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Originally Posted On: https://ngpayroll.com/business-tips-transitioning-from-employee-to-entrepreneurship/savvy-business-advice/

 

Starting The Path of Entrepreneurship

Make up your mind that you are going to be one or the other and don’t look back. Decide if you are going to be an entrepreneur for the rest of your life or an employee who will work for someone else. Choose to grow up the corporate ladder, accept a position that provides security, certainty, and a cushy salary. The alternative is a position that has no glass ceiling, no person to report too, unfathomable earning potential, unforeseen risk, and rewards beyond your imagination. Entrepreneurship can be an amazing rollercoaster ride, filled with both high and low points. Above all, it should be an experience you’d never take back.

Figure out which career choice is going to be the most meaningful and fulfilling. First, decide what you want to accomplish in life, then start making plans and setting goals for yourself. Pondering about starting a business won’t make a business come to fruition, but your actions can create a new reality.

Write a Business Plan

To make a dream a reality, you have to breathe life into it and start walking in it. We are way past the days in which we can watch a Disney movie and expect everything to work out perfectly where the hero wins at the end. Therefore, do not expect it to be all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to your business. You must plan for success because it surely won’t fall into your lap.  Download a business plan template and jot down your ideas, objectives, vision, and action plan for success. This will help you solidify your business’s foundation. If you happen to have a partner(s) or key employees at an early stage of the business. You may want to identify each participant’s strengths and weaknesses while creating and defining roles for the person(s) running the company.

Get a mentor or business advisor

Develop your team of references, consultants & mentors who will guide you in your business growth. Successful million-dollar earning companies have all started where you are. Don’t be mistaken, fortune 500 companies have outside consultants to come in and help change a company’s direction and lend them new perspectives to better their business.  Before you embark on your new adventure, find people that will usher you down the right path. A mentor should be someone who currently or previously managed a profitable business. Find someone who has experience in your industry so that they provide you valuable insight. Mentors who specializing in marketing, accounting or a legal profession, for example, maybe great if those areas are not a part of your core strengths or experience.

How will you penetrate your market?

The bottom line is that you must figure out how you are going to draw in people to patronize and invest in your business. Hence, before you launch your business make sure you have multiple channels of earning revenue. Once you have clientele rolling in, running a business is easy. Until then, sales and revenue generation will be more of an uphill battle. Even when you arrive at a comfortable spot, keep on pushing for more.

Develop a marketing strategy that allows you to grow your client base so that you can substantially grow over time.  Ask yourself the following questions:

• How Many revenue streams do you have in your business?
• How much revenue do you hope to gain in years 1, 2, and 3?
• Are you able to compete for a fair market share?
• Will you primarily sell products online or have a storefront location?
• Which social media platforms are best for promoting your business?
• Will you use digital advertisements, radio or google adds to reach customers?
• What about ranking on Google, Bing, and Yahoo search engines?

We’ve grown into a company that provides marketing solutions for small businesses so that we can help you get to where you’d like to be.

Implement A Content Marketing Strategy

Get a professional website built and implement a strategy to gain google rankings so people can find you online. One common mistake I see is that small business owners start their business without a marketing budget which is a huge no-no. Social media platforms are great, but they are only a small fraction of the equation.  One mistake I see small business owners make is that they believe these platforms are going to be their businesses savior. They won’t help you in terms of bringing in tons of new clients to increase your market penetration.

Become A Subject Matter Expert

In today’s world, consumers consult industry experts for advice and guidance before they initiate a transaction. People ready articles, follow bloggers, they watch videos that help them make informed decisions. Why not be the person who enlightens their views, earns their trust, and subsequently earns their business.

Businesses Failure: Know The Risk Factors

Just like you need to know how you can win and be successful, you also need to know how you can fail. You need to know all of your setbacks that you can potentially face starting and running a business. Hence, the importance of having a mentor in your industry and a tenured business owner as a resource.

Don’t Follow Stupid Advice

People say that you gotta fall and get back up again and learn from it. Fail and get back up and repeat the process until you have the experience.  You must crawl before you walk. Says who?  I’d like to call BS on that one. I definitively say no to that! History does not have to repeat itself; I firmly believe that to be true. Therefore, you don’t have to make the same mistakes people made before you.

Be A Wise Entrepreneur

Don’t you think it would be better to learn from other business owner’s negatives experiences anyway? Let’s be smart about running a business rather than walking into it blindly while headed toward a cliff. Don’t be the stupid cartoon character that walks off the cliff, only to later find out he’s walking on air.  Take the time to understand the risk factors involved in running a business before you take a leap of faith.

Secure Startup Capital

I started my company with an investment from a good friend. I had been casually telling him about this business plan that I wrote, and he found confidence in my plan and was thoroughly convinced this was going to work. Even though I was not asking for any money or help, he invested in me. The same can happen to you.

Make sure you explore all avenues to funding your business. Conventional financing and the less traditional methods of funding a business. Bank loans, investors, business grants, friends, or family may be great funding sources for a new business venture. The use of personal savings or a 401k may be on the table for some.

Entrepreneurship Become A Reality

Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) with the IRS by and register your business name with the state that you reside in. At the point in which you receive your EIN with the IRS, your business is official. You have taken a dream and made it a reality. I recommend you take some time to explore which business entity type best suits your company. In short, each entity has varying tax advantages, liability limits, and legal implications to consider.

Transition To Entrepreneurship

Start the transition. Ask your current employer if you can reduce your hours from 40 a week to 30 a week. Also, ask if they can be more flexible to allow you to work nights or weekends. Thus, freeing up time to grow your business. Flexibility can come in different ways, you may ask to work 4 days a week instead of 5 days a week. You can ask that you add 1-2 half days during the week as well.  If your current employer is not able to provide the flexibility you need, perhaps you seek out another employer who can. Perhaps maybe you are one of the people who take the leap of faith, cash in your 401k or savings, and hit the ground running…

The Focus of Next Generation Payroll

We want to wish you all the success in the world in your future adventure. If you have a business existing, great! We prayerfully hope that all is going well and trending upward. We here are Next Generation Payroll want all businesses to succeed and are happy to help you along the way. When I started the company, I didn’t imagine that we’d focus so much on the day to day operations of a business, but this is who we are now. We have blossomed into a business solutions company that provides fresh perspectives to businesses that leads to growth and prosperity. Likewise, we provide resources and tools for people like you to build a strong foundation so that companies can weather any storm that crosses their path. We are all about learning expertise that makes business better.

Tips For Entrepreneurs: Dedicate your time to what is most important

We know that Payroll services may or may not be apart of your business plan right now, but we are here to help. Above all, you may need us, and we’d like to be here for you now. Perhaps, you are considering outsourcing payroll, feel free to read the article should I outsource payroll and why people change payroll providers for assistance. I am a firm believer in maximizing the time-value of money, therefore, capitalizing on every opportunity to build revenue. One major benefit to outsourcing payroll is it allows a business to offload burdening tasks to 3rd parties for nominal fees. Ultimately allowing you to redirect your time to developing a sustainable business model while perusing endeavors that propel you forward.