Are your excuses holding you back?

Have you always wanted to start your own business but the timings not right? Do you fear losing job security? Are you scared you won’t succeed?

If you answered yes to any of those questions then I’m sure you have a list of excuses a mile long as to why you can’t start your own business yet.

I have always wanted to run my own business but had plenty of excuses, needed to save more money, just started a new project at work, can’t leave work at the moment as it’s too busy and everyone will be affected, the list goes on and on.

Late last year I went on maternity leave to have my first child and what a shock to the system it was, there were sleepless nights, another person to keep alive and most importantly only one income. There goes excuse number one, I was no longer earning a good wage.

In my job I was always working late, traveling – sometimes at short notice and missing important family occasions but I could justify it to myself as it was my job and everyone was depending on me. These things now seem so unimportant and I regret some of the occasions I missed and can’t get back. And there goes another excuse, my job is no longer as attractive or achievable.

So I, like many other mums out there realised that the timing will never be 100% right but if there is ever a great time to start your own business it is when you are a mum and want the flexibility of working your own hours while earning some money and using your skills for things other than changing nappies and feeding children.

I didn’t want to explain to my son that I missed his first birthday as I was working late interstate or that we couldn’t go to the park on the weekend because I had to work. It was because of this that Max and Me Marketing was born, suddenly there were more excuses as to why I couldn’t return to work.

If you have always dreamt of running your own business I suggest you approach your decision in an analytical way rather than an emotional way so your excuses don’t hold you back on achieving something great.

Here are a list of questions you can ask yourself to help you make your decision:

1. What am I great at? Write down all your skills – now isn’t the time to be modest

2. What types of businesses require these skills?

3. Is there a need for this type of business?

4. Will people pay for your product/service?

5. How much do you (or did you) earn per week and for how many hours work? This question includes all the unpaid overtime. Ie: you may get paid for 40 hours but really work closer to 50.

6. Divide your nett pay by the total number of hours – this is you current hourly rate.

7. What will you charge for your new product/service?

8. Add up the number of hours you will need to produce your product and what you will charge for it (or use the hourly rate you will charge for your service).

9. Divide the hours by the total cost and this is your new hourly rate.

10. Work out how many hours you want to work each week and multiply it by your new hourly rate. Then multiply these hours by your old hourly rate and see how they compare.

There is step one of your decision making done.

At least now you can see the monetary and time impact of starting your own business.

What are some of your other excuses? Send them through either by commenting below or on our facebook page and we can discuss the questions you need to ask yourself to get past that next hurdle.