Can I start a business on the side and still be successful?
I have a good job, but also have had an idea that I want to pursue. I have been doing some planning on the side and thinking about trying to launch the new business but don't want to leave my day job. Is it possible to build a successful business on a part-time basis?
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Dec 11, 2015
Yes, you can.
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Dec 3, 2015
I started my business while having a full time job. It took time to systemize it so I could handle all the details, however starting part time is solid way to begin. Enjoy the growth even if slow to succeed. Enjoy the journey. That business I started part time did millions and I was selected as Entrepreneur of the Year. So, yes you can succeed.
Dec 3, 2015
Dec 3, 2015
NO. Not at all. Business is not joke or charity funding . Only yu can be an adviser for any products as part timer or any ecommerce business you can do along with your live job. Thanks
Dec 3, 2015
Depends what kind of business you want to start. Also, it depends on the family obligations you may have. If your kids are grown up, you can make this business a family affair. In general, if you have investors that back you, I would recommend you not doing it.
Dec 2, 2015
It depends on How & who is going to handle the work , if you don"t need others to do the work done only in case you , I used to do side job business during many years - with no time requred & no employees , its possible ,It depends on type of work .
Dec 2, 2015
Hi, Daniel. The answer is absolutely. You just need to make sure you set aside enough time to be able to run the business, and you need to make sure it is the kind of business that doesn't require you to be present all day every day.
If it's an online business, then you should have no trouble keeping on top of things. If you have a smartphone or tablet, you can even check on your business emails, return phone calls, and handle any number of other things during your lunch break and other breaks at your regular job. That would allow you to take care of some of the things you may need to take care of during regular business hours, while saving the parts of your business that don't require attention during regular business hours for the time you set aside after your done working at your regular job.
You just want to make sure you create some sort of detailed plan before you start, so you'll be able to keep up with all of the things you'll need to do to keep the business running in the time you set aside for it.
I hope this helps, and good luck to you and your business!
Nov 30, 2015
No, you cannot be successful growing your business on a Part-Time basis.
"Successful" meaning a self-sustaining business you created that could be sold at any time for a profit higher than the money and time you invested in it.
Think about this without emotion, without using adjectives, and excluding bad advice someone else believed. Business decisions have very real consequences.
What this question really means:
1) The fact that you are asking this question means you don't have a business plan. Know what a business plan includes before you argue.
2) You haven’t done any significant research and you lack information. See #1.
3) You do not have enough money, or the will to risk it, to launch and market the business properly.
4) The business cannot truly be your PRIORITY. You’re not really serious about the business. What you want to do is to experiment.
Here are problems inherent with this idea:
1) You will not be able to take advantage of OPPORTUNITIES available during the day.
2) It's the wrong time. Clients/customers do not want to be bothered in the evening.
3) Part time is not enough TIME to make it successful.
4) You will not be able to determine the SCALE of the business.
5) No sleep = Bad Decision Making.
You may think you could do it part-time until the business is good enough to replace your full time job. That time will never happen. See the nine reasons why above.
Note:
You never stated it, but if you plan to use a method, service or product someone else designed, such as a franchise or MLM, and you must pay a royalty to them or they allow you some commission, then you will never have true success because YOU are making THEIR business sustainable. You are in effect buying a job or becoming a salesperson. You can't truly own a business that way and more often than not, you can't sell it either. It's an opportunity for them much more so than an opportunity for you.
I do not intend to be harsh. My intention is to give real world advice. Better to have it now than learn it later.
There are many leeches out there with clever offers that disguise the true nature of their agenda or intention.
What's in it for them? Are they stating things clearly or playing on your emotions? What are the details not being revealed? I hope this helps.
**** Start here first: https://www.sba.gov ****
Nov 30, 2015
Yes. It takes determination and action, but yes.
Contact me via my email on LinkedIn.
