Skip to content 
It has been on your mind for a long time to hang up the hat of your 9 to 5 job and pursue your own business. However, you feel a little bit unsure. I get it, the nerves are high and you’re racking your brain to see how you can actually pull this off. There is this tug of war between following your dreams and staying in the comfort and security of the 9 to 5.
You’re almost driving yourself crazy with indecision. It’s OK. Take a breath. Calm your mind and take notes on this blog because it will help you strategically. When you have a solid strategy it gives you direction and calms a number of your fears.
Let’s walk these steps together!
1. Put Away Up to a 6 Month Reserve of Money
Don’t feel the pressure to jump the gun. Plan six months out from the time you are thinking of leaving. Start brainstorming what you can do to cut back on expenses and put it in savings. Sometimes, it may take downgrading everything to stock up on a good reserve. Less is more in this phase.
There are so many overlooked ways to cut back, but as you do so you can get to your financial goals quicker.
Most of you are used to living with a lot and having access to a lot but delayed gratification will have to be exercised for some months and it WILL be worth the sacrifice.
2. Speak with a Lawyer and Accountant. Get All Your Documents in Order
The due diligence here is so very important. Take the time and spend the money to know exactly what you are to be doing in this arena. Make sure to have all of your documentation in order.
Please, don’t leave this up to guessing, googling or neglect. You never know what could catch up to you later for not having a professional really get your steps in order. All the licenses and accounts you need should be very clear to you.
3. Create Your Business Systems and Workflow While Working for Someone Else
For a time, this might seem like a stretch or that you’re being pushed to the max. Even if you can only squeeze in 2 days out of the week to research, develop and plan, that can take you further than you think.
Also, you are working out a lot of the kinks before you go full time. Six months is a good amount of time to really get to know your business. It is a trial and error period where you get to weed out things that have worked and customize/solidify the things that are working well for you.
Utilize friends, family or people you draw to your business through a special offer to evaluate your offers, systems and workflow. When you look at and test things only from your end, you are not always aware of the holes on the users end. This feedback is priceless and could end up saving you a lot of money, hardship and re-working systems down the road.
When you finally take the step and break away from your 9 to 5, you should have a well-oiled machine!
4. Start a Slow and Steady Marketing Plan for your Current “side gig”
Yes, start working on it as a side gig. Get to know who your target market is. How do you reach them? What do they respond to? How can you create a community to engage them in?
Start with a basic marketing plan that is not complicated. One that you can easily start and be consistent with on a regular basis. Then as you become well acquainted with your marketing plan, add to it and see where it takes you.
If you are not sure how to structure it that’s OK. There are marketing templates that can get you going – just get going!
5. Do a Business Plan
Get on that business plan! Most of you may not find this part the most exciting but it is the most important to laying the foundation for business success. Sometimes when you just think about your business or just “jot” some things down you can miss a lot of things.
However, when you sit down to do a business plan you can thoroughly plot things out from all of the important angles. What areas might those be? Operations plan, financial plan, staffing, marketing segmentation and value proposition.
Now, if this was something done in a “jot” down kind of a way you may miss all of those in-depth angles and cut yourself short on a real, solid business plan.
As I close, I just want to remind you that steady and consistent planning WILL relieve a lot of nerves. Nervousness comes when there are no solid plans in place. Take these pillars of “what to do” and begin to feel better and exercise more faith in being able to leave your 9 to 5 to pursue what you were made to do.
Overwhelmed growing your business and need help? You don’t have to figure it out all alone anymore. Sign up for a business strategy call and I’ll help you make decisions on the next steps for you and your business.
Hop into my private FB group the Interior Design Business Forum here to get my daily inspiration, lessons, thoughts of the day and let the community help you become an actionable entrepreneur!
