January 2018 – Korsell Corporate Consult

For many, the hardest part of starting a business isn’t coming up with the idea or choosing the right name.

Deciding when the time is right to start a business is often the biggest challenge. How do you know when to take the plunge? Should you go all in, all at once—or take it more slowly?

This can be an extremely difficult question to answer, and doing so involves a careful assessment of your own strengths and weaknesses, your position in life, and (of course) your financial situation.

Generally speaking, it comes down to a decision between “jump right in,” and “slow and steady.” That is to say, some feel it’s better to quit your job and start your business right away, while others will advocate for a more measured approach, involving building up your new business on the side before transitioning into the role of full-time entrepreneurship.

So, you want to…

…quit your job and start your new business right away:

You have a plan, a passion, and you’re ready to do whatever it takes to make it happen.

That’s all great—but, the reality is that quitting your day job cold turkey to start a new business is definitely the riskiest path available.

That being said, there are huge advantages to quitting your day job and starting your new business right away. You’ll have the luxury of time and energy, and you’ll be able to throw yourself wholeheartedly into your new venture. You’ll also be doing what you love, and that alone is an important consideration. Plus, unless you have a substantial financial cushion to fall back on, you’ll likely have a bit of urgency to spur you toward success.

So, if you think this is the right choice for you, let’s look at some of the questions you should be asking yourself:

Do I have any savings? What about investments? Can I get a loan?

So, the obvious question—what’s your financial situation?

It’s not just about making sure you have enough money to start your business. You’ll need money to keep the lights on—not just in your new business, but at home, too.

Before you proceed, get as realistic a sense as possible of these three things:

How much startup capital you need to open your doors (whether real or virtual) and begin selling your product or offering your services
How long until you’re able to break even and actually make money
How much money you currently need to, you know, keep living

Once you have a sense of the first two points, compare them against the last point on that list. How long will it take you to break even? Is it 12 months after you open? Maybe 24, or more? It’ll be necessary here to do some type of financial forecast, or perhaps a business plan (we recommend you call us +233553919618).

Use that number (along with your calculation of your necessary living expenses) to determine how much additional cash you need saved up to sustain yourself while you’re not bringing in income. Then, add to it. Unforeseen expenses always creep up, and you don’t want to find yourself in a position where you can’t cover an unexpected bill or emergency expense. Also, starting a business is going to take longer than you think, so padding this number is pretty important.

Next, spend some time familiarizing yourself with your funding options. Depending on the type of business you’re starting, the types of funding available to you will vary greatly.

Do I have the motivation to make things happen quickly?

Quitting your job to start a business certainly has the potential to light a fire underneath you.

The important thing to note here is whether or not you are the type of person who is motivated by that spark, or if the prospect of make-or-break will be completely overwhelming to you.

Ask yourself questions like:

Do I thrive under pressure?
Am I good at self-imposed deadlines and schedules?
Do I have the kind of personality who likes to “hustle”?
Am I willing to do whatever it takes to make this happen?

Do I have people relying on my ability to bring in a certain income?

Maybe you’re a single person with plenty of savings, and you’re really only beholden to yourself.

If so—what are you waiting for? It’s all on you, and now might be the perfect time to quit your day job and pursue your dreams.

But wait, back up—that isn’t you? That’s understandable; realistically, it’s a fairly uncommon position to be in. Most of us have significant others, children, or family members who are impacted by our financial decisions.

Don’t despair; that doesn’t mean that you can’t still pursue this path. It just means you need to proceed with more caution, as you have more stakeholders invested in your decision.

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

What is my financial obligation to those in my life?
What will the impact be if my new business does not make what I expect it to make in the timeline I’ve drawn up?
Do we have a safety net (family who can provide assistance, investments, and so on)?
Can I go back to my old job (or career) if need be? Do I have a fallback plan, especially if people are relying on me?

Do I need to get out of my current job or career ASAP? What is the happiness cost-benefit?

Do you hate your job? If your current job is the proverbial soul-sucking, downright dreadful experience that many would-be entrepreneurs wish to break away from, you may determine that it’s worthwhile to just quit, light that fire, and make something better happen.

However, maybe your current job is really okay, all things considered. Actually, you don’t hate it at all; you just have a really great idea and know you’d like to start your own business. If that’s the case, the cost-benefit ratio might be lower. Sure, you might be happier, but the urgency of needing to start your business quickly (as opposed to starting it on the side) might be less so than that of someone who really feels deeply unhappy and unfulfilled in their current career.

To get a sense of the happiness cost-benefit, ask yourself these questions:

What is it about my current job that I dislike?
Will starting my own business make me appreciably happier? How?
Am I sure that starting my own business will eliminate the negative aspects of my current job or career?
Will my increased happiness level as a result of doing what I love be enough to outweigh how hard I will have to work?

Or, maybe you’d rather…

…save up, have a side hustle, and quit when the timing is perfect:

Well, no one can knock you for being reckless.

