MBA2510 Q&A Wednesday: How Do I Quit My Job & Start a Business?

Wed Aug 21 2024

Ever thought about leaving the nine-to-five grind to start your own business? Do you find yourself questioning if now is the right time to take that leap? Or simply, how to make such a daunting transition smoothly? In today's fast-paced world, quitting your job to become an entrepreneur is one of the most significant decisions you can make. But how do you ensure it's the right move, and more importantly, how do you do it successfully?

Summary

The $100 MBA Show: MBA2510 Q&A Wednesday - How Do I Quit My Job & Start a Business?

Host: Omar Zenhom

Release Date: August 21, 2024

In this insightful episode of The $100 MBA Show, award-winning host Omar Zenhom delves into one of the most pressing questions for aspiring entrepreneurs: "How Do I Quit My Job & Start a Business?" Drawing from over two decades of entrepreneurial experience, Omar provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to transitioning from a salaried position to full-time entrepreneurship. This summary encapsulates the key points, discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, complete with notable quotes and timestamps to enhance understanding.

1. Introduction: Embracing the Entrepreneurial Journey

Omar begins by acknowledging the magnitude of the decision to leave a stable job and venture into entrepreneurship. He emphasizes that while daunting, with the right plan, this transition is entirely achievable. Reflecting on his personal journey, Omar shares, “It’s a life-changing event so you want to make sure you do it right” ([00:46]).

2. Step-by-Step Guide to Quitting Your Job and Starting a Business

Step 1: Find Your Why ([00:46])

Omar underscores the importance of understanding your motivations. He advises entrepreneurs to delve deep into questions like:

“Do you want to quit your job? Are you unhappy in your current role?”

Understanding your why helps maintain focus and commitment during challenging times. Omar shares his personal story, explaining how being passed over for a promotion led him to bet on himself and pursue entrepreneurship full-time.

Notable Quote:
“The difference between rich people and poor people is that rich people are willing to sacrifice for the short term to gain big for the long term.” ([06:30])

Step 2: Conduct a Financial Health Check ([08:15])

Before making the leap, Omar stresses the necessity of having sufficient savings to support yourself during the initial months of your business. He recommends:

Lowering personal expenses
Saving enough to cover at least six months of living expenses

Omar shares his own experience of cutting costs drasticaly when transitioning, including selling his car and living modestly to extend his financial runway.

Step 3: Skills Assessment ([10:05])

Assess your current skills, strengths, and experiences to identify how they can be leveraged in your new business. Omar advises:

Listing out your competencies
Considering how these can address market needs

He illustrates this with his transition from teaching to creating websites for independent creators, utilizing his communication and sales skills developed as an educator.

Step 4: Identify Your Business Idea ([12:20])

Choose a business idea that aligns with your curiosity, values, and experience. Omar emphasizes the importance of:

Solving a real problem
Validating market demand through research

He advises keeping an open mind, allowing the idea to pivot based on market feedback rather than being rigidly attached to the initial concept.

Notable Quote:
“Entrepreneurship is about change. You have to become somebody new.” ([14:10])

Step 5: Create a Business Plan ([13:50])

Develop a simple yet effective business plan that outlines:

Business model
Target audience
Revenue streams
Marketing strategy
Financial projections

Omar suggests starting with a one-page plan to keep things manageable and adaptable.

Step 6: Financing Your Business ([14:00])

Omar advocates for bootstrapping—using personal savings to finance your business. Benefits include:

Avoiding debt
Maintaining full control over your business
Validating the business through personal investment

He recounts selling his software company, Webinar Ninja, after building it independently, retaining 100% ownership.

Step 7: Set Up Your Online Presence ([14:50])

Establish a professional online footprint by:

Choosing a domain name that reflects your brand
Building a website using platforms like WordPress or Shopify
Developing a strong brand identity

Omar stresses the importance of owning your online assets to ensure long-term control and scalability.

Step 8: Run a Profit and Loss Sheet ([15:34])

Maintain a meticulous Profit and Loss (P&L) statement to monitor your business’s financial health. Steps include:

Listing all expenses and revenues
Regularly reviewing financial performance
Ensuring profitability and sustainable growth

Omar provides a template for a simple P&L sheet, emphasizing its role as the "lifeline" of your business.

