Are You Really Building A Business, Or Just Another Job?

So you are planning to break free of your corporate job and go it alone or you already have, but it seems like you are still working too many hours. The question you need to be asking is 'Are you really building a business, or just another job?'.

It could be a great job that you are creating for yourself and a much better one than you used to have, but is that what you really want. If your new 'business' is really nothing more than another job in disguise then you will find that you continue to work long hours and are often sweating making the payroll and your bills and face an uncertain future.

What if you get sick, what if you become disabled, need time off or want to retire one day? If your income is always reliant on your personal involvement and daily actions you could find yourself in big trouble and with a lot less freedom than you hoped for.

In contrast owning your own business means achieving the real freedom that you desire, the ability to generate much higher levels of income than you could ever make alone, which is better insulated from interruptions and the ability to build a tangible asset that can one day be sold.

What's the difference between creating a new job and actually building a business? It means leveraging other people's time and creating systems so that it can operate independently of your involvement on a daily basis. Yes, it may take a little time to get things running smoothly to where you are comfortable with taking your eyes off of it and you will probably be in there getting your hands dirty at the beginning to optimize things but unless you start with the right model in mind you will likely never really make the jump from employee to entrepreneur.

It all begins with having the right structure and vision that will carry you through to your goals. Whatever you do, do not just launch yourself in head first without a plan and figure that one day you will be making enough to hire a manager and take a back seat. If your company isn't designed for this from the beginning it will be virtually impossible to make the transition. This may mean taking advantage of coaching to build on your leadership and management skills and to get some input on the best way to formulate your new operation, but it will definitely be well more than worth it.

Once you are freed from the chains of actually having to clock in and having to worry about squeezing in all the hours you can to cover the mortgage you will find that this is when you can really do your best work. You will have the time to focus on growing your enterprise and doing the things that keep you passionate about it.