Thinking about quitting your job? Read this first.


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Curly Hair | Straight Talk

With the arrival of spring, and the hope it brings, you may be contemplating a new beginning of your own.

Maybe you’re over your corporate job.

You've been thinking more and more about how you can bring your business idea to life.

Scrolling through your social media posts, you read about business owners' freedom and success. (Exhibit A.)

You think, If they can do it, why can’t I?

Starting your own business is exciting and rewarding, but that’s not the whole story. Since I’ve promised you Straight Talk here, I’ll share a few things you may not find in your LinkedIn feed.

FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE?

When I was a Director at American Express, I hired a woman in her mid-twenties to join my team. We got acquainted during long flight delays in Newark Airport and over late-night meals in chain restaurants as we traveled to trade shows and conferences across the U.S.

She missed the comforts of home on those trips. She didn’t sleep well away from her own bed, and she felt disoriented by the newness of the unfamiliar spaces we had to navigate.

Imagine my surprise when she told me her dream job was to write travel reviews!

ARE THOSE ROSE-COLORED GLASSES?

It’s easy to romanticize things from afar:

Being married

Having children

Adopting a puppy

Buying real estate

AND

Becoming a business owner

These are common aspirations, but chances are, the people who’ve taken these steps focus more on the rewards than the challenges.

I’ll be honest. Being a business owner is hard. All caps HARD.

ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER

Most of the decisions you’ll need to make you’ll be making for the first time:

What kind of business entity will you form: sole proprietorship, limited liability company (LLC), S Corp?
Do you need a registered agent?
What is a registered agent?
Which Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform will you choose?

There is no IT or HR department to consult, and there will be no one around to help you do a VLOOKUP in Excel, or show you how to add data labels in your PowerPoint chart.

THE WHOLE IS = TO THE SUM OF ITS PARTS

You may want to go into business because you love helping people bring their vision to life through landscape design, but how will you feel about collecting payment from delinquent customers?

When you’re self-employed, you need to budget for and file estimated quarterly taxes. And don’t forget to submit the renewal of your LLC. Wait: When do you need to do that? And what happens if you miss the deadline?

ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR CLOSE-UP?

Generating new business usually requires defining your brand and getting yourself out there. Will you be comfortable having your picture on a website? A billboard? Will you want to talk to a room full of prospects? How might you feel about being interviewed on a podcast?

And if you do put yourself out there, and you hear nothing but crickets, how will that impact you? How will you stay motivated and keep going when you aren’t getting the results you hoped for?

NOT ON MY WATCH

I don’t say all of this to discourage you, but as a coach, it’s my job to improve clients’ self-awareness, so they can make well-informed, honest decisions that truly serve them.

No client of mine will romanticize a career as a travel writer if they hate traveling. That’s a promise.

If you’re thinking about quitting your job to start your own business, be sure you consider the following:

What it’s really like to be a business owner: the good, the bad, and the ugly
How well suited your unique interests, strengths, and values are to the business of running the business you want to run

Because if you choose based on what you DON’T want--or on what worked for other people--it will feel more a cold, dark winter evening than the hopeful promise of a spring afternoon.

And why go through the trouble of creating a new beginning if it doesn’t have a happy ending?

Need help defining your dream? Complete a values assessment here.

START ASSESSMENT

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Jill Sammak Coaching and Consulting, LLC

438 W. 51st Street, Suite 307A, New York
NY 10019 United States

jms@jillsammak.com

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