Choosing to keep your day job and start your business on the side is a solidly sensible approach. You’ll be able to build up your savings, you won’t be without income, and you’ll be able to chip away at the process of starting your business in stages. It’s less risky, and makes for a much smoother transition when the time is right.

That being said, the slow and steady approach (while sometimes realistically the best option) isn’t without flaws.

Here are some questions to ask yourself before choosing this path:

Can I function well under an extremely heavy workload?

The major downside of having your new business function first as a “side hustle” is that you’ll have limited time and energy to devote to it.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you work a traditional nine to five. Working on your side business will, at best, take place during the evenings and weekends—and realistically will likely stretch into the wee hours of the night.

Do you have the temperament to withstand these long hours? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Is my job relaxed enough to allow for this, or will I be completely stressed and overworked?
Will I be able to get enough work done outside of the time I spend at my day job?
Do I have many obligations outside of work (children and family in general, volunteer work, hobbies you won’t want to neglect, and so on)?
If so, can any of those responsibilities be put on hold?

Do I have the social and emotional availability to allow me to do this?

To expand upon the last few bullet points of the previous section, take some time to think about what your current obligations are, and how working both a day job and starting a new business will impact them.

The impact here will be different than that of simply quitting your day job, but it’s still worth considering.

Let’s say, for example, that you and your significant other both work full-time and have two young children. Both of those children need to be dropped off and picked up from school, taken to various activities in the evening, helped with their homework, and so on. If your evenings and weekends are now taken up with starting your business on the side, can your significant other, family, or friends help you pick up the slack? Is this a sacrifice you’re even interested in making?

Get a sense of your state by asking questions like:

To whom is my free time currently devoted?
Will it be alright if I temporarily devote less time to these people?
Do I have nearby family and friends who can help lend their time to me and my family?
Will this strain any relationships irreparably?
Have I discussed this choice with all impacted parties?

Is my new venture time-sensitive?

There is no doubt about it: Keeping your day job and starting a new business at the same time will prolong the amount of time it takes to get your new business off the ground.

It’s not hard to imagine why: You simply won’t have as much time to devote to it.

For some businesses, this won’t be a problem. Maybe your business isn’t an emerging industry or doesn’t experience seasonality. Or, maybe you’re at a settled enough position in your life that you can make this transition any time, and it’s more about finding the right moment.

If you’re worried about the time sensitivity of your new business, ask yourself these questions?

Am I entering a market where being first is important? Why or why not?
Do I need to start my new business quickly? Why—is it because of the industry, my financial position, or some other reason?
Are there trends that I am hoping to capitalize on?
Would I still want to open this business if it took me one, two, three, or more years to make the transition? Is there a window of time to start this business that may close?

Will I ever be able to execute?

Be brutally honest with yourself here:

Will the stability of your day job inhibit you from ever really taking the plunge and starting your own business?

Ultimately, it’s a study in personality types. Some folks thrive off of pressure; others drown in it. Some work well with a steady march toward a goal; others fail to get things done without the right amount of urgency.

Where do you fall on this spectrum? Here are some questions you can ask yourself:

Do I need the feeling of “crunch time” to motivate me to get things done, or am I good at setting my own deadlines and avoiding procrastination?
Do I operate well with long term goals?
Does “slow and steady wins the race” sound like a mindset I can adopt for this process?
Am I guilty of abandoning projects that take too long, or where there are no serious stakes?

Still unsure? Luckily, there’s no right or wrong answer

How you choose to proceed depends on so many unique factors. Your position in life, the state of your finances, your industry, your personality type, your relationships and family needs, and so many other facets of your life will all come into play when it comes to making this decision.

The good news is, there isn’t a right or wrong—only a right or wrong for you.

It’s also possible to combine the two; maybe this looks like keeping your day job for a short period of time while you build up a financial cushion, write your business plan, do your initial market research, and generate some initial buzz on social media sites. You can still save the heavy lifting for once you’ve quit your day job, but maybe it doesn’t need to be such an abrupt transition.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to email us at in**@*********************lt.com, we will walk you through the entire process of becoming your own boss from ideation to opening day.

Which strategy do you think is best, and why? We’d love to hear from you.

If you’re thinking about starting up a small business or you’ve just recently launched, fantastic customer service is undoubtedly on your radar.

You want your customers to come away from an experience with your company having seen you in the best possible light. In an optimal situation, the majority of them would not only become repeat customers but would also enthusiastically recommend your product or service to others.

This, however, is easier said than done. Handling customer complaints can be difficult, especially right when you start a new business. However hard it may be to take criticism, it’s extremely important to the growth of your small business. Even if a customer doesn’t necessarily give you easy-to-swallow feedback, learning to see past harsh words and hear valid complaints and suggestions for improvement is vital.

Don’t fret! Here’s what you need to know to handle customer complaints with ease.

How to look past negativity

Starting a new business can be scary. Investing your time, effort, and finances into a venture that might not be a sure thing can be intimidating.

However, customer complaints shouldn’t add any stress. Fear of failure is high on the list of reasons why people sometimes choose not to pursue great ideas. For some, criticism or complaints can be viewed as a failure—but they aren’t. They’re actually just the opposite; they are an opportunity to improve.