Step 9: Grow Your Business ([16:20])

Focus on scaling your business by:

Gathering customer feedback
Improving products and services
Expanding into new markets
Automating processes
Diversifying product offerings

Omar advises continuous reinvestment of profits to fuel long-term success and adaptability in a dynamic market.

3. Planning the Transition and Embracing Change ([18:00])

Omar concludes by discussing the emotional and psychological aspects of transitioning to entrepreneurship. Key points include:

Choosing a realistic quit date based on your business’s progress
Notifying your employer professionally to maintain good relationships
Preparing for personal transformation and embracing the challenges of change

He highlights that the most significant challenge lies in personal growth and adapting to a new identity as an entrepreneur.

Notable Quote:
“Change is actually quite fun because you’re starting to see things like a kid again.” ([19:45])

Omar encourages new entrepreneurs to stay motivated, celebrate small victories, and remain committed to their why to navigate the inevitable bumps along the road.

4. Conclusion: Embracing the Entrepreneurial Lifestyle ([21:00])

Omar wraps up the episode by celebrating the bold decision to pursue entrepreneurship. He emphasizes the rewards of financial freedom, unlimited wealth generation potential, and personal satisfaction. He reassures listeners that with determination and the right strategies, they can achieve remarkable success.

Final Encouragement:
“Keep moving forward. Keep taking one step after another and you’ll be surprised how much you can achieve in just a short period of time. Let’s make it happen. I got your back.” ([22:15])

Omar directs listeners to download a comprehensive guide from 100mba.net to further assist in their entrepreneurial journey.

5. Notable Quotes and Insights

On Understanding Your Why:
“Do you want to do this for the rest of your life or do you want to do something adventurous, new, creative?” ([02:30])
On Financial Sacrifice:
“Rich people are willing to sacrifice for the short term to gain big for the long term.” ([06:30])
On Entrepreneurship and Change:
“Entrepreneurship is about change. You have to become somebody new.” ([14:10])
“Change is actually quite fun because you’re starting to see things like a kid again.” ([19:45])
On Business Ownership:
“When you want to sell your business, you have that asset.” ([14:00])
On Personal Transformation:
“If you were already an entrepreneur, you would already have a business, right? But you're not an entrepreneur yet. You have to actually change who you are.” ([20:50])

6. Resources and Next Steps

Omar provides valuable resources for listeners ready to embark on their entrepreneurial journey:

Guide Download: 100mba.net escape – A step-by-step plan with checklist items for quitting your job and starting a business in 90 days.
Templates: Available at 100mba.net/templates – Including a Profit and Loss statement template.
Subscribe for More Lessons: Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

Final Thoughts

Omar Zenhom's episode offers a robust framework for anyone contemplating the leap into entrepreneurship. By intertwining personal anecdotes with practical steps, he provides both inspiration and actionable advice. Whether you're in the planning stages or ready to take action, this episode serves as a valuable roadmap to building a successful online business while transitioning smoothly from your current job.

For more practical business lessons and resources, visit The $100 MBA Show and subscribe on your preferred podcast platform.

