Do you have a business idea you haven’t made a move on, yet? Why not? Maybe you’re working full-time and can’t find the time to build a business on your own. Or maybe you think taking on a new venture will be too much to handle?
Let me tell you one thing: what feels like the “perfect moment” will never arrive. It’ll never feel like all the stars have aligned where you have the perfect moment to start your business. That means you have to make a decision to do it or to let time pass you by.
When I first graduated college, I was extremely thrilled to be working in Corporate America. I remember waking up every morning with such excitement that I was able to travel the nation, solve complex business problems, and be a part of a major Fortune 500 Company. After a year of working full-time, I learned that I had to find more passion in what I did outside of my day job. I always wanted to start a blog and business, but I didn’t feel like I had the time.
While I knew I my day-to-day work was impactful for my company and clients, I wanted to help people on a more personal level. So I began to build a business so I could do just that, and here’s what I learned in the process:
1. Make YOUR dreams a priority.
If you don’t make your dreams a priority, nobody else will. You have to take time to make your personal dreams a priority because life happens, and it happens fast. When you have so many other things on your plate, if you don’t prioritize your business in some way, it will never gain the success you truly want it to have.
2. Take things one step at a time.
When it comes to starting a business, you don’t have to feel like you have to tackle everything at once. Honestly, you don’t have time to do that. You’ll get overwhelmed when you try to do everything at once, so take things one step at a time!
Take your business goals and ideas and break them down into bite-sized pieces so that you can take one meaningful step at a time.
3. Find help… and use your help.
One of the most important things to know when building a business full-time is to find others to help you build and grow your vision. You can hire others to take on the work that you don’t have the time to take on. You can even enlist the help of interns to help take the load off of you. If you utilize interns or administrative help, remember to actually use the help you enlist!
4. Be patient with your process.
It’s okay to take things slowly and be patient with your process. Building a business takes hard work, and it doesn’t happen overnight. Be patient with yourself during the journey and know that the right answers, ideas, and strategies will come in the right time.
5. Set aside time to work on your business.
Setting aside time to work on your business may sound basic, but it’s extremely important. In order to work on your business ideas and building your business, you have to be strategic about how you use your time. You should allocate a specific amount of time each week to work on your business given all of your other endeavors.
6. Get your ideas on paper.
I know you have great ideas in your head, but if you don’t get them on paper, you’re not going to make much progress with your business. As you write down more ideas and strategies for your business, you will get more clarity and ideas that will help you shape your business. From the ideation and strategy phases through the branding and marketing phases of your business, you need to get everything on paper to make significant progress.
7. Find your focus.
You cannot have a successful business if you do not focus on your business. A successful business requires focused time, a focused plan, and focused energy. You have to find a way to focus in the midst of the other responsibilities that you have.
8. You have to create a plan.
Developing a plan for your time, resources, and ideas will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Without a plan you will get lost in the busyness of life. A plan helps you to prioritize the work you have to do. It also helps you to know what to do with your time when you have time to work towards your business.
9. Become a master of your time.
Learning to master your time while working full-time means you need to maximize your free time. Any free time you have outside of work should be accounted for. Your free time outside of work is where you’ll find time to work on your personal business ventures.
In order to master your time, you need to utilize a planner or a calendar to help your outline your time. As you begin to master your time, you’ll find the time to put toward your business.
10. Just do it.
This is plain and simple! You just have to do it. Building a business requires work, so you have to get started and just do it. Building your business while working full-time will almost always seem a bit overwhelming, but you have to just do it if you want to truly pursue your dreams!
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