Welcome to Visionaries Pursuit, a podcast where we explore what it takes to turn your bold and inspiring ideas into reality. I'm Carolina Zuleta. I'm a life and a business coach and your host for this podcast. I'm thrilled to have you here. Welcome back. And this is episode 18. And we're continuing talking about the theme of goal setting and visioning.
Welcome. This is episode 20 of the Visionaries Pursued podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. One of the things I do as a coach to visionaries is help them create businesses or grow their businesses, businesses that are aligned with their values, their mission, what they're most passionate about. And often I run into individuals who are currently working for a corporation, but have this vision, this desire of starting their own business.
And we have the conversation as to when is the right moment to quit that job and go full time in your own business. And that's what I want us to discuss today. About 10 or 12 years ago, I was working for another company. I was the director of coaching and training. for that organization. And I knew I wanted to start my own coaching business.
And I remember asking myself that same question, when is the right time? And to be honest, it took me years to build the courage to leave that company and go start my own business. It is the scariest thing I've ever done. So if you're in that place where you're in a corporation, you have a full time job and you think, I really want to become an entrepreneur.
I remember thinking, what if clients don't buy? What if I can't do it? What if I fail? Who's gonna, you know, pay for my expenses every month. It was very scary. Now, 10 years later, since starting my business, almost 10 years, I can tell you that there is a path, there is a way. And that it has also been the most exhilarating becoming an entrepreneur has made me grow and change and think in new ways that I'm so grateful for.
Now, also as a coach to visionaries, I've helped multiple of my clients. Make that transition. One of my clients was a CMO at a big advertising agency, and I helped her transition to starting her own agency. Another client worked as a consultant for one of the top consulting companies in the world, and I also helped her transition to start her own consulting business.
That I have multiple stories. So what I want to share with all of you today is what I have learned from that transition myself, and what have I learned by helping my clients make that transition. So in case you're in that place where you're considering leaving your job, I think these are ideas that are worth reflecting on, evaluating, so you can make the best decision.
So the first place I start is by understanding how much clarity my clients have. So the first place you want to start is by understanding how clear you are. Do you know exactly what business you want to start? Do you know what your business model is? Do you know who your clients are? Because finding that clarity is something you can do while still having a full time job and not risking your paycheck.
Or not putting more pressure on your personal finances. So I would spend some time getting very clear on the business you want to start and why you want to start that business. The reason why you want to start that business is going to be huge because Being an entrepreneur is hard and really understanding why you're doing it is what's going to drive you through the tough moments.
If you're starting a business because you're bored at your job, you hate it, you don't like your boss, you're tired of having the pressure of working inside a corporation, that is not a very good reason to start. Quit your job because when you become an entrepreneur, there's a whole other series of pressures and things that you won't like.
And although while you're working full time, having a business seems like it's a much better idea. Trust me, everything you do in life will. bring its own challenges. And in that case, I would encourage you to really focus on where you are in your current job. What lessons you have to learn there. How can you be happy even if it's not that perfect environment?
So that way you can use those skill sets when you start your own business. And also if you're thinking, well, I want to try this and see how it goes. It's just an experiment. I'm going to tell you the highest probabilities you're going to fail. Starting a business requires commitment. I haven't seen the first business that takes off and everything is perfect and fine.
All of us have challenges growing a business. So you have to be 100 percent committed to that vision, to that business, to the impact you want to make, because that's truly what separates those of us who 10 years later are still running our businesses than so many other people that Quit or fail. In fact, I think the statistic is that only 5 percent of the businesses that are started make it to the fifth year.
And I truly believe it's because people, when it starts getting hard, they quit. As any entrepreneur, there is going to be a lot of Uncertain moments and challenging moments and that why the reason why you're starting your business, that commitment to that impact you want to have, it's what's going to help you charge through instead of quitting.
So once you're clear on the business you're going to start, the customers you're going to be selling to and the why you're starting your business, you have to now check some logistical boxes. For example, is the business you're starting in conflict of interest with your current job? And The two clients I told you like you cannot be a CMO for an agency while having your own agency, right?
So for her, she really had to quit before she started her own business or for my client who's a consultant also, right? She couldn't be consulting on her own while consulting for this firm. So she had to quit. But for many of us, we don't need to do that. We may be having a full time job in a corporation selling some type of goods, and then you're on the side selling another type of goods.
And as long as they're not a conflict of interest, you can stay at your full time job for a little bit longer while your own business grows to the place where you can be stable. The second logistical box seems pretty obvious, and yet you'd be surprised how many people overlook it. And it has to do with your personal finances.
