Making the decision to leave your full-time job is one of those big decisions. They say marriage, birth, death, changing residence, and changing jobs are five of the more stressful situations that a human being can encounter—they all take a lot of courage. Courage, however, doesn't pay the bills. To be successful, you not only need courage, but you also need a combination of hard work, skill, perseverance, and several personal factors that can ensure your success.
I made the change after years of preparation. For some, you may have the time to prepare, but for others, there may not be any time. Downsizing and job loss are two major reasons for starting out on your own. Other reasons may be that you want to take advantage of your talents or simply change careers. There are many reasons. But, if you still have a job, why leave? Right? Maybe not.
Influencing FactorsBefore you can take the leap, you have to step back and look at things to make sure you're making the right decision. First, analyze why you want to make this move.
The different reasons that people decide to leave their jobs can be divided into two categories: reactive reasons and active reasons. Reactive reasons detract from working for others—negative reasons that push you out. Active reasons attract you to leaving your current situation—positive reasons that pull you out. It's usually better to be pulled out than pushed out as reactive reasons tend to stick with you from job to job. If you are pulled out, you're going somewhere for greener pastures instead of leaving because you've become dissatisfied with the environment.
In either case, the following list contains some of the more common active reasons that cause people to leave their full-time jobs:• Finances: The desire to get paid for the extra effort you put into your work.
• Freedom: The ability to decide for yourself and maintain a flexible schedule.
• Quality of Life: Being able to live a better and healthier life.
• Family: Being able to spend more time with your family.
• Adventure: Breaking out of the mold and taking a risk.
• Bureaucracy: Tired of dealing with the red tape and in-fighting.
• Creativity: Being able to express your ideas and produce your products.
• Control: Taking total control of your life and your direction.
Can you see any of your personal reasons listed? If so, you're not alone. But, what can you do to resolve those issues and the reasons you have? Keeping reading, we'll discuss that shortly.
Do I have what it takes?Most people do have what it takes, but they don't know it yet. Being able to work independently is not as easy as working for someone else, especially since you become the workforce and the management. Once you take the first step and decide to work for yourself, or by yourself, you then have to make it happen, successfully. That's an entirely different situation.
It takes a certain set of characteristics to make an independent endeavor successful. Some of the more common, yet unique, traits of successful independents are as follows. Pay attention to them and judge yourself for each!
• Achievement: Many people measure their achievement based on their money, while others through their accomplishments. You'll need to gauge your success on your accomplishments and achievements. This means that you must be able to accomplish your goals and move forward to the next in an established pattern.
• Social: It's a lonely world out there, and being independent amplifies this issue. To be successful, you can't have a need to be around people all of the time, nor should it matter if you're liked. Exercising power is important to many people and, in most cases that's all that some people know. You're in business to achieve your goals, and that's all there is to it! Be a nonconformist.
• Commitment: You have to be able to follow through on a commitment. This means that when you sign a contract or shake a hand, you're in to the end.
• Objectivity: With commitment comes the need for an objective view. You need to weigh risks associated with a course of action as well as be realistic about your abilities.
• Expertise: With your technical expertise and experiences, you should be able to properly judge your projects to determine if you can succeed.• Attitude: You will encounter strange, new worlds and you will have to adapt, learn, and succeed under new circumstances. Always be optimistic and always maintain your emotions when dealing with others. Be positive!
• Money: Don't take money for granted and try to view it as a means to an end. Use money as a way to accomplish things and to keep score in your new world.
• Resourceful: You have to be able to think on your feet, have enough knowledge to know where to look for answers, have a networking group available, and be a solid problem solver.
• Relationships: Personal relationship skills are important, as you will need to properly represent yourself under all circumstances.• Communication Skills: Communications skills are important, as you will need to provide legible presentations, reports, e-mail, and documentation.
• Anticipate: Be proactive and anticipate developments before they occur. If the issue is an important one, act on it before it requires attention.
• Organized: Be able to maintain a tight, prioritized schedule and don't waste time on items that are better left undone.
• Discipline and Hard Work: Sit down and do the work. Ignore distractions and make sure you accomplish your goals.
How do your personal traits match up against those mentioned above? Realize that these traits are not only important to someone that wants to break away and become independent, but they also apply to someone who would telecommute, full-time, for a corporation. Take note that age, sex, martial status, and education have very little to do with the actual success of anyone deciding to become an independent. Many people succeed as teenagers while many don't feel the desire to even try until they are in their later 40s.
If the information doesn't sound like you, then you'll need to think long and hard about your decision. In some cases, you can learn those aspects that are missing. In others, your ability to succeed is left up to your ability to adapt. Another option is to hire others to handle those tasks, or provide those traits, that you're missing. For instance, if you're a poor organizer, hire a secretary to manage your schedule or hire a project manager to handle your anticipation and objectivity issues.
Making It HappenActually, once you make the decision, you're already making it happen. I remember waiting for years deciding whether I wanted to take the leap. But, one thing I found was that I could come up with a hundred reasons why I shouldn't take the leap, and only a few reasons why I should.
I always worked in the ivory tower of corporations and I always worked to climb the ladder. As I went up the ladder, I missed having my hands in the middle of the work. I wanted to do the work, not watch the work happen around me. My mind was racing and playing tricks. I liked the steady trickle of money from my full-time job because I knew that if something happened, my wife would be okay. I knew that I would have a job for years to come and I would never have to go on another interview.
On the other side, I knew that I could make more money if I worked for myself. I also knew that I would have to find work and try to keep it and I would always be interviewing for new work.
I did some self-analysis to define the real problems that contributed to my indecision. Stay or go. Do or don't. After some thought, I concluded that I was scared. I was scared to death to take the chance at success. Many of the people that go to a psychiatrist's office aren't failures—many of those people are successes. People have an inherent fear of success. It's easier to wallow in sameness and security than it is to make a change to set yourself up for success.
The way I handled my fear was to start jotting down what I thought success was for me. I made a huge list of the things that I thought would put me in a position of being successful, by my own standards. Money, home, high-paying job, writing more books, and numerous other items. The problem was that I was not specific in my success list, which left me just as confused and scared as before. I sat down and rewrote the list, this time, being more specific:
1. $150,000 per yearThis is something I could work with. Now I could sit down and create the steps required to achieve each item. But, do you notice the inconsistencies in the list? You can't write creatively and develop your own ideas, write books, make that amount of money, and work for someone else. This list helped me decide, conclusively, that I had to make it happen for myself. These goals were ones that I decided would make me happy and this was what I had to do!