Pieter
Pieter Kark, MD
Nov 30, 2015
Yes, it is certainly possible to build up a successful business along with your full time job, provided
1) Your boss is happy if you deliver and does not insist on checking whether you are goofing off every now and then.
2) If you work in the sales and BD line.
3) You should be able to recognize the priorities of both job and business and can place a lot of activities in the intersection area of the two Venn diagrams.
Nov 30, 2015
Most business start out this way. It's a safe way to start out. You can leave the nest once your wings grow big enough. Good Luck!
Nov 30, 2015
Like others before me have said, it really depends on you. Normally, no, you cannot do that for various reasons, like your availability for your customers, the number of working hours that you will have to input and your willingness and believe in your idea that will consume all of your free time, thus making you more tired and more likely to become annoyed by those around you.
If you really believe in your idea, play around for about two months, see if you still believe in it as an entrepreneur, be ready to fail and start again (first failure should never stop you), and if numbers add up, go ahead. In one year you will probably be craving for the comfort of the employee position, but you will be proud to be in charge of your own company, and thus destiny to some extent.
Anyway, if you decide to go for it, make sure you plan every little thing in detail, execute the plan and include a potential come-back in case of emergency.
Best of luck!
Nov 29, 2015
I coach people who are doing this everyday. You need to have good time management skills ( or be taught those skills). Many people find this is the best way to start a business as it often is comforting to still be able to draw income while trying to launch a business. Of course, once you begin to see your new business get some traction then you may have to determine when/if you are ready to leave your current employment.
When to leave is a question with different answers depending on the type of employment, the growth of the new business and the personality of the person.
I know many successful business owners who started their current business part-time while working full time in another capactiy.
It requires juggling some priorities and being truly committed to your final goal but I know it is not only possible but perhaps the most practical way to start your "dream career".
Nov 29, 2015
All good answers ... and the most telling is the need for a Business Plan! That plan should also identify some of your GO / NO-GO points. If you can plan to start part time in the new business and full time at your job and then have a planned and stepped process to reverse the situation. The hardest point for you is when you have to step away from the safety-net and take charge of the business full time. If you have clearly planned the steps with profit as the indicator, then you know when to go!
Nov 29, 2015
Consider what your biggest variables are? How committed to your career are you? How much spare time do you have? How much time can you realistically devote to this new business. As has been said it very much depends on what you are trying to do, but be aware that running your own business isn't just about getting an idea off the ground. There are a whole boat load of other things to think about like taxes, logistics, advertising, marketing strategy [which is not the same thing as advertising], to mention but a few. I'm not trying to put you off, If you have an idea that you really think will work perhaps you might want to consider bringing in other people to help you get it off the ground, and I don't mean you friends and neighbours. The most valuable asset a new business can have is a mentor who has worked in that filed, and they usually want piece of the cake. The good news is that if your business idea is a good one they will be willing to invest in it for that piece, and will also want to put in place their own people to help you. Having said that a lot of great ideas that have made people a lot of money have been rejected [I should know, I've been on the receiving end only to see the same idea fully funded and advertised on prime time TV - More than once I should add]. So my advice is work out the details, created a very carefully worked out business plan. The real world isn't like the dragon's den, people want to see a bottom line and more importantly they want to know how long your business will take to become profitable, and how much investment it will need to make it so.
Running a business single handedly from home while holding down a full time job isn't impossible [depending on how complex it is and how much help you have] but it is difficult.
You might want to consider a career brake to pursue this idea full time instead if you can afford it [or the loan it would take to get it up and running].
Whatever you do think it through carefully because I know what it feels like to see something you pitched five years ago making money for someone else, and it's not a pleasant feeling, but then neither is chasing something that doesn't pan out!
I know that a lot of what I've said here is contradictory, but the problem is that there isn't a one size fit's all solution for this kind of thing. At the end of the day it really comes down to how much you believe in your idea and yourself....
