Μυαλά κουβάρια!!!

Is it possible to build a successful business while working a full time job?

When I was first starting out with my marketing business in 2014, I’ve decided to make it THE business. I was ready to be serious about entrepreneurship and not having this be just another side hustle.

But here’s the deal:

I didn’t quit my well-paying marketing agency job on a whim because I’ve decided to start a new business.

The scary thing is that there are countless coaches and “entrepreneur mentors” who urge their clients and readers to quit their jobs in order to pursue their dreams. If they don’t, they “aren’t serious about their craft and they won’t likely become successful.”

My gawwwd. This is a load of crap and probably the worst advice I have ever heard.

Here’s why:

What happens when you quit your job prematurely before seeing actual traction in your business?

You stop earning money.

But if you do begin to earn some money, it’s typically not enough to sustain you. At least not as fast as you’d need it to.

So what happens when you don’t have money? You go into a desperation mindset.

You need money to survive and you start freaking out because your initial excitement about the business has subsided and you are now faced with the reality of starting a business from scratch.

And the truth is: it’s not easy.

Because I wanted to grow a sustainable business the right way – the way that feels authentic, good, and true to me – I knew I had to go about it the smart way: by keeping my full time job and growing my business on the side in the beginning.

I had a specific goal that I set for myself that would make me feel comfortable about taking the next step in leaving my job.

What was my personal goal?

I wanted to be on track to six figures.

Before I quit my job to pursue my business full time, I had several sources of income coming in:

1. My job
2. My business
3. My blog
4. My photography

Plus random other gigs I got.

But the point is: I had a lot of sources.

If I was to cut them all off and focus on just one, it’s be a big change to what I was earning as a total before. I was already comfortable with the total amount of money I was earning but I was also starting to endure a lot of stress to sustain it.

So what did I do?

Replacing my income (which is what my mentor wanted me to do at first) wouldn’t be enough. I had to replace my total income/revenue from all the ventures I had to come from JUST my business (aka making my income a six figure income) for me to feel confident about leaving.

My steps to doing this were as follows:

1. Set a monthly goal I wanted to ideally reach
2. Create a plan of reaching that goal
3. Stop doing photography (it was a distraction and I no longer did it anyway, but I had to make it official by ending it as a current job on LinkedIn and Facebook and no longer accepting inquiries I’d be getting from people)
4. Sell my five figure blog (it was also now a distraction and I no longer was passionate about this venture)
5. Focus diligently on reaching my monthly income goal from my business
6. Quit my job

The beauty of a plan is that you become very focused.

When there’s just ONE focus you have – get more clients – it becomes easier.

Because at that point all you have to do is think to yourself:

“Is this action going to help me in reaching my goal of growing my monthly income?”

If the answer is yes. Proceed. If it’s no. Then don’t do it.

Once I became this intentional I was able to get close enough to my goal to feel confident to put in my 2 weeks notice and quit my job.

(Kamila Gornia, www.kamilagornia.com)