Maybe you’ve heard horror stories from other business owners about “their worst customer ever,” but you should know that these types of scenarios are rare, though memorable.

No matter what happens, remember, even when delivered unskillfully, your complaining customers are providing a treasure trove of information on how you improve your business and your customer service approach. If you view complaints this way, you’ll be able to better prepare yourself and your team for any challenging conversations.

Sit down with your team and make a list of realistic questions or complaints that you might receive or that you have already fielded. Brainstorm ways to respectfully resolve the most challenging scenarios. This way, you’ll all be ready when a really difficult one comes your way.

Working in customer service for over ten years, I can’t tell you how many awkward interactions I’ve had. I’ve had customers yell, use bad language, and attack me personally. Although, if I think back to exact instances where this type of thing occurred, I can really only think of a handful of times where I left the interaction truly upset. For the most part, I felt that I had the tools and experience necessary to handle difficult calls. Though, for some escalated instances, I felt completely lost. Looking back, the times when I wasn’t sure what to do generally came up when I hadn’t been properly trained. As the leader of a growing business, talking through the top one percent of toughest calls, even though they are few and far between, will make all the difference in your staff’s confidence.

For example, I was once on a call with a woman who was using just about every tool that she had to break me down and get what she wanted. I remember physically shaking because I had no idea how to calm her down; I simply hadn’t been taught how to handle this type of call.

At the time, I was working as a manager for a direct selling company. The customer felt that she had been cheated because she received alternate products to what was pictured in our starter kit—but the kit stated that products may vary. As I saw it, there was nothing I could do. Our product listing made it clear that it was possible that she would receive equal (but different) products in her kit and those of us in customer service had been told by our supervisors that we weren’t to bend on this subject. No matter how effectively I felt like I communicated this information to her, she couldn’t have cared less. I had to step away from the call for a couple of minutes to calm down. After about an hour of back and forth with this woman, I went to my supervisor and was told to give her what she wanted.

I was shocked and upset and felt like a fool when I got back on the phone with my customer. We had been told that we should be able to handle these types of calls and I wasn’t able to. I hadn’t been trained on what to do if a customer wouldn’t take no for an answer, but another part of the problem was my own stubbornness. I should have gone to my leadership team and brought the problem to their attention well before I (and the customer) became so distressed.

The reason I mention this is to point out the fact that it is imperative to have a plan in place when the one percent of truly aggravated and unimaginably persistent customers come your way. If the plan at the highest level is to give the customer what they want, think about implementing this at the foundation level of customer service—during training.

Empowering your employees is the absolute best thing you can do to stop negativity in its tracks. No matter how the call starts, if your employees have the power to solve the issue themselves, they will walk away feeling positive, empowered, successful, and ready to take on the next problem immediately, and you as the supervisor and owner of your business will also leave feeling like you’ve trained trustworthy and capable individuals to do the important work of caring for customers, even the difficult ones.

Finding the right balance

Sometimes, you’ll want to focus on the positive comments you receive, which likely far outweigh the negative. What I mean is that positive comments can have a greater impact on your team, so don’t gloss over them.

Often, satisfied customers are quiet about their feelings. You might not receive a flood of positive comments, so amplify and celebrate them. It’s easy for a company to get lost in trying to eliminate every single negative comment, but it’s just not realistic. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you won’t try your best to help each customer have the best experience possible, it just means that you understand that not 100 percent of customers will walk away delighted. Most will, but any successful company will tell you that sadly, you just can’t please them all.

An easy mistake to make is constantly showing your customer complaints team every single negative comment. Maybe it seems like a good approach, a way to help them see faults and get better (and sometimes that’s true). However, consistently focusing on negative comments can break down your team’s morale over time, especially if they’re presented simply as evidence of failure.

There’s nothing wrong with discussing negative feedback as a learning opportunity, but your team needs to feel like they have the tools to be successful in their positions, so make sure that you’re helping them use negative feedback to grow. This sense of empowerment is crucial when dealing with a difficult customer.

The last thing you want is for your team to essentially transfer negativity from past complaints on to future interactions with customers—you’ll begin to see morale issues that can escalate into even more complaints. If you’d like issues to be resolved on their first interaction, train your employees and empower them so that they have the tools and confidence to do their job well.

Take this opportunity to put an improvement plan into place. Don’t ignore the complaints; embrace them and study them. When you start to see a trend, make sure to track it. A pattern of similar complaints should tell you that there is an issue that you and your team need to look into. Be sure you also track positives and the improvement that your team makes over time. Share that information with the rest of your organization to help open a company-wide dialogue that can generate insight and new ideas that you would have otherwise missed.

The key to handling customer complaints is empowerment. If you create a plan for your company that works for your employees—not against them—you’re bound to be successful. Focusing on and rewarding positive achievements will only add to your employees’ ability to skillfully handle negative interactions.

Month: January 2018

Should I Quit My Job to Start My Own Business? 9 Questions You Need to Ask