Do you dream of quitting your 9 to 5 and finally becoming an entrepreneur?
Well, it’s certainly not an easy path, but the fact that you wish to become an entrepreneur and abandon the security of a full-time job says a lot about you.
Because there are lots of people that don’t hear “security” when they say “full-time job.”
For many, a 9 to 5, working for others, is more associated with feelings of lack of freedom, flexibility, and work-life balance than security.
Does this sound like you?
Becoming an entrepreneur often comes out as the solution to that, but not everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship.
Becoming a successful entrepreneur is full of challenges. So aspiring entrepreneurs need to be brave to start this journey.
In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of businesses fail within the first two years, and 45% after the first five.
That’s a number, right? I don’t mean to discourage you with this. On the contrary. If you’re still here, that means you’re willing to take the risk.
But to become an entrepreneur you need more than goodwill. You need a set of skills that (good news!) you can develop.
In this article, I will show you 3 steps in the journey of becoming an entrepreneur. But first, some clarifications.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. That means that if you make a purchase through any of those links I will receive a commission at no additional cost to you (learn more at the privacy policy section).
What is an entrepreneur?
Nowadays it seems that being an entrepreneur is trendy. The online world made it easier and possible for millions of people.
And there’s this myth that being an entrepreneur you’ll have a lot of free time and do whatever you want all day, because, you know, you manage your time and you (and only you) decide your schedule.
But the truth is that also you and only you are the one in charge of making things work.
Being an entrepreneur entails much more effort than being an employee for the simple fact that now you own the business. It’s entirely your responsibility.
So, what is an entrepreneur, exactly?
If we go to Merriam-Webster’s definition, an Entrepreneur is “one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of an enterprise.”
So, the main aspects of being an entrepreneur are very clear: an entrepreneur is someone who takes the risks of a business or enterprise.
While the concept of entrepreneurship is often more associated with a spirit, a mindset, for others like Steve Tobak, author of Real Leaders Don’t Follow: Being Extraordinary in the Age of the Entrepreneur, being an entrepreneur necessarily entails the existence of a business that earns money.
Entrepreneurship has also been associated with millennials. The generation born between 1981 and 1997 is considered to be the US’s greatest or lost entrepreneurial generation. Why?
- Greatest: for being the most educated (and most exposed to entrepreneurship education) generation and for having access to the internet since the early stages of life.
- Lost: Great Recession slowed down asset accumulation for millennials. High unemployment rates decreased millennials’ early participation in the workforce.
Also, research shows that millennials don’t want full-time jobs at companies.
According to a study by Jamie Gutfreund, chief strategy officer for the Intelligence Group, by now millennials make up 40% of the workforce.
In this research, she found that “72% would like to be their own boss. But if they do have to work for a boss, 79% of them would want that boss to serve more as a coach or mentor.”
Millennials don’t want office jobs for many reasons. Some of them, are:
- They don’t like schedules, they need more flexibility.
- They value work-life balance over fast career advancement.
- They’re more guided by purpose than by earnings.
- They have a collaborative work mindset that usually contrasts with the competitive office culture.
What does an entrepreneur do?
One thing that needs to be very clear: by being an entrepreneur you’ll develop and be in charge of your own business.
You’ll surely start your business in something that you love, but know that when you become an entrepreneur, the boss, the owner of your business, you’ll also have to perform tasks you don’t enjoy so much.
Entrepreneurs often perform many jobs, especially at the beginning of the business. Because there’s usually not enough money to hire people to do stuff, you’ll probably take charge of finances, logistics, research, marketing, and other stuff.
Although it requires hard work and it’s highly demanding, being in charge of many different roles will have a positive impact on you because you’ll end up knowing about everything.
Also read: Soft Skills vs. Hard Skills for Entrepreneurs (How to Develop Them)
But then, you’ll start earning money (believe me, you will) and will finally be able to hire employees to handle those tasks.
Having performed those tasks yourself, you’ll know whether potential employees are good at what they do or not.
