Are you thinking about leaving your job to start a new business?

In 2021, 32% of Americans quitting their jobs started their own business. (Digital). Overall, 2021 saw approximately 5 million entrepreneurs apply for a federal tax-identifier number, which is the largest number the Census Bureau has ever recorded.

According to Sean Bryant, in an article for Investopedia, there are currently 31.7 million small businesses in the United States, which make up 99.9% of all U.S. businesses. Many small businesses start up every month, but the failure rate is high. As of 2021, 20% failed in the first year, 50% within five years, and 65% within 10 years.

The article goes on to acknowledge that, according to business owners, reasons for failure include money running out, being in the wrong market, a lack of research, bad partnerships, ineffective marketing, and not being an expert in the industry. While the nuances to these reasons are many and the numbers of the businesses that do not survive are daunting, there are ways to avoid failing and setting yourself up for success.

On a recent episode of Why I Left, former corporate strategist, Gamal Harding, an entrepreneur and current real estate executive with 10x Property Management, spoke about the advice he would give to someone who wanted to leave their job and start their own business. The following is the 5-step framework he outlined with key questions to ask yourself before taking the leap.

1. What is your vision?

“A vision is a vivid mental image of what you want your business to be at some point in the future, based on your goals and aspirations. Having a vision will give your business a clear focus and can stop you heading in the wrong direction.”

– Queensland Government

Before making a decision of this size, you should first identify what your vision for the future is. This could be as simple as deciding what you want to do in this next chapter of your life and what you want to accomplish. You owe it to yourself to take some time to think about what that is.

If you are somebody who is already working a corporate job and you want to do something on the side, at least you have a financial buffer, in that you are not putting your main source of income at risk by going all in from the outset. However, you still must consider whether the following are true:

• I am passionate about and will put effort into what I want to do next.
• I envision myself doing this for a long time.
• I believe I can monetize this passion and effort and it is not just a hobby.

Now that your vision is identified, you are ready to make it a reality and move to Step 2.

2. What strategy will make your vision a reality?

“Strategy is simple, but simple is complex.”

– Max McKeown, The Strategy Book

Strategy generally involves setting goals and priorities, determining actions to achieve the goals, and mobilizing resources to execute those actions. It is the roadmap to getting to your defined vision created in Step 1.

For example, you dream of going to Paris, France. How will you get there? Are you going to take a combination of planes and trains? What direction are you going to go to get there? Will you fly into the United Kingdom and then take a train to Paris? These are just some of the questions you could ask yourself as you strategize how to get to Paris.

Applying this logic to your specific situation will aid in the development of your own strategy to make your vision a reality. But strategy only gets you so far. You need to be tactical in your planning to successfully implement your vision, which takes us to Step 3.

3. What tactics do you need to take?

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

– Sun Tzu

The next step is focused on your tactical planning. You have your vision of what you want, you have the strategy of how you want to achieve it, now it is time to figure out the tactics you need to make it happen. This is particularly important for those in a 9-5 job, because you need to be planful of the small daily steps you can take, given your limited time due to your day job, thus relegating you to work on this vision during the evenings, weekends, or early mornings. And if you have a family and kids, your time becomes even more limited.

So, you must decide what the tactical steps you can take will be and plan for that. You also need to be honest and realistic with yourself in this step. Often, we get caught up in looking for quick resolutions when we should be playing the long game. Be patient and stick to your plan, because once the tactics are developed you are now ready to execute, which takes us to Step 4.

4. How will you execute the tactical plan you outlined?

“Vision without execution is hallucination”

– Thomas Edison

What good is your vision if you do not execute on it? If you have taken the time to create your vision, come up with a strategy you are comfortable with, and outline the tactics needed to be successful, you should execute on it daily.

In the context of Edison’s quote above, simply having a goal to achieve something in mind or imagining to be successful, but not doing anything to carry out that goal or realize that success is equivalent to hallucinating. And if you have taken the time to make it this far in the article, you are serious about your time and want to make the best of it.

Do not let your efforts go to waste. You have done all the hard work and now, finally, you need to hold yourself accountable for executing the plan you outlined, which takes us to Step 5.

5. How will you hold yourself accountable for executing your plan?

“No one is coming to save you. No one is coming to push you. It’s all up to YOU. You need to parent yourself if you want to make your dreams come true. You CAN do it… you just have to stop waiting to feel like it.”

– Mel Robbins

Although the quote above sums it up, the final step in this process involves accountability. How are you going to hold yourself accountable for the tactics that you need to take daily, and how are you going to manage yourself around that?

Holding yourself accountable to meet your goals is an effective way of forcing you to be your best self. You accept responsibility for your actions and reap the rewards of your hard work. It also builds confidence in your own abilities to keep striving for excellence.

If you can do these things well, then you can craft a plan to make your exit and win while doing it.

Summary:

5 questions to ask yourself before leaving your job to start a business:

1: What is your vision?

2: What strategy will you take to make this vision a reality?

3: What tactics do you need to take?

4: How will you execute the tactical plan you outlined?

5: How will you hold yourself accountable for executing your plan?

Thanks for reading.

Stay Curious,

Brian

—

Brian Aquart is the Creator and Host of Why I Left, a podcast chronicling real stories from real people about why they left their jobs during the pandemic. Stay up to date with Brian on LinkedIn.