Tips From Successful Entrepreneurs Still Keeping Their Day Jobs

Are you cursing every hour between 9 and 5 just wishing you had more time to spend on your startup? No matter how ready you feel you are to start your business, keeping your day job for a while may be a good move.

You want your business to succeed, but focusing on it full-time may not be the answer you’re looking for. If you take the advice of the countless successful entrepreneurs who didn’t take the plunge into full time entrepreneurship right away, you may just be convinced that keeping your full-time gig while your business grows is the way to go. So what do these successful entrepreneurs have to teach us about growing a business while working full time? Here’s what they have to say:

1. Make sure there is a market need

If you look at why businesses tend to fail, you’ll see that the number one reason is that they create things that there is no market need for. It sounds like it should be obvious, but it’s not. It’s actually common for entrepreneurs to believe their idea is great and that it should be a success, only to find out after a huge investment and time and money, that it’s a failure. In fact, Shari Senderoff, who co-founded Career Sushi, a career marketplace that connects the world’s freshest minds with the most innovative companies, says making sure there’s a market need should be priority number 1.

2. Plan

Planning is crucial when it comes to being successful. If you start down one path and find that it’s not quite right, evolving and being able to plan the right move to make next is key. Israel Idonije not only plays for the Chicago Bears, but he also is the founder and CEO of Athlitacomics a sports hero comics line. “Launching a new endeavor while still employed full-time allows you to take your time and test the waters to gauge its potential for success. And most importantly adjust for the next play,” he shares.

3. Maximize your time

Brandon Turner, who is a real estate investor in addition to working a full time job, points out that there are still 72 hours left in the week after you subtract 40 hours for working and 56 for sleeping. Even though you may have other obligations, getting rid of time wasters will still leave you with time to work on your business.

4. Don’t let “no” stop you

Sara Blakely created Spanx – a billion dollar business – while still working her day job. She was successful because she didn’t take no for an answer. Being an entrepreneur means being rejected. But knowing when to persevere, pivot or give up on an idea is key. If everything is telling you that your idea is good and that customers will want what you are selling, don’t let the fact that other people don’t see your business vision stop you.

5. Be willing to work

David Heinemeier Hansson worked as a consultant before starting his company 37Signals. He warns that even though many entrepreneurs dream of being an overnight success, “building something great takes a long time.”

6. Don’t seek validation

Sara Blakely also cautions against seeking validation, even from friends and family members. In fact, she didn’t tell anyone except her then roommate and boyfriend about the company she was building on the side, despite the amount of work she was putting into it. Though your friends and family may be well-meaning, they may also try to talk you out of your idea because to them it might “sound a little crazy.” But what seems crazy today might be visionary tomorrow.

7. Focus

Steve Wozniak continued to work at HP while he co-founded Apple computer with Steve Jobs. He stresses the importance of focusing on the problems at hand and getting things done. “If you can’t figure out a way to test something and get it working, I don’t think you’re the right type of person to be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs have to keep adjusting … everything’s changing, everything’s dynamic, and you get this idea and you get another idea and this doesn’t work out and you have to replace it with something else. Time is always critical because somebody might beat you to the punch.”

8. Do something you’re passionate about

Leo Babauta is an extremely successful blogger who started his business while working full time. He also has six kids. His advice is to, “Make sure it’s something you’re passionate about — do it because you love it, not just to make money. If you do it for the money, you’ll eventually get tired of it and then you’ll be doing something you hate … and you can only do that for so long.”

You don’t have to quit your day job to be successful when you start a business. These entrepreneurs succeeded because they knew that in order to make it, it would take more than just more hours. Knowing what to do – and what not to do – with those hours is what will give you the edge.

Featured photo credit: campuspartycolombia via flickr.com

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