BENEFITS OF STARTING A BUSINESS PART TIME

Posted by brandstad in Oct, 2017

When I wanted to start a business spoke to different people who had been there and done and even had the Tshirt. I got mixed reactions about how to approach it. Some people said to me ‘if you want to be really successful in your business you need to be 100% in it. No toe dipping. You have to burn the bridge that is your job and throw everything you’ve got at it. It is sink or swim and if you have the tenacity you will swim because you have mouths to feed.’

Other people suggested that I tread carefully. I should start small and part time during the evenings and weekends whilst still keeping my full time job. That way I could test the water to find out if self employment was really for me. Once you have built up a customer base part time you can then consider trading in your full time job for your new found business.  After all it is a risky business being self employed and you have mouths to feed whether or not you make money.’

Whichever side of the fence you are on this article hopes to highlight the potential pitfalls of starting a business part time or full time. It matters not how you start but just that you start. But is you start by deciding on which mode is best for your circumstances armed with this information then you are more likely to succeed. There is no simple answer to this question should I go full time or part time?

Starting a business can be just as rewarding if you start it part time or full time if you do it properly

Here some pros and cons from both modes Full Time and Part Time

Part time business Pros and Cons
PROS
  • You can gently ease into self employment and test the water part time. This is a good introduction to the world of business.
  • There is less risks involved in a part time business. If you are not successful, you still have another means of survival income. This is because you can keep your day job and the financial pressures are lower.
  • There is a lower cashflow outlay as you need less cash-to run a part time venture.
  • It is easier to walk away from it. Most part time businesses are just like pop up shops. You can wind them down easily as there are very few long term committed investments such as premises lease costs.
  • Starting part time allows you to grow at your own pace more gradually rather than great unmanageable strides.
  • You can run your business from your home or anywhere else for that matter.
  • Part time businesses fit in with the lifestyle and available time of the entrepreneur. Most women lead very busy lives trying to balance so many different things. Running a part time business gives you the flexibility to work on building it when you can without the fear of loss of income.
  • There are many online businesses and network businesses that will be suited to part time working.
CONS
  • Following on from the point above about flexibility, you are more likely to burn out running a business part time. Working full-time and running a part-time business is exhausting. When you add to the mix balancing children and family life it is a recipe for burn out. You must really be strict with relaxation and spending time away from it all to recuperate if you are to avoid this.
  • Even though you have a full time job you will find yourself thinking and working on your part time business during the hours of your job. This is because your clients or customers don’t restrict their enquiries to when you work but will most likely contact you at all hours and you will need to respond to them. This may affect your performance at your job.
  • Working part time means less time to do the essential business building tasks such as marketing, helping customers, selling, finances, etc. Unless you operate a strict time management regime and stick to it you will find things will continually be slipping away undone.
  • You are likely to have less time for family and friends which will affect your quality of life. Even with great time management, the fact that so much is packed into your day or week will leave less free time to socialise.
  • There are many businesses that are not suitable to be run part-time.

If you do decide to take the plunge rather than dip your toe then here are the pros and cons of running a full time business to consider.

Full Time business Pros and Cons
PROS
  • Working full time in your business means you can give your business your and undivided attention from the start. Just like a new born baby when you start a new business it needs a lot of time, money and attention to nurture it for it to grow.
  • As a full time business it is more likely that your business will take off quicker as you are able to invest more time into building tasks such as marketing, sales, finance, etc. By covering more ground you are more likely to reach more people and as business is a game of numbers you are more likely to succeed.
  • You can learn from mistakes faster when working in your business full time. For instance since you can attend to more customers and understand better their needs it follows that you will be able to adjust your service quicker than a part time worker
  • If you are looking for external finance to build your business then you will find that potential investors and funders respond better to people who are committing full time to their business.
CONS
  • The mindset gap – People who have been employees all their lives tend to have a certain mindset which is very different to the mindset required for making money and running a business. For instance as an employee, you know you will get paid at the end of the week or month whether you do any work or not. You just have to turn up. On the other hand as a self employed person you will only get paid once the work has been done. In fact you can actually do a lot of work and NOT get paid!  You also need to make sure you are doing the right work or else your business will not grow. The behavioural gap between full time employment and full time self employment may be too great for you to cope. Here part time may be a better option.
  • The money gap – There is a greater impact or dip in your finances when you go full time into self employment. Your monthly pay check disappears and it takes a while for you to start getting a regular and reliable income stream from your business which will sustain you. On the other side of this you still have all your bills to pay every month. Unless you have savings to cover these expenses you will quickly get into debt and begin to feel the negative pressure that comes from lack of money.
  • The skills gap – Unless you do a business start up course before you start your business, you will find there is a huge gap between what you know and what you need to know to run a successful business. You will need to be a master at all the key skills for running your business. Running a full time business involves a steep learning curve at a faster pace than you would if you were running it part time.
  • To succeed in a full time business will require a substantial amount of money saved to sustain you until your business starts making money.

Do you have any views or comments to add on these pros and cons? If you are in business please share your experience.

If you are thinking of starting a business and would like help deciding on which mode to take get in touch with us on 07906343050.