The topic of taking the plunge and leaving corporate life has been discussed heavily lately by several friends and of course my padna kjh in his article on when to take the plunge so I decided to put together a couple thoughts on the subject myself…. please feel free to comment with your take on the subject as well.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is, are you meant to be a corporate worker or are you meant to create something and go it alone? There is no shame in being a corporate worker. Working for someone else can help provide a good life and provide stability with benefits.

With that said, if you want to be in charge of your future you might be a candidate to start your own business. For instance, have you ever been part of a “reduction in force”? At most companies you could be part of a layoff even if you are a top performer and contribute towards the success of the company! If you’re on your own and lose your job, there’s no one to blame but yourself. Others start their own business so they can be in control. I know I’ve been frustrated by decisions made by several executive staffs over the years and feel I have a better business acumen than these leaders of industry. Another reason people start their own businesses is for the freedom of schedule and location. Afternoons are terribly non-productive for me but most companies require you to work core business hours which are usually 9a-4p. With this schedule, half my workday is forced into time where I really have issues concentrating and working through tasks. In addition to working during non-productive time, most people must work in cube farms which are made to save money but not to create a productive environment. Personally I believe if you can get your work done by their deadlines, I don’t care when or where you do the work. While you may hear corporate-types convey the same words, the sentiment is quite different. In most corporate settings your superiors know when you get to work and when you leave and watch your timecard like a hawk. If you can do your job in 30 hours working from a Seven Mile Beach or The Graveyard Beach on Grand Cayman… why does corporate not allow it? Probably because I know quite a few people who would take advantage of the situation.

While I’ve been lucky in the corporate world and have only been laid off once (the next day I started as a contractor making double the pay for less responsibility and I received a 3 month severance so I was not too torn up) and I have had bosses that for the most part allowed me to work a slightly modified schedule because they saw me as a performer, I still have not had total freedom in work schedule and work location and I’ve definitely had issues with executive decisions that simply did not make sense.

Starting my own business is more about Freedom than making money.

The second most important decision you must make is when to start your own business. As kjh mentioned, there is no right time and you can’t derive the correct timing from some formula in a Start Your Own Business book. You have to weigh your experience, faith in your ideas and abilities, your money situation and responsibilities.

This tends to create a paradox… young people tend not to have responsibilities and are able to live on less while older people have gained the necessary experience to be successful in business. I’m definitely caught in this paradox.

Now that I’m older and feel I have the experience to start my own business, I have responsibilities including a mortgage, car loan, wife and baby girl. Here’s where I get personal… being financial conservative, my largest barrier to entry into self-employment is the risk to actually make the jump. My fears include failure which would lead to not being able to live up to my responsibilities which would affect my wife and baby’s lives. If making the jump only could affect my life and not theirs…

As you can tell from my personal experience, choosing the right time to start your own business is a very personal decision. Currently I’m comfortable building a business in my spare time every night after work and on the weekends. While I am frustrated with the lack of time I am able to allot to personal business ventures, hopefully this blog will become a roadmap of a successful formula that can help others in similar situations start their own business and earn their freedom.

If you want to earn your freedom, here’s a homework assignment: grab and read a copy of Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour WorkWeek.

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