Affirmation
I'm soon to be out on a limb.
I'm doing the thing i have postulated and procrastinated about for the past 6 months. The thing I have insistently talked about with friends, colleagues and family. That thing is leaving full time employment to pursue a startup. To try and turn an idea into a business.
The below is written to affirm for myself that I can make this work and also to help anyone else who is in the same situation.
Due to being International Womens Day, I especially hope it can inspire women to take the plunge and create their own startup.
The right thing to do and the harder thing to do are usually the same thing.
Go part-time to prove your assumptions (about your business and about yourself) before you go full-time. Some of the best work is done under tight constraints. This is why companies try to "act like a startup" after they grow. Constraints force you to think and work harder, and can result in better quality stuff.
I see many people in this situation, stuck at the starting line creating imaginary hurdles when the only real hurdle is their inability to start, stay focused and execute. Starting a viable business while still working a full-time job is the right way to do it, because it proves you have the work ethic, initiative and passion to succeed in spite of the everyday constraints that everybody uses as excuses.
I don't like excuses. Many people make excuses to avoid taking risk or doing work or facing failure. Mainly that they don't have enough time, money or equipment/resources to get moving. This is called being a wantrepreneur - the romantic idea that "only if" you had this or that that you would be a success. Symptoms of this condition include continually buying things, increasing debt, a focus on extraneous marketing things like t-shirts, business names and logos, and the pining to quit one's day job. It's a slippery slope of an illusion that never ends.
Everything you need is already in place. It doesn't take as much as you think to start a viable business. It's easier now more than any time in history. You haven't started yet because YOU simply haven't started. End of story. If you dig deep and accept the responsibility of your success, you'll realize that you don't need any extra time or money or equipment; work within constraints. People have built incredible empires with access to far less resources than you have now. Stop spending time and resources trying to manufacture motivation and start making progress with your business today. And think about it...if the only way you can get motivated to work is by unemploying yourself and risk draining your savings, what good are you at the helm of a business when it's actually profitable?
Anybody can quit their day job - it doesn't take passion to do that. It takes passion to CONTINUE your day job and work relentlessly after hours to prove that your little idea is viable enough to be your main gig someday - and that you have what it takes to even materialize the idea.
That I see is the ultimate right of passage.