Certainly, being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. You need to make sure you have (or develop) what it takes. Because it’s going to get difficult and you’ll need specific skills to overcome all the hurdles that’ll surely come up on the road.
There’s still time to back up.
No? Still here?
Ok, so let’s go straight up to business: How to become an entrepreneur, a 3 step plan.
Step 1: Develop an Idea and Come Up With a Plan
There are so many myths around starting the entrepreneurship journey, that involve “burning the bridges” and quitting to finally dedicate full-time to your true passion.
But the truth is that there’s a step before quitting your full-time job: turning your 9 to 5 into your day job.
What’s a day job? It’s that financial stability that allows you to work on your business project with a clear mind.
So, first thing: you’re going to turn your full-time job into your day job, mentally. For others, everything will stay the same. But for you, your full-time job has become a step in the process of becoming an entrepreneur.
Do something symbolic (it could be putting your day job as a task on your to-do list, together with your business’s tasks) and celebrate that change that you did.
Why not quit my full-time job?
Well, there are different views on this. Consider them and decide what’s best for your circumstances.
Entrepreneur, writer, and philanthropist Marie Forleo makes an interesting point.
Basically, she says that while for some, financial pressure may act as fuel for getting things done and do what it takes to build your business, for others, having financial security and keeping your job during the first stages of a business might be a better idea.
“No, it’s not as sexy as “burning the bridges behind you” nor does it support the mythical narrative of overnight success. But for many of us, slow and steady over time is the healthiest and most sustainable path.” -Marie Forleo.
You’ll hear many stories about people that threw it all from one day to another and they became successful entrepreneurs, but they’re not the majority of people and every situation is different.
Of course, there will come a point when you’ll be incapable of keeping both your day job and your business, and for the sake of your health you’ll need to quit your full-time job.
But that’s so different from the scenario we talked about.
So first, come up with clear ideas and plans.
How much money do you have? Do you need to save? How much? For how long?
The answers to all those questions will determine your next steps regarding your job and your business.
Also Read: The Secret Sauce to Building your Business While You Work 9 to 5 (and having more free time)
How to Find Business Ideas
Do you have an idea for your business? The whole concept of “finding business ideas” is a bit weird, because it’s not just thinking about what you can do, or what sells.
A business idea comes from within, so the first step would be to think about what you like, and what you do well, naturally.
Then, you can filter those ideas getting inspiration.
Here’s how you can search for ideas for your business:
- Search on Pinterest: This social spot has turned into the perfect place for blogs and small business owners, so you’ll find plenty of useful advice that’ll probably come from other entrepreneurs.
A good thing about Pinterest is that when you type a word and hit enter, you get suggestions that will narrow your search. This will give you better and tailored ideas.
Check out my Pinterest profile where I save lots of ideas for bloggers and entrepreneurs.
- Search in business & news sites: Entrepreneur, Inc.com, Business News Daily, and other similar websites are full of actionable advice and interesting insights from experts.
- Talk to the people around you: Sometimes our friends and family are the best people to talk about this. They know us, and they usually see things we don’t. Maybe you’re good at something and never thought of turning it into a business (I’m not saying you should, but consider everything, and then filter through your options).
- Talk to other entrepreneurs and business owners: Networking is essential for aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners. So talking to these people will help you get the picture. You can find them… like… getting out of your house and walking, and also online. There are many paid and free communities where you can network with other entrepreneurs. Joining LinkedIn groups is an option, as well.
How to Come Up With a Plan
It’s true that at some point you’ll be able to have nice management of your own time, but until you get there, you’ll need to put in a considerable amount of work.
The next step after choosing a business idea is to develop a strategic plan to make this idea a reality.
Analyze your finances
Do you need to quit? Can you afford to quit your job?
As I said before, deciding whether to keep or quit your job is not easy. Many facts are involved.
For some, keeping the job will mean they’ll never get started because they rely on the security that a paycheck at the end of the month provides. Becoming an entrepreneur involves a lot of getting out of the comfort zone (which, you know, is so preciously comfy!).