Nov 29, 2015
You 100% can. And it actually might be the smarter path to take so you can grow at the appropriate speed and not sacrifice some things you would maybe have to in order to pay bills (i.e. cutting your rates to produce immediate cash flow etc...). But of course it's hard to answer this w/o more details because some businesses might require your full attention. So please expound when you have a minute and we'll dig into this further.
Nov 28, 2015
Daniel - this is the entrepreneur dilemma. But without lots more details on you, your current job and the nature of your pat time business venture it is a bit like asking people you've never met before the following - "If I fall in love with someone will we have a successful relationship?"...
Ultimately it boils down to hours and efficacy. Use a pie chart to determine how many hours in the day you have available (other than family; personal needs etc.), then start to color in your needs - for example if you can make 16 hours available (and have no doubt - anyone starting any new business is looking at a crazy workload to start with), and you can get away with only working 8 at your job (unlikely if you are a manager), then half of your pie is gone. Now you have to divide the tasks necessary to launch, and then take care of your business into time-bound tasks and see if this is possible to fit in. You might want to make a plan with 5-6 pies for a week's work and see what you can fit in - it is better to try and focus on one area of the business each day then try and spend few hours on all the different needs every day.
Wayne Rowe' point below is a must - what can you delegate/outsource asap, but not too soon either - you should know intimately that which you are delegating otherwise you will not know when it goes awry.
If you had not the chance yet, read Gerber's E-Myth - he has a very good methodology to discern the workload you will need to cover.
Good luck, Michael Bartura
Mindfulness-based Life & Business coaching.
Nov 28, 2015
It really depends on the business and product a lot: if it's a product that lends itself to part-time work, and it's not the kind of thing that you will find yourself into a time crunch over in a matter of a few months, there's no reason why you shouldn't test it out part time before you dive in over your head.
If part of the planning you've been doing has been a full-spectrum business plan and a marketing plan that has numbers of units, target dates, and cost of sales in it, the numbers should be telling you whether or not this is possible.
Testing ideas out as much as possible on paper before committing time, energy and dollars to them is much less expensive on every level -- if the paper walk through of a business idea tests as solid with you (the entrepreneur), your family members (the emotional support system), and two or three gimlet-eyed bean counters, then all I can say is "Go for it!"
But get a failing grade from any of those three, and you are risking more than you realize in the startup.
Nov 28, 2015
This is a simple answer "Yes!" but it does mean that you will have to be even more organized. Be realistic on your goals "your intention" and be realistic on the kind of time you can devote to this business venture. You absolutely do not need to quit your day job -
I did this very thing - I worked full-time - and I did things like graphic design and websites on the side - for me it was a total hobby - just something to learn and get involved in - but a strange thing happened - I kept getting referrals to other boomers who were looking at needing website design and help - so for me - I never built my business on advertising - it was totally referral based
But the cool thing was this: I could choose what to take on - I knew the kind of time I had and that stopped me from going full bore - but I did get a business license, I did get my tag line, my elevator speech down - and I did my own blogging website - so it all worked.
When I was diagnosed with Cancer - I did what I could for my then part-time clients - but they all stayed with me - even though I recommended other small businesses that could help them with what they needed.
To make a long story shorter - I decided to work for myself full-time - which was scary for me - but my strength didn't hold up and I needed to take breaks and a nap or two - it was that deciding factor that turned me into an entrepreneur.
I also strongly suggest that you look up Score in your area - attend the classes that you can - they have them from finances to internet marketing - you will meet others (like a mentor for yourself) and you will start putting together a "Plan of Action" - I don't call it a business plan as it really isn't where you are at yet.
Good luck and congrats! Thinking outside the box is key to being a successful entrepreneur!
Nov 28, 2015
Absolutely! I've done it several times and just this year we set up a business and didn't even register the business until we won a contract. We got a $120,000 worth of work and then registered it. I like this technique becAuse I have wasted years and thousands starting business thAt never took off.
Can't agree more, Phil. Emilio