Before You Say I Quit

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
by George Appiah

Quiting your stable day job that pays the bills and stepping into the uncertain business startup terrain is not a light decision, and must this must be handled with utmost caution. The issue at stake are increased by a factor of 10 you’re living in a developing nation like ours, where too often a whole entourage of relations might be dependent on that single salary.

But this needn’t be a job or business decision. You can indeed, with careful planning, naturally transition from your job into working in your own business full time. This is not easy though, and there’s likely to be sacrifices from either. You should therefore be prepared to put in the extra time and effort to make up for this.

So how do you know its the perfect time to quit? Tatsuya Nakagawa of Atomic Creative Group talks of ten things to work on to determine a good “crossover point”, the point at which you can make a smooth transition from day job to concentrate your own business. Tatsuya suggests you ensure:

1. There is a good product or service offering in place.
2. There are real customers.
3. There is enough money in the bank to sustain a prolonged dry spell.
4. There is enough money in the bank to sustain a prolonged dry spell.
5. The product or service offering is not being trampled by a major competitor.
6. The business will not likely go broke within three to five years.
7. You develop the self discipline it takes to tough it out in your own business.
8. You have become an expert in your chosen area.
9. You have enough of the right “friends” in the area.
10. You have key mentors and advisors in place.

While these are fine points of advice, you should also be careful not to fall into a ready-aim-ready-aim-ready— syndrome. No amount of planning can compare with the feedback you get from real users of your product or service, and there’s no other way to get that than to take your product or service to the market.

Have you been considering quiting your day job and launching your business? Whats been holding you back?

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