First, you need to understand how much money you have that you can invest in your business. And two, what is your one way? If in the first year of business, your business is not profitable, it can't pay you a paycheck. Can you still afford your lifestyle or do you have ways of financing your lifestyle until your business starts making profits?
And the reason why I ask you this is because when you start a business and you're requiring that business to give you a paycheck immediately, there's going to be a lot of pressure on you. So ideally, you could afford your lifestyle for six months, a year. The more the better and not require your business to give you a paycheck so you can fully focus on growing your business of making the investments that your business requires while you know your lifestyle is protected.
The third logistical box to check is what is your risk tolerance? You know, some people are very risk averse. They don't want to go into debt. They don't want to live paycheck to paycheck. And if in your case you have. Lower risk tolerance. I recommend that you stay for a longer period of time in your job before jumping into being a full time entrepreneur, because again, we want to protect your mindset.
And when you're very worried about going into debt, about not having enough money, your brain is not going to be coming up with the best ideas for your business. On the other hand, if you think, I believe in my business so much. I'm not worried about going into debt. I can manage, I've been in debt before.
I know how to manage it. I really want to be working on my business right now, full time. Then you can make the jump sooner. Reagan Moya Jones, who created Aiden and Annie, which is a brand that makes blankets to swaddle your babies. If you don't have babies, you probably don't know this brand, but today is a brand that makes more than a hundred million dollars a year.
And she started by herself while having a full time job and three kids, I think. And because her risk tolerance was very low and she was the breadwinner of her family, she couldn't afford Quitting her job, her full time job and starting this business. So she grew Aiden and Anai. to up to 10 million of revenue a year before she quit her job.
It took her five years to do this. And she tells that really what went out the window was sleep. She was waking up early, working on her, on Aiden and Anai, then going to her job, then being with her kids, then working on the business again, spending the weekends working on her new business. And she was very successful.
But the sacrifice for her was time, and I think that's a little bit of the trade off, right? Either when you have a full time job, you are being careful with your money, but then you're going to sacrifice more on time because you're going to have to work extra hours at night or during the weekends. But if you quit your job now, then maybe the sacrifice is more on the revenue and the income you're having, but you're going to have more time to build your business.
So that's an interesting trade off that you really need to consider. Now I want you to have Rick and Moya Jones in your mind. She was able to grow a business up to 10 million in revenue while having a full time job and three kids. It is a hundred percent possible to do both at the same time. You just need to be very organized and very good at managing your time.
The next couple of logistical boxes have more to do with your business. What I've seen in my clients who have made this transition, the ones who have achieved the, the ones who have achieved success the fastest, are those who have transitioned into a similar industry and have a very, Wide network of people, they already know they can sell, they've built their reputation.
People know them, like my client who started her advertising agency. During the many years in working for a corporation, she had built an incredible network of companies who believed in her, who believed in her vision, who trusted her with their marketing and their brands. So when she went on to start her own business, Getting clients was way easier for her because she knew a lot of people in that industry and, uh, and a lot of people already knew her and trusted her.
So that's another thing to consider, right? Are you moving it into an industry like me, for example, although I was working as, as a coach and directing a coaching company. I didn't have private clients or I didn't have as many private clients when I started. I didn't have my own brand. So for me becoming profitable or successful took a lot longer than for her because I had to make myself visible, create a brand, learn how to find clients, which is huge when you're starting your own business.
So again, for this box, consider what is your expertise in what you do. Are you starting a company? completely new business, a new industry that you've never been in. If that's the case, you probably want to keep your full time job for longer, or your new business is in the industry you've already worked for years, you have a huge network, people trust you, they know you, and it's going to be easier to sell to them.
Then you can transition probably faster to start your own business. Here's the thing that nobody told me when I started my own business, and it may seem so obvious, but it wasn't obvious to me back then. And it's that to be an entrepreneur is to be a salesperson. And I think the reason why it has taken me the longest time to grow the business to the place I've wanted to and has been the biggest challenge, honestly, for me is that I didn't know how to sell.
So that is a. important thing you should consider. How good are you at selling? How good are you at going and meeting new people, telling them what you do, offering your services or your products? What is your relationship with asking for money? Because sales is going to be the number one factor as to when you can get a paycheck, as to when you can become profitable, as to how much you can grow your business.
