How (Not) To Make The Leap From Employee To Entrepreneur

Intro

A few months ago, I had the honor of being invited to a panel discussion on making the leap from employee to entrepreneur, by the Founder Institute in Yerevan, Armenia.

I had to warn the organizers that I felt it was important to play devil’s advocate and tell attendees why they shouldn’t quit their day jobs to start a new business. To my surprise, they loved this angle, and I ended up telling the audience the harsh truths (HT) about launching a startup.

It’s a topic that I have often discussed with my friends and acquaintances. Some of them were contemplating quitting and “reaching for the stars”; others wanted to get reassurance that having a corporate job was still ok and “acceptable” in these days and age.

One thing we could all agree on, however, was the pressure we are under when we compare ourselves to people like Evan Spiegel, the 27-year-old CEO of Snap, Inc, or Vitalik Buterin, who was only 19 when he invented Ethereum.

Having co-founded inKin Social Fitness Platform, I’ve decided to share some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way, about whether you should make the leap from employee to entrepreneur, and what will help you stay focused if so.

Ask Yourself Why
You must have already seen the Simon Sinek’s famous TED Talk on why the greatest leaders and corporations all seem to act, communicate, and behave in the same way at least thrice as this speech has become truly iconic.

“Why?” is the number one question you should ask yourself before starting your business. The first and foremost thing you should do before resigning from your job is to identify the real reason behind your desire to fly solo; because, as Sinek puts it, “people don’t buy what you do — they buy why you do it”.

So let me walk you through the most common motives for becoming an entrepreneur.

Money

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If your main reason to start a business is to immediately become wildly wealthy and drive a sexy Italian car on an endless holiday in the Bahamas, then I have bad news for you: that’s not going to happen.

HT: It will take some time to adjust to your new reality that lacks steady and guaranteed monthly income. Moreover, you may end up actually selling your car to invest in your business or to keep it going for another year or more likely — months.

Of course, as a businessman, you must focus on the money your project is making, but that will not happen overnight (more on that in my future posts, so stay tuned).

Freedom

Almost everyone loves the idea of being their own boss: working from home, coffee shops, or fancy co-working spaces, with flexible hours and reporting to no one.

HT: The truth is that managing time and deadlines for yourself and your team is much trickier than you might think. It takes a lot of willpower and determination to stay on top of your workload when you don’t have someone to report to or get paid for it.

Also, this so-called freedom comes with a “perk” of you being literally attached to your laptop and smartphone: wherever and whenever you go, these babies are coming with you. While you should still try to enjoy your time off, your consciousness will be constantly occupied with endless to-do lists, KPIs and, hopefully, ideas.

It goes without saying that any job, especially if you have a successful corporate career, has enormous responsibilities. But starting a new venture will force you to become a Jack-of-all-trades, which means learning new skills from scratch at supersonic speed. Tasks your old company may have employed people to work on fulltime now fall at your feet.

Plus, if everything goes well, you will find yourself reporting to tough VC guys or shareholders after all.

Vanity

Let’s face it, vanity has been the key driver in the tremendous growth of social media over the last decade. Unless you are an extremely private person, you probably have some sort of presence on social media. People like to share their accomplishments, and that’s a great thing — it’s something that also drives inKin users to become more active and healthier every day.

HT: Starting a business just because you dream of framing a TechCrunch or Forbes article about yourself is probably not such a good idea. The life of an entrepreneur is often an obscure one.

Tip: If you’re one of the few people that don’t use social media at all, I would encourage you to familiarize yourself with the most popular platforms as soon as possible. This will play a huge role in helping you market your business and reach the right audience.

Tip 2: Make sure your customers know you; not by your job title, but as a person who helps them solve their problems.

Early Retirement

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I’m not sure what it is; perhaps it’s the Instagram phenomenon, Gianluca Vacchi, but I’ve been hearing a lot about retiring at 45 recently.

HT: Yacht or no yacht, a true entrepreneur will never be content settling down without a fresh challenge on the horizon. Entrepreneurs are visionaries that constantly brainstorm ideas to meet people’s needs and, in the words of Alexis Ohanian, ways of “making the world suck less”.

Look at Richard Branson, 67, and Elon Musk, 46, these guys are unstoppable. Can you picture them retiring at 45?

Self-actualization & Passion

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Have you ever experienced being awake in the middle of the night because your head is about to explode with all those thoughts? And when that happens, do you spend the rest of the night waiting for the alarm to finally go off before running to the office to share your ideas with the team or better start implementing them? If so, then I salute you! That’s passion, and it’s an amazing emotion of bliss and content that can be compared to the feeling of being in love.

It’s also the most honest and authentic reason to start building a company of your own.

All of my life, I have been inspired by my father’s passion for his work; his energy can move mountains! So it’s only natural that I strongly believe that with the right motivation, your vision, coupled with hard work and the right team, has the power to build something that other people will love and pay for.

HT: Truth be told, being in love with your occupation is important regardless of whether you’re an entrepreneur or an employee. I mean do you know anyone who hates their job and is yet good at it? I don’t.

Of course, like in any relationship, you can’t always levitate. There are going to be bumps and rough times when you feel down and burnt out. But true love conquers it all:)

Thus, if you feel discontent with your job, I would urge you to change it as soon as possible and find something you are passionate about.

Tip: If you feel that entrepreneurship is calling you, there is often a way of doing that without quitting your job. And I’m not talking about combining the two as it’s not going to work (unless you quickly launch a minimum viable product to test the waters and then quit).

If you’re fortunate enough to work in an innovative and creative company, or, on the contrary, a company that needs restructuring and modernization, you can always pursue the path of corporate entrepreneurship.

Whether it’s building a brand new product or service, penetrating new markets and sales channels, exploring new business opportunities or devising new directions, the challenge is real and rewarding. You will also get an invaluable experience that will help you launch your own thing later on.

So, there you have it, a few good reasons to either quit your current job and embark upon an exciting adventure or continue focusing on your corporate career.

If you were to ask me whether I regretted becoming a tech entrepreneur, my answer would be “no”. Would there be an inKin Social Fitness Platform if I’d had the time to ponder all the pros and cons before diving into it? Probably not as overthinking would have slowed down the momentum.

Of course, my experience can be significantly different from the paths that others, both tech and non-tech startup founders have had. So please feel free to share your thoughts.