4 Signs You're Ready to Start Your Own Business

Starting a business is no easy investment. It’s a choice that people make for different reasons, but a lot of them overlap when they find themselves at a career crossroads. Becoming an entrepreneur is a risk not everyone is ready for, so it’s worthwhile to consider if you’re ready to leave your current job and start your own business. Here are four signs you might be ready to make the jump from employee to employer:

Related Blog: Advantages of Franchising vs. Starting Your Own Business

1. You’re Feeling Burnout

Most of us experience burnout at some point in our careers. Not all of it means you need to make a dramatic shift from your current job to a new venture. Sometimes all it means is that you need to use PTO for a relaxing week of vacation so you can come back to work refreshed. But if what you need is more than a week off, how do you tell the difference between burnout in working hard versus working in the wrong job?

If you find yourself lacking any passion for daily responsibilities, routinely stare at the clock waiting to leave, or know for a fact that this is not your career sweet spot, your burnout might not be fixed with a week in the Bahamas. Burnout symptoms like that could be a lightbulb moment to realize that you are destined for business ownership. 

2. You’re Tired of Working for Someone Else

Maybe the job you’re doing right now is manageable, it’s just the lack of control around it. You find yourself wanting more autonomy for your daily tasks and want to be the person making the big decisions. In that case, you could be simply tired of working for someone else. 

Starting your own business is a lot of things, but lack of control is not one of them. As a business owner, you’re in charge of everything you could dream of, especially in the beginning. You make the investments, you decide the work hours, and you guide the operations in whatever way you want to go. In short, if you’re ready to work for yourself, it could be a sign to jump ship and become a business owner.

3. You Want a Faster Path to Profitability

When you climb the corporate ladder for raises and promotions, it’s not always the quickest path to significant pay bumps. The same goes for technical trades and other typical jobs, but not the case for every business owner. While the risk of failure can be higher, it also has a higher upside when it comes to income, allowing business owners the opportunity for a faster path to profitability. If you’re dreaming of a bigger paycheck and the work that comes with it, then the leap into business ownership might be the right way forward.

4. You Have an Entrepreneurial Drive

Certain characteristics are usually ascribed to entrepreneurs: creativity, risk-taking, leadership, decisiveness, etc. While it’s not always cut and dry, knowing your character traits can be a clear sign that you need to be in an entrepreneurial role in order to thrive. Whether it’s bootstrapping a small business or owning a franchise with support behind you, it requires you to fulfill the role of an entrepreneur. You will need to take risks by investing in the business, making key decisions, building community relationships, and leading by example in your day-to-day operations. If this sounds like you, you may have the drive needed to own a business. 

Owning a business is hard work, but for those who choose it, it’s an extremely rewarding path. These four signs could be a green light to tell you that you’re pursuing the right opportunity in entrepreneurship, franchising, or small business ownership.