learn.

And I learned the most important thing about the restaurant business for me: that I would neverbe in the restaurant business. Can you believe it? This was the most valuable advice I could’ve ever received.

When you work and get hands-on experience before diving head first into a new business, you go to school on someone else’s dime.

You want to be inside the business — not outside looking in. Success is a learnable skill. Learn everything you can about being in that business: the pitfalls, the good stuff, where the money is made and where the opportunities are.

80% of all new businesses fail within the first five years. You’ve heard that statistic 100 times, and it’s true — except for one thing: 65% of all new businesses succeed if the person was already in that industry.

If you are creating a new niche within your industry of experience, then the chances of your success skyrocket.

So if you’re serious about having your own business, be prepared to do the work, be humble enough to admit you don’t know everything, and learn everything you can about how to do the work.

Add These 3 Tips (And More) To Your Approach

Friends, I can assure you that if you follow my guidelines above, your chances of business success will increase.

But if you want to dramatically increase your chances of success even before you’ve begun to start a new business or leave your current job, join me in my free signature web class called:

Zero To MultiMillionaire:

“The Ultimate Business Success Formula”

It’s airing November 29th – December 6th and I’ll be teaching 6 proven principles to go from broke to rich that I am certain can do the same for you and your business.

On this class you’ll learn:

  • The unique character traits 90% of ALL self-made millionaires have in common, and how you can have them too
  • How to identify and eliminate the things you might be doing that are preventing you from success
  • Specific business strategies that will actually produce real wealth in your life
  • And much, much more!

Just click here to reserve your spot or select a time and date below that works for you. See you there!



Ingrid Wolfert

Independent Associate - Business Coach

7y

Sound wisdom that will save people a lot of heartache. Worth paying attention!

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Doug Crowe

Focused on Giving High-Value Referrals ✦ Referral-Centric Marketing ✦ Entrepreneur Magazine Contributor ✦ PR & Media Insider ✦ Fractional CMO ✦ Personal Branding

7y

As entrepreneurship is on the rise with more and more people, your message here is far more crucial. Excellent writeup, sir!

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Don Phin, Esq.

Advisor, Speaker, Coach

7y

Harv, great points. Can't start a new biz on a wing and a prayer! Maybe you can get by w/o cash flow when you are 20 and willing to live in a one bdrm with 3 roommates. Doing it part-time lets you test your concepts!

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