Business and entrepreneurship are not for everybody. To be successful, you must have some specific qualities. If you want a neutral opinion on this, there are numerous market research agencies that can do a valuation on your behalf. The benefits of contacting market research agencies are that they are able to take an unbiased view and report their findings honestly.

Most often a budding entrepreneur or businessperson is confused as to whether he should give up his current job and plunge straight into business or go with both for a while and then give up the job once the business is on a firm footing. Both has its cons and pros.

Understanding the Pros and Cons of Leaving a Regular Job

 Pros:

1. By getting into business straight away, you are able to devote most of your time when it is most needed. You can work 24/7 in the initial stages and even involve your family members in it. It is not uncommon for enthusiastic businessmen to work late hours writing business plans and discussing it with their spouse and family members. You also benefit because you are able to meet people without requesting leave from your employer.

2. You are able to raise capital from banks or investors openly. The advantage is you can approach banks and individual investors with your plan and you don’t have to worry about annoying your employer. You are really a free bird and the sky is your limit. Bankers and investors are likely to view your decision to leave the job as a sign of high confidence in your venture. You don’t have to hide behind another person or people and worry about someone finding you out.

3. You are able to leverage your current resources to use in your venture. You can conscript a few employees, customers, and even a banker you have known in your previous job. This you cannot do when you have a job. It will not be long before the management gets the scent of your activities and decides to terminate you and even take you to a court. Perhaps you will even have signed an agreement to this effect at the time you accepted the current job.

4. You are able to sell products and services to customers who were once with your previous employers. Unless you have been particularly refrained by an agreement you can contact your previous customers and solicit business freely.

5. You have enough energy left to concentrate on your newfound enterprise. To be a successful businessman, the most important thing is to be energetic and enterprising. Spending a few hours after a hectic day at a day time job can make you lethargic and you may not find the time or enthusiasm unless you have someone to do it for you.

6. If your current employer is willing to use your expertise he might even suggest you do some work for them as an independent business consultant. This is though infrequent, you will immensely benefit.

Cons :

1. You could run out of money for running your family. A day job gives you protection in the sense that your family’s life style is taken care totally. Don’t expect this to happen if you are dependent on your business from day one for daily sustenance. Every business has a gestation period and for your business to pay for your expenses it may take a few months or even years perhaps. You are potentially at risk of going bankrupt even before your business is able to give you returns.

2. The comfort of working 9 to 6 is going be thing of the past, and neither will you experience that chill time you experience daily. At least till your business has taken off, you will remain a one-man army spending and burning the midnight oil and fighting non-existent gloom and despair.

3. You will not have access to special information you had with a regular job. You will have to pay for each services separately and you will not be able to leverage your contacts to convert leads into customers.

4. You become the target of attack if you your new business is related to your earlier employment. You will be throwing yourself to litigation and your powerful ex-employer may even go out his way to ensure that your business fails. Of course this should not deter your ambitions; it happens to every budding entrepreneur.

5. Your ex-colleague will want to snap all ties with you. This can potentially affect you if you had counted upon their support for your business to flourish. So don’t put much emphasis on resigning your current position if you are counting on support from current colleagues.

Always lay much emphasis on the cons than the pros. They are the most debilitating. There are market research agencies that can advise on how to do a balancing act in the initial stages of starting a business.

Preparing Yourself for Bumpy Days

Here is what you can do to ensure the success of your enterprise if you are bent on throwing out your current job head-on and taking the plunge straightaway.

1. Complete all your financing arrangements with the help of professional market research agencies. They can guide you on how much capital to raise until your business is able to generate revenue in enough quantity.

2. Keep aside a certain amount of money to see you through tough days. It should cover your family expenditures, unexpected business investments, and of course some money to see you through rough days.

3. Request your spouse to take up a day time job till your business is able to generate revenue for your family. You can discuss this with all your earning members in your family – possibly your sons and daughters if they are not already working.

4. Check your family’s inclination to share the burden of running a business in the initial days. The advantage is that they can work for smaller pay and yet be devoted to your business. Try to be convincing.

In the end, it is all always the same: born entrepreneurs don’t give a damn to cons, they simply see the bright side of the pros.