Many people quit their jobs to start a business full-time. In fact, the newest trend in India says that people (specially those who just college pass-outs) are looking forward to go for a Startup because they do not want to work for someone else’s dreams.
But sometimes to reduce the risk and to ensure initial success one can start a business while working in a job too. Here’s how starting a business along-with attending your job could help you:
1. Less Risk – Setting up a business takes up a lot of emotional toll on the person especially after all those deadlines, targets to complete, and loans to pay. In such a situation, if you do not have a financial backup living a normal life will be a struggle. So people tend to join part-time or day jobs in order to let the cash inflow coming and manage to lay the foundation of the business at the same time.
Infact, I have seen some examples live of such scenarios. My parents were in a government job while setting up their hospital. They had to work overtime, and most of the day but when you wish to be successful, you have to strive day and night. Finally, when the hospital was good enough to launch full-time and had doctors and the necessary equipment and staff, my parents quit their jobs and worked on it full-time to take it to new heights. Similarly, there are millions of small as well as large businesses which have been formed like this in order to lessen the risk of unstability.
2. More Time for Your Project – You might have to go slow when you are working at two places, but on a positive note, it gives more time for your business to pan out. If it is a product business, you could have more time to build up your product. You can always market it full-time after you quit your job. In case of a service business, it is always good to create a list of service providers, suppliers and prospective customers beforehand. And all of this work which requires research can be done part-time too.
3. Monetary Freedom – Your job will pay for both your venture as well as your daily expenses. Losing on equity on seed investments prove to be the most expensive and should be avoided. Let’s take an example – If you work for a year and use your savings you can easily save around 3-4 lakh (assuming annual salary around 5-6 lakh), and use it as seed investment. Otherwise, you’d have to loose a formidable share of your equity (~ 10% or so) for a very small amount. If your company succeeds, you might regret it.
4. People Around You – Having a sane work-life is a great way to compensate your lonely startup work life. Starting up could be a very depressing job at times too and has its own ups and downs. Plus, our social life is literally zero. So having a work life can help with some decent daily conversations with colleagues.
5. Encouragement to Work LONG HOURS – One of the major traits of an entrepreneur, especially one who’s starting up is that he/she has to work long hours on his product/service. In case you are not used to working so long, maybe it’s good to try it out first while already at your job. If you like working and breathing this kind of culture, perhaps it’s good for you to startup.
Mr. Tansen of Tansen Music says, “I used to work 24×7 with my music company while I was working at another studio. At both the places, I had to give in about 7-8 hours each, and 16 hours in total a day. That left very less amount for travelling and sleeping.”
6. Develops Creativity – It’s obvious that you’d have to think out of the box for balancing two jobs and helping one business grow. All you can think of is utilising every single bit of free time you get to better yourselves and your business. So when you’d be commuting on the subway or the bus to your job, you could read more on business finance or learn a it of accounting rather than just staring at people or gossiping on phone.
Sometimes, you’d be able to think much clearer in this situation as both time and the resources around you are less, and your motive would be to maximize both.
7. Add New Skills to your Forte – Your job could teach you many new skills about which earlier you hadn’t even thought of learning. Suppose you take up a salesman’s day job at some store in addition to your startup, you’d for sure learn a lot of selling skills which are going to help you in your business. Anything learnt never goes waste!
8. Learn Time Management – I’m sure most of you are pretty bad at managing your time. The same can be said for me. Working double hours can be the best way to learn how to manage your time. You’d not only add more zing and creativity to your life, but also try maximizing value out of each moment in a day.
9. Contacts – Apart from a salary, your job also introduces you to its suppliers and customers network. Without contacts, a business cannot survive. That is why being able to network with other professionals is one of the key traits of an entrepreneur.
“One of the best things I ever did at my old company was make a database of the contacts of all the people I had reached out to or met in my time there. Now, it has immensely helped me in my own company as some of those contacts are either buyers or suppliers”, says Kunal Nair.
10. Optimism – Working somewhere can be inspirational as well as fill you with optimism. Seeing an already running company function gives you belief that any small idea can become big – and you can do it too. And having a salaried job helps adding a security cushion to your startup. You’d feel safe and be able to work in a better manner.
These are some of the facts which would make you feel good about starting up even when being in a job. I’d suggest that you should finish the following while you are still in your job: ideation, rough business planning, website development, research, rough database of contacts of providers, suppliers, and prospective buyers, etc. After you’re done with all these, you could start up a pilot project either part-time or even full-time. Have a great time STARTING UP!!