But for others, quitting too soon will mean being too worried about money and never getting to focus on carrying out a business from scratch.
Your life and your situation are unique.
If you don’t quit, you’ll probably need to save money, so think about ways you can save money.
For that, you’ll need to learn:
- How much you spend every month.
- How to change your lifestyle to meet your savings goal, faster.
- How much money you’ll need to save to achieve a free-of-concerns 6 month period.
Check out the Resources Section. You’ll find valuable resources for entrepreneurs there. Tools, courses, inspiration, and more.
Develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset
No one is born an entrepreneur.
Although some people are more inclined to entrepreneurship, this is something you can learn, develop, and apply.
Most people focus on developing technical skills to carry out business. Logistics, finances, marketing, etc.
But there’s something else that people hardly ever notice, and it’s probably one of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship: the entrepreneurial mindset.
Ever heard of the Entrepreneurial Mindset? It’s, of course, a way of thinking. And this way of thinking will help you overcome the obstacles and face the challenges of entrepreneurial life.
Well, that’s what you’ll need to develop if you want to become a real entrepreneur.
There are many definitions and debates around what being an entrepreneur is, but what really determines an entrepreneur is the entrepreneurial mindset.
Here are some characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset, according to Hack The Entrepreneur:
Decisiveness: you have to be capable to reach conclusions and make confident decisions. Entrepreneurs are go-getters, they search and find ways to achieve their goals with confidence and decision.
Confidence: tough, right? Not so much. Confidence comes from being completely sure about what you want and what you’re doing to get it. So if you have a plan and you’re working to accomplish your goals, you’ll start feeling this sense of trust. A key aspect is not being too hard on yourself. Have patience, and you’ll start developing confidence.
Accountability: of course, as we said earlier, you, and only you are in charge of building your business and making it work. So take control and don’t blame other people or circumstances for what happens.
Resilience: this is probably one of the main aspects of the entrepreneurial mindset. Being able to face adversity and overcome circumstances. As we said, the entrepreneurial world is full of challenges. Developing this skill will prevent you from despairing as soon as you have a problem.
Humility: be a constant learner. Don’t come out like you’re the smartest and most successful person in the room. This will allow you to incorporate new skills, innovate more, and grow your business.
Educate yourself constantly. This is a dynamic world that keeps changing. Keep track of the main trends and make sure you implement some in your business (only if and when it’s necessary).
Also Read: Want to Become a Successful Freelancer? Get Rid of the Employee Mindset.
An Entrepreneur’s Routine
Successful entrepreneurs have productive routines that help them move forward and deliver actual results.
These routines are different according to each person. If you’re a night owl, maybe you’ll need to have a routine that doesn’t start until late morning and goes on late at night. It will also be different if you have kids.
Design a routine that ensures that you sleep well, eat healthily, and dedicate meaningful hours to work.
And I’m saying meaningful and not a lot of hours because you need to be focused on results, not on hours of work. And while you’ll probably put in a lot of effort in the first stages of your enterprise, be careful to not burn out.
That’s why having a routine is so important. If you don’t plan, and just let life happen, you’ll probably end up not achieving your goals, and will be part of the stats that I mentioned at the beginning of the article.
When you let circumstances decide, you are giving up the power to make things happen in your life and for your projects.
For this, a couple of tips:
- Be realistic: Don’t design a routine that’s so demanding that you’re barely able to sustain through time. Don’t rely on motivation. Sometimes you won’t want to work, and you’ll have to do it anyway. So make sure your routine is based on realistic goals and time slots, and tasks you can actually carry out.
- Set small goals: Completing small tasks during the day will motivate you to continue. On the contrary, if you set big goals and you don’t accomplish them, you’ll get frustrated and probably won’t feel motivated to continue.
- Keep your personality in mind: When you design your routine, take your life and reality into account. Are you a night owl? Are you more productive in the mornings? Do you have kids? Do you live with a lot of noisy people? By designing a routine that takes into account all these things, you’ll come up with the best plan to make things happen. Maybe you need to get up earlier than everyone else to have a moment of peace. Maybe you need to sleep until late to ensure you’re well-rested, etc.
