Should You Start Your Business Part-time?

Are you considering starting a small business? Have you thought about starting part-time, getting your feet wet before you actually jump into the pool?  When I started my home business several years ago, I was still working full-time and I was reluctant to give up the income of my full-time job.  It has only been 7 months since I left that job to work full-time on my business.  Here is what I found to be the benefits and drawbacks of starting part-time.

Benefits of Starting Part-time:

• The most obvious benefit is your ability to keep your present job – and income – while building your part-time business.
• The other huge benefit is that you can develop the business slowly and not be rushed into doing things because you need immediate income.
• Also, you don’t need a big support network for your home business in the beginning.

While I worked my day job, I was able to work as needed on my home business, and I could spend the time I needed to take it “live” and start selling.  This was a huge advantage to me.   As my home business grew, I was able to add a virtual assistant and webmaster and accountant.

Drawbacks of Starting Part-time:

• The biggest drawback to starting part-time is that it takes you much longer to get your business to the point where you can make a living at it.  Working evenings and weekends is not the best way to become successful.
• Another drawback is those evenings and weekends.  And, yes, holidays. Many a weekend I worked when I would rather have been relaxing with my husband or going out.  But it was a sacrifice I had to make to get to the point where I could quit my full-time job and work totally on my business.
• The financial drain of a small business on your checkbook is also tough.  Since I never got a loan, I was always having to put money into the business.  It took 5 years before I in a position to start taking money out to live on.

Whether you start part-time or not depends on your situation, your finances, the understanding of your family, and your willingness to work two (three?) jobs.  From my perspective, it worked.  What do you think?  Would this work for you?

Image: sxc.hu