The wave of startups, venture capital funds, and people talking about the subject has finally taken off. Since I started talking about entrepreneurship, back in 2001, by Empretec, I have never seen a better time than now to start your own business.
In this post, I will focus on the professionals who want to follow this route, but still do not possess the conditions to leave their present jobs, or even by option, prefer to preserve the security of formal employment and take those first steps, towards entrepreneurship, very slowly.
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1 – Are you really prepared? 
Becoming an entrepreneur is not simple, does not involve luck, or charisma. It is dedication, sweat, persistence and passion. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, it is only another way. The vast majority (I would say roughly 85%) of entrepreneurs will never earn the same as a CEO in a large company would earn and facing with less risks.
It is an illusion to believe that every entrepreneur will become rich, travel abroad three times a year and have time to do everything he wants. In practice, reality is a lot different.
If you really want to be a “working entrepreneur”, be ready to work at least 12-hour days (8h as a worker and at least 4h as an entrepreneur). Like never before, you will need time management and productivity, or you will be headed towards a heart attack!
2 – Limit your roles for a while
As much as you may want to be a volunteer, take that course about wine, or travel to Europe, depending on the time devoted to your role as an entrepreneur, performing these other activities will be literally impossible, or at least, frustrating and tiring.
I am not saying that you should not have time for yourself and do those things that relax you; much on the contrary, they are essential to keep your energy and disposition. What I am trying to say is that it is impossible to create a 30-hour day! You will have to be selective, limiting these “small pleasures” to a certain extent, at least in the beginning.
The important is to establish a period for this limit (6 months ~ 1 year), or you run the risk of living so involved in your own business that your own life will be left aside. Entrepreneurship is only a way to realize your dreams and to increase the quality of your life; if this is not happening, it is time to reconsider this role.
3 – Automate the Business as much as possible
The type of business you undertake will help or hinder your strategy a lot. The more your business can be on “auto-pilot”, the better. And this has to be done from day one; there is no need to wait the business to grow and to have more employees in order to create good working procedures.
Let us suppose you will sell decorative objects on the Internet, from the purchase from the supplier to the delivery to the client, the more the system can help you, the better. In this specific case, there are different sites with e-commerce systems that do this with extreme ease.
This modality of business is a lot different from, for example, selling fine candies for weddings using your great-grandmother’s secret recipe. In this last case, you will need to face the stove and spend long hours in the production. It is not impossible, but everything is more complex in this case.
Consider businesses than can be automated, that you can manage from a distance with greater ease and that demand a lesser level of involvement in the day-to-day activities.
4 – Strengthen your Personal Planning
The more you plan your life at all levels, the better! This means having a planning that will allow your performance at work to be exceptional – you cannot drop the ball! Having a productive work day helps you leave the office with greater disposition to face your entrepreneurial life.
More than ever, I recommend that you plan your week, as I detail in the Triad methodology, and do a monthly planning, which helps you to have a wider view of it all and allows you to foresee situations of urgency with greater antecedence.
It is also worth considering the advice of centralizing all you need to perform on an on-line tool! Of course Neotriad is an excellent option, but its competitor, BaseCamp, does a very good job as well!
5 – Share the Journey
Involve your family in the process, formulate plans jointly, assign responsibilities, and get your husband or wife to get involved in the business. With the family nearby, it all becomes easier, and this shared time can be very gratifying as well.
Other option is to have a partner, but choose wisely. Being a good friend does not necessarily mean he or she will be a good partner! Where will he or she help? How will the profits be shared? How about investments? How long will each one of you work? If it does not work out, how will this partnership be dissolved? These questions must be answered first, because if they left for later and it all goes wrong, it is the perfect recipe for a good fight!
I get the feeling this subject will yield more posts! So, if you have any suggestions, they will be very welcome!