In the many years I've been a coach, I've met a lot of coaches and they've made it. all kinds of money from, you know, 30, 000 a year to multiple million dollars a year. And I've hired many of these coaches. And I will say the best coaches are not necessarily the ones that are making the most money. The ones that are making the most money are the ones that are good at selling.
And I think this is true for Any industry. So again, if you've never had any experience selling, if you feel super scared of selling your product or service, your vision, your idea, I would practice that while you have a full time job, overcome your fears around it, become confident in your ability to sell before you make a transition.
Becoming that entrepreneur in your mind, in your self concept, knowing that you're selling and that you know how to do it, it is going to be the most important thing in order to make money once your full time job is your own business. Also related to sales is you need to understand the sales cycle of your product or service.
There are services that take way longer to sell. If you're selling a product or a service that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars, you're probably going to take more time to find one customer. Versus if you're selling jewelry or shoes or coaching services, you might find that the first client in just a couple of days or weeks.
So you also need to consider this because again, you need to think how do I finance my personal life while my business gets traction, while my business makes profit, while I can start withdrawing money for my own life from my business. I will say every business, but let's say most. Businesses in the world start with a deficit.
If you're starting a restaurant, you first need to invest in the food, the location, the chairs, the tables, the kitchen, all those things. So you first need to put money in the business before you can start taking it out. So you really have to be thinking about this. Okay, where is the money I'm going to invest in the business?
And when do I need this business to start giving me money? And is that realistic based on my ability to sell on my network and the sell cycle of my product or service? The last two ideas I want to share with you have to do more with your personal skills. When you've been working corporate for a long time, There are a lot of structures and processes and career paths that you know, that you know you follow, you're doing your job right.
Instead, when you become an entrepreneur, none of that exists. You have to create it. One of the biggest struggles for a lot of people is time management, right? When I don't have a boss telling me these are the projects, these are the deadlines, how do I decide what I do first? How do I No, what is essential for my business and what is a nice to have a good to have something I can do later on and how do I build the inner discipline to work on my business no matter what to show up for myself on my business in the same way I would show up for a corporation for many of us, it's easier to meet the expectations of others than to meet our own expectations.
Right? When you're in corporate, if you have a meeting with someone else, you are at that meeting and you're prepared and you're ready for the meeting because you know someone else is expecting that of you. But when you're in your own business, what happens when you have a meeting with yourself? Are you going to start it on time?
Are you going to be as prepared? And listen, I'm not expecting you to have this. Skill fully developing before you make the transition, but it is important that you start developing and I still will encourage you to stay in your full time job while you start your own business and you start developing this series of skills.
So when you make the transition, it's going to be way easier. And the last part that really I know it because I'm a coach and I help people do this is your self concept is what you think about yourself. And this means how seriously are you going to take yourself as a business owner versus telling yourself, well, I'm just starting, maybe tomorrow, it's not as important, if something else comes up, making that other thing a priority.
When you're going to run, if you want your business to be successful. You have to take yourself seriously and your ideas seriously and commit to them and create a work schedule. And the way you're thinking about yourself has to evolve. So as I share all these ideas with you, if I had one recommendation to make is try to stay in your own job for as long as possible while you Figure out how to sell, you develop your self concept, you build your network, you grow yourselves and your income from your, your, from your side business or your, the business you're starting.
So that transition is not as hard, especially because if you go and start your own business and you're worried about your own personal wellbeing and your own personal finances, that's going to put so much pressure on you and your business that the chances to succeed are going to be lower than you want.
I've seen many people like the story I told you about Aiden and Ice, but also in my clients keep their corporate jobs while they're building their businesses and then transition at a moment that they feel way more comfortable. There is a lot you can do for your own business while you still have your full time job.
If you're organized and serious and committed to what you want to do. And I want to end by saying this, if in your heart, You have that little whisper that is telling you, I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to start my business. Listen to it. I believe that voice that is telling you the desires that are growing inside of you are the compass to your destiny and the journey in becoming an entrepreneur and growing your business is going to be the most rewarding in terms of your own personal growth.
I love helping people do this. So if you hear that whisper, you're thinking about doing a project on your own, let's chat. Let's talk about your business plan, what ideas you have and see how I can help. All right, I'll see you next time.
If you're currently pursuing a big, bold idea and would love some support, let's talk. In my coaching program, I'll teach you how to manage yourself, your own thoughts and emotions, as well as your team and your money. So you can turn your beautiful idea into a reality. Go now to. carozuleta. com slash consult.
That is C A R O Z U L E T A dot com slash consult. And complete the form to book a complimentary call with me. See you there!