Transcript

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Hey listeners, hope everything's going well on your end. We are thrilled to share some great news. Our format has upgraded to jump right into the lessons even quicker than before, making your learning experience even more efficient. We know how valuable, so we wanted to make sure we get into the me even faster. Our hallmark. This is also because every episode is now available on video as well. Visit our YouTube channel over@100mba.net YouTube and hit that subscribe button. And in celebration of 10 years of the Hundred MBA, we're giving our website a fantastic new look. So check out our new website over@100mba.net Explore all the freebies over there and a great way for you to search for topic specific episodes of the podcast. Thank you for your continued support and being one of our amazing listeners. Welcome back to the A Hundred Dollar MBA Show. I'm your host Omar Zenholm and today we're diving into a question asked by Grant, one of our listeners and it's one of the most frequently asked questions. I get asked how do I quit my job and start an online business? Listen, it's a big step. It's a huge step to start a business to quit your career. I know because I've done it. I did it 12 years ago. It's a life changing event so you want to make sure you do it right. I understand it's daunting. I know it could be intimidating, but with the right plan, it's totally doable. I know I'm living proof. Today I'm going to guide you step by step on how to quit your job and start your full time career as an entrepreneur and start your online business. I was where you are today, exactly where you are today, 12 years ago. So I know exactly how you feel and that pivotal decision changed my life literally incredibly. I'm going to share with you how much it changes your life. Through that decision, I was able to later on build two multi seven figure businesses. One, I just recently sold my software company Webinar Ninja after growing it for 10 years. And the other one is this one, the hundred dollar mba. And absolutely have to say unequivocally, it's the best decision ever made in my life is that decision of leaving my job and becoming a full time entrepreneur. So don't worry, I got your back. I'm going to give you the steps so that you can make this transition smoothly and successfully. And it all starts with why. Just like Simon Sinek's book, start with why. You really need to reflect on why. Do you want to quit your job? Are you unhappy in your current role? Are you unhappy with your career? What is it about your current situation that is making you want to take action and go out on your own? Understanding your motivations will help you stay focused and committed when things get tough. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it, entrepreneurship is a challenge. You're going to go through some challenges in the next few months, next few years. That's the beauty of being an entrepreneur, is that it pushes you to become something better. If it was easy, everybody would do it. As you may have have heard before. But this is a good thing because you're going to have your why. You're going to have the reason why, you're doing this with you, to push you through those tough days. Let me share with you my why. When I was a teacher, I was a teacher and I was a chair of the department of the university. I was working for for over a decade. I was in this career. I dedicated my life. I've done degrees, I've done all these certifications. It's all my bread and butter. I was great at it, but I decided to leave it because of a particular situation. I was doing a job, I was the chair of the department and I was not getting the promotion I wanted. It wasn't really official. I was doing the job as like acting chair. And when I asked my manager about it, I asked the dean at the time, she just leveled with me and said the director of the university wants to make an outside hire for this position. And in that moment I was so, so devastated because I, I realized I had no control over my future. I had no control over my success. And I say that in that moment, my frustration outgrew my fear. I decided to bet on Myself and transition to full time entrepreneurship. I was side hustling for 10 years. I had my full time job, but I was building businesses on the side. But this moment in time forced me to level with myself, to just get honest and say, what do you want to do? Do you want to do this for the rest of your life or do you want to do something adventurous, new, creative? Do you want to do that thing you're doing on the side full time? And I said, I got to do it, I got to do it now. At the time I was 32 years old. So I was like, I got to make this transition right? And it doesn't matter how old you are, if you want to make this transition, you still can do it. You can be successful as an entrepreneur. And in fact, you have a lot of advantages that I'll talk in a later episode of having experience and having that knowledge that can help you, propel you and give you a leg up and have success a little faster than somebody who's younger. But it's super important for you to know your why, because the why is going to allow you to plow through those tough days. Step two. This might be a little bit uncomfortable, but you have to do a financial health check. I really recommend that you have enough savings to support yourself during this transition period, during your first six months of full time entrepreneurship. When I transitioned to my full time entrepreneurship life from my full time job, I drastically lowered my expenses. I sold my car, I lived in a dungeon apartment with Nicole, my business partner and wife in New York. I didn't have any personal luxuries. I didn't buy any fancy holidays. I didn't have any fancy clothes. I barely spent on myself at all. And the reason why I did this is because I knew it was temporary. Listen, when you're making this transition, you're making a drastic change in your life. This is the sacrifice you're going to make just temporarily. And by the way, what I've learned in the last 20 years is that the difference between rich people and poor people is that rich people are willing to sacrifice for the short term to gain big for the long term. You know, so you're going to sacrifice maybe by maybe lowering your, you know, luxuries in the short term, but you're really going to live it up. Don't worry, you're going to have bigger holidays, better cars, better clothes, better watches, better everything once you establish yourself as a successful entrepreneur. But in the short term, the first 12 to 24 months, you're going to Want to buckle down to make it easier for you to let that dollar that, that Runway you have really last as long as possible. Step 3 Skills Assessment. List your current skills, your strengths, your experiences. Consider