- Include time to rest: a complete and healthy routine must set times to rest, eat, and leisure.
- Be determined: Once you have a routine that suits you, be determined to do all the things you said you’d do when you said you’d do them. Sometimes you won’t feel like it but the satisfaction will be big once you end your day having achieved many of the things you set out to do.
- Be flexible: You’ll not always be able to perform as planned, because life happens. If you had an emergency or something came up and you needed to take care of it right away, be flexible, and adapt to the circumstances.
- Be kind to yourself: Sometimes your day won’t be as expected. Either due to external circumstances or because you couldn’t focus and you didn’t manage to do many productive things during the day. The most important thing is to be kind to yourself. Embrace your limits and accept the fact that you’re not perfect, and try better the next day.
Also read: Want to Incorporate New Habits? These 4 Golden Rules Will Help You
If you want ideas to build your routine, check out this Forbes article by Alejandro Cremades, Serial Entrepreneur and author of The Art of Startup Fundraising.
Step 2: Get Inspired. Learn From Successful Entrepreneurs
This is a key step in the process of becoming an entrepreneur. You need inspiration and tools.
Listening to other successful entrepreneurs’ stories will not only inspire you but also boost your creativity, help you focus, and learn about the entrepreneurship world.
It will surely prevent you from making mistakes that other people made.
It will provide you powerful tools and actionable advice for your business.
Fortunately, we’re in the 21st century, and that means a lot of free on-demand content is available on platforms like YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Ivoox, and others.
There are lots of successful people out there that are willing to help you, by providing valuable insights and materials, for free.
Build a list of podcasts, YouTube channels, books, blogs, and newsletters that help you get inspired.
Here I recommend you some.
Podcasts
The Tim Ferriss Show: In this podcast, Tim Ferriss interviews world-class performers from different areas and highlights tools and skills for listeners to implement in their lives. This podcast has been at the top of different rankings many times.
Free & Fearless podcast: “a show for ambitious women who want to stop settling and start growing,” by Lidiya K., one of the most inspiring bloggers and business owners in my opinion. In her podcast, she addresses many subjects about building a profitable business with purpose.
The Marie Forleo Podcast: Marie Forleo was named thought leader for the next generation by Oprah. This podcast is the audio version of her show, Marie TV. She brings amazing guests for awesome interviews with the goal of helping people become the person they want to be. It’s not just about inspiration, but tools and actionable strategies.
Noah Kagan Presents: A podcast about building and growing your business, and living a happier and successful life. Noah interviews successful people that share their insights on tips and strategies for achieving successful business and life. You will also want to check out his YouTube Channel.
Accidental Creative: Although not specifically about Entrepreneurship, this is an incredibly inspiring podcast with short doses of tips and strategies for being better at what you do every day. It’s hosted by Todd Henry.
Books
The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company: This book by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf is an extremely complete guide with step-by-step instructions on how to build successful startups. It details a method created by Steve Blank, a Silicon Valley startup expert. It’s a long book, but after this, you’ll be ready to build a strong and successful business.
Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur: In this amazing book, the author Pamela Slim helps readers analyze their situations and quit their jobs to start a successful business if that’s what they decide to do.
#Girlboss: The story of Sophia Amoruso, founder of the successful online store Nasty Gal, and then Founder and CEO of Girlboss, will inspire you to go for what you really want. It’s also full of advice on how to be a good business leader. The book contains success stories but also failures, so you’ll get a hint of the hurdles you’ll run into in the entrepreneurship world. You can also watch the Netflix show with the same name.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity: In this book, you’ll get actionable strategies and tips to build a productive and stress-free life. A life in which you do what you have to do at work and you enjoy your leisure times. By David Allen, productivity expert, and creator of the Getting things done methodology.
Include listening to podcasts, watching videos, and reading blog posts and books as part of your routine.
