Redundancy: A chance to start your own business….but should you take it?

After working for many years suddenly you are surplus to requirements and are asked to join the ranks of the unemployed. The bitter pill is sweetened by the substantial payoff that you receive.

So there you are. No job but with a nice sum of money in the bank. You could start to look for a new job before the money runs out or could this be your big chance to start your own business ?
Consider this before making a decision. The odds of any new business succeeding are 5 to 1 against and many millions of pounds worth of nest eggs are wasted.

Why should your business be the 1 in 5 that succeed,

particularly if you have not run your own business before?

Businesses fail for any number of reasons but the underlying cause often not identified by government statistics is that the owner is completely unsuited and untrained to be a business owner. The attributes and experience needed to have a successful career in the corporate world are not by any means the same as those needed to be a successful business owner.

It can be very easy to take for granted the level of support that you receive when working for a company, that just isn’t there when you own your own business.

Take sales for instance. As a sales employee you will often be fed highly qualified leads that you follow up and close using all the resources available to you from your employer. The company may have spent years and a great deal of money building its reputation and brand to help support your sales effort.

Now consider that as an owner of a new small business you will not have a recognized product, you will probably have a limited marketing budget and you will have to generate all the leads.

Are you ready to cold call?

Not everyone is suited to owning their own business particularly those who are very dependent on the support network of colleagues and associates. Did you spend a lot of time talking through the challenges involved in doing your job, picking up the phone to colleagues in other departments to get their opinions?

Who will you turn to when you are your own boss?

People dream of not working for someone else and to escaping the petty politics of corporate life. They dream about not having to answer to someone else, not having projects cancelled at the last moment and to not seeing someone else take the credit for all their hard work.

What you should realize is that you will probably turn into the toughest boss that you ever worked for and even if you don’t your customers and the market generally will be very unforgiving of poor performance.

So should you go into business for yourself ?

...Absolutely .
Growing your own business can be the most rewarding activity on many levels. Just think long and hard before taking the plunge. Most of all be honest with yourself, are you suited to running your own business or better suited to working or running businesses for others ?