how those things can be applied to your next thing, your online business, your next venture. For example, if you have experience in marketing, you can offer digital marketing services. Okay. Leverage what you already have, the contacts you have, the experiences you have. For example, I was a schoolteacher for over a decade and I made sure teaching was a part of my leap into business. I taught, I presented, I did webinars, and by the way, teaching is a form of communication and selling. So I had some sales experience I had to sell my students on doing their homework all the time. But the point here is use what you have. You want to again, use everything at your disposal to increase your likelihood of success in the beginning. Now, with a clear understanding of your motivations, a financial check and a plan to make sure your Runway lasts as long as possible, and a inventory of your skills and experience experiences, it's time to identify your business idea. I quickly want to take a timeout. If you want to get serious about this step by step plan, you can download it. We have a incredible guide for you over at100mba.net escape your escape plan and you can download it. And inside it, it has all the check list items you need to do for each step so that you know that you're on track. And the guide is paced for 90 days so you can quit your job and start your full time career as an entrepreneur in 90 days. Step four is identify your business idea. You want to choose a business idea that aligns with your curiosity, your values and of course, your experience. Now don't be so married, so committed to this idea because the idea is going to change, is going to pivot, it's going to move with the market because the market doesn't care how passionate you are about something. This is just the truth. They care about how good your products are. So you want to make sure your product suits your target market suite. So don't be so, you know, committed to this idea or picture you have in your head right now. Think about what problems you can solve. Validate your idea by researching the market demand, the competition, the potential of how many customers you can get every day, every month. Don't spend more than eight hours on this. But remember, research never ends. This is just to get you started more in the guide. But this is important because this gives you an understanding of who you are going after with what solution to what problem they have. As an entrepreneur, you are in the problem solving business. This is what you do, okay? You solve problems for a living and that's why people pay you for your products and services. So get used to getting very acquainted with the problem you're solving. The better you understand the problem, the better you're going to be able to come up with a great solution. The better you're going to be able to communicate that solution and sell it to your audience. When I left my job as a teacher, I started a full time agency creating websites for independent creators and bloggers. I had seven years experience at the time dabbling with WordPress, building websites with WordPress. And I knew there was a growing need in the market because all my friends and family would ask me, hey, Omar, how do I start a website? How do I build an e commerce store? I know that you know how to do that, so I just started to start charging for that. Once you've identified your business idea, it's time to create a business plan. Let's make sure that you have a solid business plan. And in the guide, I'm gonna guide you through exactly how to do that. But the point here is that you wanna keep it simple. It doesn't need to be a 78 page document. This is a rough plan on how you approach your business model. Your target audience, your revenue streams, how you're gonna make money, your marketing strategy, your financial plan, how you're going to fund this business. My first business plan for the 100 MBA was only one page. Okay, remember, this is just the starting point of this journey because your plan is going to have to shift and change. Don't worry about making it too detailed. You want to make sure that you have a rough idea of those things I mentioned. Next, let's talk about financing your business. I recommend bootstrapping your business with your personal savings. This is my personal journey. This is what worked for me. I chose this to avoid financial stress. I didn't want to start my business out in debt or be influenced by an investor or somebody else. I wanted to be able to build this on my own merits. On the value of the product or the service or the thing that solves the problem for my audience. I bootstrapped all my businesses over the last 20 years and it allowed me to maintain full control not only over the concept of the idea or the business or what I'm doing, but over the shares of the business. When I sold our software company just recently, after growing it for 10 years, we had total control over the shares. We had a hundred percent ownership so that we reaped all the benefit from the financial gain of that sale. So it has a huge advantage. It's a little bit tougher. But at the same time, if you get through that initial step of getting traction and making sales with your bootstrap business, you have validated that business and now you know that you have something that people actually are willing to give you money for. So there's a lot of advantages to it. More about that in a future episode. Step seven is to set up your online presence. You're going to choose a domain name that reflects your brand. You're going to build a professional website. You might use a platform like WordPress or Shopify to make it easy. There's more information about that in the guide. But develop a strong brand identity. That's really what's important here. You want to create that pre launch buzz and marketing for your business with your website. So start with a soft launch with your website to just make sure that everything works and you work out the kinks and then get some feedback from that initial soft launch from your audience and then you can do an official launch later on. Just remember that business is done on a website, right? When people transact, it happens on a website. Doesn't happen on Facebook, it doesn't happen on Instagram. Where does money actually exchange? Think about it as a consumer. When you buy something online, buy a product or service or whatever, it's done on a website, right? So you want to make sure that you spend the time to build a proper home base, a proper storefront for your business instead of trying to build on quicksand. Because you don't own Instagram, you don't own Facebook and that page can be taken away from you at any time. Not that that's likely, but you want to make sure that you build an asset that you own. So later on, like when you want to sell your business, you have that asset.