The joy of starting a side business

“Ditch the corporate job and go it alone” they say “Life is not a rehearsal!” But realistically, it’s hard to chuck in a good job. Have you considered starting a side business?

Many people dreaming of starting their own solo business are independent professionals – essentially they sell their expertise and time for a fee. To gain this expertise they’ve usually spent a lot of time working in an established business, probably with quite a tidy salary.

So to take the plunge into starting a business full-time (rather than a side business) you need to somehow replace that level of income to support your commitments – kids, credit cards, mortgages, holidays, rent, expensive girlfriends or frivolous boyfriends. The fact is, for plenty of people, quitting completely is not realistic.

That’s why starting up a side business is such a great option. You can keep your job and follow your dream at the same time. It may involve a few late nights and weekend work, but running your own business is never going to come easily.

If you’ve got the business idea, creating a professional-looking business can be surprisingly cheap and easy. By choosing suppliers carefully, you can set up a website, put together some brochures and design business cards and a logo for under $2,000 – even less if you don’t need something quite as elaborate and can do some of the work yourself. Register as a sole trader to get an ABN and you’re on your way.

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Once you’ve got something to show people, spread the word around your friends, join a few networking groups, dabble in some advertising and see what happens. Chances are, if you’ve got a quality product or service and there’s a demand for it, you’ll start to get a few orders once the word gets around.

It’s a great way to test and modify your offering. Are people interested? Is there the demand you predicted? Is the price right? Who’s your competition? What marketing channels are available? And, you can discover all this before you’ve even thought about quitting your day job.

Apart from financial commitments, the other thing holding people back from starting their own business is the fear of failure. The great thing about the side business is that there are no spectacular failures. No-one really knows how much business you’re doing, you’re not relying on it for your livelihood as you haven’t thrown in your day job. And once you’ve recouped your initial investment, then everything else is a bonus!

Okay, so most people tell you to plan, plan, plan before you start a business. And this is definitely the ideal approach.

But, if you have a great business idea, a little bit of spare cash and you’ve run out of patience, sometimes it’s worth being the bull in the china shop and see what happens.

Ready, fire, aim!

While life is not a rehearsal, the side business is like a rehearsal for your own business.

Think small, and you may get surprisingly big. Is it worth the risk?

Peter Crocker is a director of Flying Solo responsible for the areas of marketing and advertising. He is a business copywriter specialising in websites, videos and marketing communications.

5 comments | Add your own

Yes, I tried this approach myself Peter, before starting my coaching practice. It was great to get the website done and have all that thought through before leaving. But what I found the most difficult was actually servicing clients. Because I was still employed, it was very hard to actually have clients as I couldn't really work with them except out of hours. I even went part time before quitting, whcih didn't really help either. I still couldn't launch into any sort of dedicated marketing because I wasn't there to answer the phone for 3 days per week! Anyway after all that, I did eventually leave of course. And I wouldn't have done it any other way. But the theory I found was actually more difficult to put into practice! Megan Tough from Sydney
I absolutely agree. Having a job and growing a business on the side is always going to be a juggling act.
In fact you really want it to be, because if you are struggling to meet demand, then that is a great indication that your side business has legs.
The good news – as happened in your case – is that this period of struggle can give you the confidence or lead to the opportunities you need to make a clean break and ditch the job once and for all! Peter Crocker from Sydney | Read my articles
Before you decide whether to start a side business or dive whole hog into a fulltime affair, you need to be very clear on the "contribution footprint" of that business. If you want to make a powerful impact on the world, a side business will not cut it because of the dedication and time required. Letting over-planning and risk management scare you out of committing to a potential world-changing idea would be a shame. Sometimes, taking the plunge and quitting a “secure” job may well be the way to a glorious future! Zern from Vermillion
I am going to start a side business while I continue to enjoy my corporate salary (for a while, anyway).
Even if it is a side business, I think it is better to have an attitude of "Ready, aim, fire", rather than the approach you (probably unintentionally espouse) of, in your words, "Ready, fire, aim".
Nevertheless, I was encouraged by your article, which supports what I intend doing.
Deborah Deborah from Melbourne, Australia
Yes, side business is great. I do a bit of this and am gradually changing my focus. The best part of it is that I can do what I love when I'm not doing what I NEED to do to survive (i.e. be employed by someone else). Importantly, I think side businesses help you to build up your business slowly - which is great if you fear to ditch a potentially great job (with good contacts) before you have a sturdy leg to stand on. Lettie from Adelaide

5 comments | Add your own

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