Thinking About Going Into Business For Yourself?*

*This is a collaborative post*

For a lot of people, there's no greater fantasy than being able to walk out of the office one day and never come back. The idea of being able to go into your business for yourself instead of spending every day slaving away working for someone else with your boss staring over your shoulder is definitely something that most people find pretty appealing. However, it's important to understand that there's a reason why, for most people, the fantasy of striking out on their own remains just that. There are a lot of challenges and roadblocks that you need to be able to overcome if you really want to be successful working for yourself or if you're planning on running your own business. With that in mind, here are some important questions to ask yourself before striking out on your own.

What skills do you need?

If going into business for yourself was easy then everyone would be doing it. The truth is that you need a lot of different skills in order to run your own business and you need to think carefully about whether or not you have those skills. In your new independent business, is a knowledge of first aid needed? How about an understanding of web design and SEO? Or perhaps an awareness of how to correctly invoice clients for your work? These kinds of things aren't necessarily the skills that every person has but are incredibly necessary for running any kind of successful business.

Do you have the time?

Running a business isn't something that you can do in your free time when you get home from your day job or when you've got a couple of free hours at the weekend. If you're not willing to put in the right amount of time to your business, it's going to fall apart. Ask yourself if you really have the time to dedicate to such a massive undertaking and, if not, what can you do to change that?

Are you self-motivated enough?

It might be frustrating having your boss staring down your neck all of the time, but one thing that a lot of people fail to realise is just how much they rely on that to stay motivated. The moment they no longer have anyone keeping tabs on them, all productivity goes out of the window. You need to be sure that you can motivate yourself to work regular hours and avoid procrastinating just because you're the only person you have to answer to. Otherwise, you're just going to end up making your own life incredibly stressful further down the line.

Please don't think that this is some kind of attempt to stop you from going into business for yourself, far from it. However, the fact of the matter is that many small business owners and entrepreneurs end up falling into the trap of failing because they didn't consider just how much of a challenge it was going to be. By thinking as carefully as possible about whether or not this is something you're actually ready to do, you're going to greatly increase the chances of your success!

FOLLOW GIRLGONEDREAMER:

Twitter | Facebook | Bloglovin' | Instagram

Subscribe to GirlGone Dreamer by Email