Do You Or Don’t You Have To Quit Your Day Job To Start A Concierge Business?
A question The Instant Concierge hears all the time is “what’s the best way to transition from being a full-time employee somewhere else to starting my own personal concierge business?”
Obviously, the answer varies greatly depending on the individual situations of the people asking the question. Still, there are basically two ways to pursue concierge business ownership. You can choose to quit your current job (if you have one) and make your new business your sole focus. For most people, though, that option is an unaffordable luxury. Bills to pay, obligations to meet, a family to support means they need to keep their day job while they build their new company.
If this is your situation, don’t despair. Some of the world’s top companies started as after hours and weekend projects fostered in garages, basements, and spare bedrooms. Bobbie Brown started out as a freelance makeup artist for photographers’ models blending her own makeup colors when she couldn’t find what she wanted. Facebook famously started from Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room. Craig Newmark’s Craig’s List began in his living room in 1995 and stayed there for four years. Today it’s one of the busiest sites on the internet.
Living a two-job existence isn’t an easy task, but it has some real advantages as you transition to full-time business ownership. You can start slowly and build a good foundation of paying customers before taking on heavy expenses. You can make contacts and nurture relationships that will support and encourage you as you build your business. And, you can test ideas, target markets, and even hourly employees with less risk.
One of my role models, Sue Anderson, has followed this route as she established her own highly-successful personal organizing business. For the last six years Sue has continued working full-time in her five-figure job (with benefits and pension) as she built Simplified Living Solutions. March 1st, 2013 was a red-letter day for Sue and Simplified Living Solutions as she took the leap, left her well-paying job, and now devotes 100% of her time and efforts to building Simplified Living Solutions and two other web-based projects she’s passionate about.
Here’s Sue’s real-life, first-hand take on what it takes to transition from a full-time employee with a side business, to full-time owner and operator of your dream business:
- Work hard: Working hard is the first and foremost thing that you will need to do in order to make your dream a reality. Success doesn’t just come to people who buy a lottery ticket. It comes from hard work. How many times have you heard movie stars laugh about people calling them an “overnight success” because it really took them 12 years of work to become an overnight success? It’s true. You must work hard and work smart. And above all, you must CONSISTENTLY work hard. Not just when you feel like working.
- Mentally prepare: The thing you need to do first and foremost is to mentally prepare yourself. This was a big one for me since I’ve worked 9-5 jobs since I was 15 years old, without ever taking a break and so the thought of doing something else seemed absurd. But because I’d been running my business for 6 years by the time I took the leap, I knew lots of business owners who helped me see that it was possible to not only survive but also to thrive out on your own. This gave me the encouragement I needed to forge forward. My fellow business owners were able to answer any practical questions I had about how to survive without a full time job with a guaranteed paycheck, insurance and a pension.
- Believe in yourself: So many people think that success automatically is meant for someone else, not “little ole me”. This is probably one of the best strengths that I have is that I believe we were all created for big things. We’re all flawed, we’re all imperfect. But it is through those imperfections that we were created to shine and make a statement to the world!
- Decision about life – lost years: For me, my decision to leave a $60,000 a year job was heavily faith based. Because I am considered to be older in our society (I’m 51 at this writing), we believe it’s even riskier. This was something I had to struggle with for a while to change my perception of reality from the world’s imposed reality we are all forced to believe. I could either succumb to the world’s reality that I better keep my insurance because now is when my body and health are certain to break down or I could believe (as I eventually did) that every day and minute of my life are meant to be lived out to its fullest and I don’t want to wait until I’m too old and financially secure to pursue it. I had already lost so many years working for a company that although they paid well and had other great benefits, just didn’t respect or value what I brought to the table.
- Cut corners: This tip is part of the process and is so easy to do once you bring your spending habits into the forefront of your mind – both business expenses and personal expenses. Begin looking at all of your expenses more closely. Do you really need all of those cable channels? Do you really even need cable? Do you need that house phone? Do you need that magazine subscription? Do you really have to have a soda when you eat out, or can you drink a free water? Refinance your house and so on. I even went so far as to call places and ask them if they would give me a lower rate if I told them I was leaving them for another company. Guess what – they did!
- Get out of debt: Once you’ve begun the process of mentally preparing, it’s much easier to financially prepare. Because you will have spent a lot of time mentally visualizing how you will pull this off, the payoff of your goal (quitting your full time job or starting your business) will be your motivator. I found that slowly, day after day, I believed in the possibility of it becoming a reality more and more. This motivated me to do everything I could to get out of debt. Obviously getting out of debt became much easier after cutting all of the corners of my frivolous expenses.
Thanks, Sue!
When you follow Sue’s path and gradually shift to full-time business ownership you need to map out a plan that works for you—whether it takes six months or six years.
Check out all three of Sue’s websites, plus be sure to friend her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter!
Simplified Living Solutions, Inc. (www.SimplifiedLivingSolutions.com)
https://www.facebook.com/SimplifiedLivingSolutionsInc
https://twitter.com/SueAnderson
Simplified Living Solutions is a professional organizing company that helps busy, overwhelmed people dig out of their clutter so they can live a simpler life.
The Stuff Stop (www.TheStuffStop.com)
https://www.facebook.com/TheStuffStop
https://twitter.com/TheStuffStop
The Stuff Stop is a national website that helps people match up their unwanted stuff with people who really need the stuff. For more on Sue’s personal story check out the About Us page.
Modern Day Noah (www.ModernDayNoah.com)
Modern Day Noah isn’t live yet but bookmark it because you will want to read Sue’s blog about her life–how she found the courage to walk away from a $60,000 a year job–and the twists and turns of that decision. Sue says she hopes her very personal story website will encourage and inspire people to go out and live their lives to the fullest and to lean on God for that strength.