You can also design a vision board. Visualization is a powerful tool (I said powerful, not magic) in the process of accomplishing your goals. Read more about vision boards in this article.
Courses
Investing in education is essential when starting a business. Here are some courses for those who’d like to start a freelance or blogging business:
1K Blogger: Learn how to get $1000 passive income from blogging. This is ideal if you’re still working 9 to 5 and you want to save money for your business.
Blog to Biz System: A course for people who want to build a 4-figure income blogging business.
Write Your Way to Your First 1K: If you want to start a freelance writing business that earns you 1k, this is the perfect course.
Ready Set Blog for Traffic: Learn how to grow your traffic and monetize your blog.
Writer Website in a Weekend: Learn how to build a writer website that brings you freelance writing clients.
Create Content for Blog Traffic: An extremely professional and actionable Masterclass with all the current best practices, tips, hacks, and ideas to plan and create a strong content strategy to grow blog traffic.
Step 3: Get to Action
Whether you decided to quit your 9-5 or to keep it as your day job, it’s time to put your plan to work.
Set date and time and start. And don’t look back.
Don’t Get Frustrated
Raise your hand if you’re one of those people that get easily frustrated when they don’t accomplish a lot or don’t see results fast! (You can’t see me but I’m raising mine).
Even if you’re a very organized, productive, and prolific person, this is something new in your life and it’ll probably need some adjustment.
It’s not easy to get used to a new routine, especially when it involves starting a business or enterprise by yourself, from scratch.
So, if you don’t accomplish or achieve your objectives during the first weeks, make your hardest effort to not get into a frustrating mood. Remember! Be kind to yourself, check your routine, and see where you need to adjust.
Breath. Rest. Start again. Do your best.
Be Resilient
There’s often this false image that if you work hard, you’ll succeed. And it’s not like that. Sometimes hard work is not enough.
If you’re not on the right path or taking the right steps towards action, you will fail. But failure is not the end. Failure is a trigger to start again, rethink, analyze, and try again.
Resilience is the capacity to accept the circumstances and change your course of action. Become friends with it and practice it a lot because you’ll need it.
Be Flexible and Creative
Sometimes things don’t turn out to be as we imagined them.
Circumstances change, unpredictable things happen. Being flexible will allow you not to become crazy when things don’t turn out as planned, and to also be creative to find out a good solution.
Stay Focused
Focus! One of the main aspects and yet so difficult to achieve during these times. We’re exposed to so many stimuli through social media and other channels, that it’s hard to stay focused on one task.
But the only way to get things done is precisely by giving your full attention to one task at a time. It will be hard at the beginning but once you build the habit it will get easier.
Watch this amazing Tedx for great tips on achieving this!
Do it
“Conditions are never perfect. “Someday” is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you,” says Tim Ferriss in his NYT bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek.
A lot of people suffer from the analysis paralysis syndrome, which basically consists of overanalyzing stuff and never actually getting to the stage of making things happen.
There will always be an excuse, a better time to do things. But the truth is that time is a scarce resource in this one life that we get, so we better keep going and start today.
Quoting author Karen Lamb, “A year from now may wish you had started today.”
So stop making excuses and start today, with what you have and what you can do today. Start small, but start.
A year from now, come back to this post and tell me what you’ve accomplished! I’m sure it will be significant.
Want to start right now? Watch this short video where Marie Forleo shares some tips to motivate yourself:
Conclusion
Becoming an entrepreneur is a long road, full of sunny days, and obstacles. But for the ones that really want to become entrepreneurs, it’s a very fulfilling trip.
If you’re willing to go through all of it, you’ll accomplish anything you need. If that’s what you want, I strongly recommend that you set out to do it.
So, come up with an idea, develop a plan, think like an entrepreneur, get inspired by the ones ahead of you in the road, and do it.
Remember to check out the resources for entrepreneurs section of my blog. There you’ll find plenty of tools, courses, and other free and paid stuff to start a successful business today.
Are you starting a business? How are you doing? Have other books, podcasts, or resources to recommend, besides those mentioned in this article? Let me know in the comments!
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