5 Things To Check Before You Get Into Self-employment

With the economy slow down, it had affected the performance of many companies. The morale among employees in such companies is generally low and many may felt frustrated with their job and some fearful of losing their jobs. A handful may take this time to toy with the idea of self-employment. But before you leave your day job, it’s good to pause and check these 5 things before you take the plunge.

1. Do you have enough cash to last for the next 12 months? You read success stories of self-employed people who made it. Most would tell you to let go your fears and pursue your dreams. It’s not as simple as that. Self-employment means you won’t enjoy receiving your steady monthly pay check. It usually takes some time to build your client base, longer to send out your first invoice and do not be surprised that the payment does not come in within the agreed time frame. In between, remember you still have your bills to pay and commitments to honor.

2. Do you have a business plan in place? A lot of businesses failed because there was no business plan. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. As clichéd as it sound, this is the first thing that you need to do. Check your motivation of getting into self-employment – is it merely due to frustration in your employment? If it is something that was decided at the spur of the moment and not something that you had been thinking for years, your business is unlikely to succeed. Working for yourself takes a lot of motivation – perseverance or staying power is easy said than experienced.

3. Are you willing to get your hands dirty? You will be the boss and every penny counts. If you can save, you will save. That means if you can save the cost of hiring an Electrician to pull the wiring, you would go for it. Are you willing to multi-task and learn to do the menial work as part and parcel of starting out on your own?

4. Are you willing to work long hours? If you think you are already working very hard and spending long hours in your employment, self-employed would demand more of that. Do not be deceived by what you see or hear about self-employed people having a lot of free time. For any starter, there is no free lunch. Even if your hands are not working, your mind is and you can’t help thinking and exploring new ideas to make your start-up worked.

5. Are you the type that can take risks and ready to lose everything? Every business that started out does not necessarily ends with profits and success. If anything, there are more failures than success. Is that something you can handle?

If you are not 100% sure self-employment is for you but your heart tells you strongly to go ahead, perhaps you can consider another option: part-time. Test the water first by giving yourself time to try out your business idea, without getting completely cut off from your day job. It usually works better this way!