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Written by Chuck Bowen
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Monday, 08 December 2008 19:00 |
 Dear Chuck,
I appreciate and listen to your show every week. I've had a part time business for the last 25+ years, and now my employer is going to start getting into the same business as my part time business. My employer has a non-compete policy and I'm going to have to choose one or the other. My part time business does about 1/5 of what I make at my employer. I'm 50 and our finances are in great shape, with a large emergency fund, large retirement nest egg, and debt free. What would you recommend to me?
~ Mark, San Antonio, TX
First of all Mark, congratulations on being in such wonderful financial shape! You've done the "good work" to position yourself to have choices at this point. Preparation and Positioning are two of the "6 Ps" I teach my career clients that are the key ingredients for success.
I think you have a few choices here, hinging on whether you really want to be your own full time boss:
1. Approach your employer and explain to them that they're moving into a business area where you've operated your own small business for the past 25 years and that you would like to continue doing so. You will honor the non-compete with their clients and would like to continue helping them grow their business. I had this experience in the past as an executive and one of my employees had the same situation. I decided it would be in the good interest of our company to keep them on and allow him to continue operating his small business since it really wasn't threatening what we were doing on a much larger scale. You'll have to feel this option out and do what you feel is best. You won't know for sure unless you ask!
2. Stay quiet for the time being, since your employer is "going to start getting into the same business" and see what happens. During this time, decide what has been keeping you at your employment until this point and if you truly wnat your own small business to take off so that it represents more than 20% of your income ... maybe up to 100%! Have you not launched full time yet because you desire the perceived security of a paycheck? Do you still go to work each week because you don't have a thorough gameplan laid out that you can confidently and boldly execute? The first thing you should do is to get clear on why you haven't taken action until this new development has awoken you. Then, if you decide to take the next steps, here's your thought and action process:
- Does my business have the opportunity to grow bigger if I really plan and build it? The action here is to financially and operationally forecast your business out for the next 12 months -- on paper -- to see where your opportunities lay.
- Next, begin working on the key strategies and actions you need to put in place to work that plan. Where are your opportunities to grow? What do you need to do to get more traction? You'll get the confirmation as you go that your business has a real chance for a much bigger payday!
- Finally, as you build your business, at the same time decide HOW big your emergency fund needs to be before you have the confidence to launch full time. Work it out on paper in combination with the financial forecast you built in the previous step to see how far your emergency fund would take you as you build your profits. This is a big part of the Preparation and Positioning phase of entrepreneurialism that will satisfy a lot of the unknowns you have running around in your head right now. You'll find it much easier to step out if you feel there is solid financial footing ahead of you!
Go for it Mark! Be encouraged to pursue your dream to directly create your own income. As General Douglas MacArthur said, "Security is your ability to produce." Security isn't with your employer -- it's within YOU!
As you are considering your options, realize that this is perhaps the best thing that could ever happen as you discover that, as my good friend Dan Miller says,"opportunity is between your own ears". Work on your gameplan and let me know how you progress!
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