Successfully managing a business is always difficult but it can be much more of a challenge if you’re still working another full-time job.
Juggling those two commitments and trying to do your best work requires commitment and passion. Here are some tips for how to make it work.
Check for Contractual Problems
First things first, you need to make sure you aren’t violating the terms of your employment with your current employer by working on a separate business, especially if it’s closely related to your current job. Your employment contract may have relevant stipulations related to inventions or intellectual property (IP) and conflicts of interest. You should know that anything you develop on company time or using company property will belong to the company in almost all cases. That means you shouldn’t be using your work computer or email to do work for your side business. Keep your job and your business separate to avoid costly legal problems down the line. If you have any doubts about your legal obligations, consider consulting a lawyer just to be sure.
Create a Schedule and Stick to It
Time management can make or break you when it comes to managing a business while also working full-time. You might even say time is the most valuable resource on your entrepreneurial journey. After the time you spend at your full-time job and your personal commitments like family, you’ll be left with a limited amount of time to make your business work. You need to use it wisely.
Maybe that means waking up earlier in the morning to devote time to your business. Maybe you’ll want to stay up later. Either way, you should develop a schedule for managing your time and stick to it as much as possible. A schedule will help keep you accountable while providing some structure.
Be Prepared to Make Some Sacrifices
Any entrepreneurial journey involves making some sacrifices. This initial part of your journey when you’re working full-time will be especially tough but that doesn’t have to be discouraging. Yes, you’re going to need to put in a lot of time and effort. You might miss some events or have less leisure time than usual. But at the end of all that work, your reward for making those sacrifices could be a successful business all of your own.
Set a Timeframe or End Goal for Quitting Your Day Job
There will come a time when what’s best for you and your business is to quit your full-time job. Only you will know exactly when that is, though. It will be scary to finally make that leap into self-employment but having a clear benchmark for when you’ll do it will help. Maybe you want to set a goal of quitting your day job after 6 or 12 months of working on your business. Another option is to set a monetary goal. So, for example, you might quit your job after you reach twice your monthly salary in monthly sales. Whatever your goal is, it will give you something to work towards and remove some of the stress of constantly thinking about when or if you should quit your job.
You might also want to work up to quitting your day job by gradually cutting back your hours. If it’s allowed by your employee, you could cut back to part-time hours before you make the jump to complete self-employment. That way, you’ll have more time to work on your business while still earning a steady income.
Outsource When Possible
Outsourcing can be a smart strategy for any business but when you’re working full-time while running your business, it’s essential. You’re going to need all hands on deck to get your business off the ground but you probably won’t have the budget to hire plenty of employees. The solution? Outsourcing. Outsourcing allows you to hand off the tasks that you don’t have the time or skills for. Say you want a business website (which you really should since it’s one of the 3 Things Every Business Needs) but you have no website design experience. Rather than waste your time and effort trying to learn website design to make your business website, you could just outsource the task to an expert. You’ll get much higher quality work and have time to work on the things you’re best at.
Set Aside an Emergency Fund
You should set aside some reserves to put in an emergency fund. That money will act as a safety net if anything goes wrong once you no longer have a full-time job.
You can use the steady income from your day job to build up a reserve of 6 to 12 months of living expenses that will offer you more freedom in your business later on.
You don’t want to be making business decisions based on fear and this emergency fund will provide great security just in case.
Consider Working with a Career Coach
Making sure everything goes smoothly with your new business while working a full-time job is a complicated, demanding task. There will be times when you’re unsure of what you’re doing and could really use some guidance.
Luckily, there are professionals who can help you with that. Business coaches provide support and strategic insight to entrepreneurs to help them succeed. There are many ways a business coach can help you achieve your entrepreneurial goals.
Check out How a Business Coach Can Help You Get to the Next Level to find out more about how a business coach could help your business.
Get Started
It’s an old cliché but there’s no better time than the present to get started on your business.
If you wondered whether it’s possible to successfully manage a business while working full time, it certainly is.
You just have to be mindful of your employment commitments, use your time wisely, and have clear goals to motivate you. Business success is possible for you!