Starting Your Small Business - Full Time Job Vs. Part Time Business

"Wages earn you a living - profits make you a fortune."
This post is part of an power packed information series Starting Your Small Business.


If you are interested in running your own business, but are not yet ready to make a full-time commitment, starting a part-time business is a better approach than starting a business as a hobby. The difference between a part-time business and a full-time business is the extent of the commitment. Starting a part-time business is different from running a hobby business because you commit to a part-time business whatever resources—time, energy, money, etc.—that you have available and that are necessary to get the business up and running.

Even though you are running a business on a part time basis, make sure that the rates you charge for your goods and services are comparable to those of your competitors. There are several reasons for this.
The quality of these goods and services are at least as good as or even better than your competitors’. If they weren’t, you wouldn’t even consider offering them for sale, would you? Since they are comparable, why should they be offered at a lower cost? To offer them at a lower cost might suggest that you and your business are not quite as good as the competition.

Running a part-time business is a no-lose scenario. If you start the business on a part-time basis and it becomes successful enough that you are prepared to operate it full time...congratulations! You are off and
rolling. If, however, you gave it your best shot and found out it’s not what you want to do, no problem—
you still have your regular job to fall back on.

A very good tip on part-time business:

"In a part-time business, compete on the basis of value instead of cost."


Anyone can attract business by offering lower prices. Charging competitive prices can show how
successful you might be in running your own business. If you offer deeply discounted rates, you don’t
know if clients will continue to deal with you when you start charging the rates you need to survive over
the long term. On the other hand, if you charge market rates and customers continue to come back
to you, you can expect to succeed over the long term.


Read more of the series Starting Your Small Business.

Starting Your Small Business - Goals of Small Businesses

"Wages earn you a living - profits make you a fortune."
This post is part of an power packed information series Starting Your Small Business.


Businesses, large or small, exist to generate a profit for their owners. Business owners—whether shareholders in the case of large incorporated ventures or owner-operators in the case of small businesses—use these profits as a means of supporting themselves and others for whom they are responsible. Thus, the primary raison d’être for all businesses is to earn a livelihood for their respective owners.

If you already do, or think you would like to, run your own small business, you may have various reasons for choosing self-employment as a strategy for earning a living. Maybe you lost your job as a result of downsizing, reorganization, or merger, and chose running your own business as the best choice for generating an income. Perhaps you find it too confining being an employee in an organization whose way of doing things is inconsistent and even irreconcilable with yours. More independence? Higher earning capability? Whatever. Regardless of an individual’s stated reason for choosing to run a small business, the bottom line is always the same: Small businesses exist primarily to allow their owners to earn a living.

Small businesses can be—and usually are—vehicles by which their owners can experience satisfaction, recognition, and joy, things that we all need if we are to live healthy lives. In practice, this means that as well as existing to allow their owners to earn a living, small businesses also help their owners achieve personal, non financial goals. Essentially these goals represent results or desired outcomes that the individual owners would like to achieve. Examples of goals that can be achieved through running one’s own business include the following:

➤ Earning specific awards or peer recognition;
➤ Showcasing your abilities;
➤ Doing what you love doing;
➤ Making a difference in the community;
➤ Maintaining an enriching relationship with spouse and family;
➤ Meeting new people;
➤ Improving the quality of service to clients;
➤ Developing new ways of doing things.

If you currently run your own business, think about why you started it. If you are thinking about starting your own business, what goals do you hope to achieve?

And do you know why business goals very important in starting your small business? Having clear cut business goals will determine the direction of your business - from strategies to marketing plan - all will rely on your business goals.

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