5 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Quit Your Job To Start A Business

Quitting a job to start a business is one of the toughest decisions many people will ever make. The courage to give up the financial comfort a job provides comes scarcely to a good number of people, but only a few really do dare to find out what an entrepreneurial life may hold for them.

Several reasons could prompt you to quit your job. But if the reasons are tied around following your dreams or pursuing life as an entrepreneur, you need to ensure you’re absolutely ready, both in experience and emotional balance, to take the step.

If your mind is already made up, sturdy, has a direction, and is highly motivated, here are 5 important questions to ask yourself before you quit your job to start a business:

1). Do You Have Enough Focus To Start Your Own Business?
Distracted people make poor entrepreneurs. They need constant guidance, a head over their shoulders, and someone to call them on their faults when they stray too far off.

Successful entrepreneurs are largely focused people. They pay attention to what matters, and do everything to ensure that their businesses remain focused on their core values, strengths, and projected growth.

While some unfocused people also succeed as entrepreneurs, they do so with a disciplined co-founder.

If you’re highly unfocused in many things you do, but still want to quit your job to become an entrepreneur, ensure you’re setting out with a highly positive and disciplined partner.

2). Are You Ready To Do Whatever It Takes To Succeed?
Are you ready to give up a large part of your social life? Suspend your scheduled yearly vacations? Drive a car for a little more than three years? And make many more sacrifices crucial to your success? If you can’t give up these as a new entrepreneur, then it’s better you remain in your job while you continue to enjoy these short-term benefits your salary may or may not afford you.

Entrepreneurship is largely about sacrifice to a great deal. This is why it is highly required that entrepreneurs acquire core leadership skills before they set out to maybe grow a successful business.

If you’re not ready to make personal sacrifices for the greater good of your startup, which could show positive results in about 5 or more years, then quitting your job to start a business is going to be a grave mistake you’d be making.

3). Are You Emotionally Balanced Enough To Run A Business?
When customers aren’t showing up, revenue isn’t growing, expenses are simply piling up, no near signs of profits, and your close friends or former associates are living an admirable & comfortable life through their salaries, you could breakdown emotionally.

These events will begin to make you feel you’ve probably made a big mistake by leaving your job, but what’s most important is how you manage your emotional state to remain focused on your goal.

If your emotions usually run high on basic events, or you worry about too many things almost all the time, then you’re better off in a job. If the reverse is the case, you would probably make a great entrepreneur.

4). Can You Go For Months Or Years Without Any Real Returns From Your Business?
When you quit your job to start a business of your own, you have unconsciously signed up to the reality that everything a new entrepreneur experiences will hit you, most especially the fact that you may generate no real income from your business within its first few years.

If you have pressing bills to constantly pay, rather than quitting your job, start a side business, then move on from there. Quitting your job to start a business without making provisions for how your recurrent bills would be paid, could tank your finances.

Since starting a new business guarantees no early financial rewards, you had better be ready to wait a very long time before you see any real returns from your investment.

5). Can You Accept The Fact That The Business May Turnout A Failure?
While you may put in your best, raise a substantial capital, hire the best minds you can find, and more, your business may still turnout a massive failure.

Facing the reality that a startup you’re setting out to run may amount to nothing is important if you intend to quit your job to start a business. You need to understand that a first failure doesn’t mean it’s over, but that the model wasn’t probably right for you, and this then creates an avenue to try again in a different direction.

If you cannot handle failure, then you should never try to be an entrepreneur. The most successful entrepreneurs are familiar with failure. They know whatever they set out to achieve may end up amounting to nothing, but still forge ahead with a plan, and eventually turnout successful.

Conclusion
Before you quit your job to start a business of your own, ask yourself these 5 questions, and answer them in all honesty. If you still believe you can deal with all these events and push forward no matter what, then you may pursue the life of an entrepreneur. Else, you’re better off in the financial comfort of your job.

What are your thoughts on these 5 questions to ask yourself before you quit your job to start a business? Let me know by leaving a comment below.