Like many working Australians, the role you’re currently in may not be the role you see yourself in forever. Dreaming about starting your own business is exciting as a “one day” goal, but it can be tricky to judge when it’s time to turn your fantasy into reality.
We’ve collated 7 of the most common indications cited by entrepreneurs around the world to help you figure out when it’s time to take the leap and go for it.
Highlights
- Persistent Inner Voice: If you constantly feel ready to do your own thing, it's a sign to start.
- Mental Disengagement: Feeling detached from your current job can indicate readiness for entrepreneurship.
- Entrepreneurial Traits: Possessing traits like risk tolerance and self-motivation aligns with entrepreneurial success.
- Awareness of Weaknesses: Knowing and addressing your weaknesses is crucial for business success.
- Strong Support System: Having emotional, social, and professional support is key to thriving as your own boss.
1. The voice in your head is loud and constant
You know the one. It tells you that you’re ready to do your own thing. That you’ve got what it takes. It tells you that you know where you want to go in life and that becoming your own boss is how you get there.
It’s the beginning of your choose-your-own-adventure story. And it’s no longer the whisper it started out as - it has become an insistent hungry roar.
2. You’ve mentally checked out of your current role
Sure, you still come to work on time and complete your tasks proficiently. You are a professional, after all. But you don’t care the way you used to.
You’re going through the motions, but planning for next quarter or next year is becoming increasingly meaningless for you because, in your mind, you’re not sure if you’ll still be there. You know that everything you’re doing for your job, you could be doing for your own business.
It’s frustrating and exciting at the same time. You dream about leaving on a daily basis and you may already have your exit strategy in mind.
3. Your strengths align with entrepreneurial characteristics
In his book, Born not Made, co-author James V. Koch submits that entrepreneurs have certain specific characteristics. Typically they are good at dealing with uncertainty, have a high tolerance for risk and are self-confident and self-motivated.
Are you?
4. You know your weaknesses
Everybody has them. And to be your own boss you need to get to know yours…intimately.
This can be an uncomfortable process but it can save you from stress, embarrassment and financial difficulty down the line.
When you identify a weakness you have the opportunity to decide to work on it (e.g. enrolling in a training course to strengthen the skill) or work out how to avoid it (e.g. employing someone to cover a skill you are weak in).
5. You have a good support system
You’ve started to identify and maybe even reach out to people and organisations who can help you with your new business. You’re interested in connecting with like-minded entrepreneurs who can support you along your journey.
Regardless of whether the company you’re dreaming of starting will one day have thousands of employees, just a handful, or even if you have a completely solo endeavour in mind, you know you’ll need the right people around you to give you emotional, social and professional support to be your most successful boss self.
6. You’re obsessed
You want to spend every spare minute you have working on your business ideas. You’re turning down social invitations and staying up way too late working on your ideas because you’re so excited about the possibilities of what could become of your vision.
You’ve become a business bower bird; collecting and storing useful processes, contacts and media. You’re reading all the books, listening to all the podcasts, watching all the videos and joining relevant groups on social media.
You have a one-track mind and there’s simply nothing else you would rather be doing.
7. You believe you will succeed
No matter how long it takes or how hard it gets (and it will very likely get very hard at times) you are certain you will succeed. You know you will celebrate your wins and learn from your failures. You’ll measure success by the pursuit and not by the end result. And you’ll never give up. Because you know it all begins and ends with you: you are the boss.
If you relate to the themes above, it’s a big indication that you’re ready to become your own boss. MiTraining offers a range of courses to support business owners, close skills gaps and help you make the exhilarating leap from employee to entrepreneur.
