YANEEK PAGE WARNS AGAINST PART-TIME ENTREPRENEURSHIP

In her latest business advice column in The Gleaner, Country Director for WEConnect International in the Caribbean Yaneek Page warns part-time entrepreneurs that they may be cheating themselves. Writes Yaneek:

“A few years ago, I convinced one of my business coaching clients to take three weeks’ vacation leave from his full-time job and execute his strategic growth plan during that period. The business experienced its most profitable quarter ever, and their client base doubled. There was no miracle or magic, just a formal sales strategy, tighter team management, constant and aggressive customer prospecting, closer customer relationships, strategic networking and stronger financial controls. Three years later, his only regret is that he didn’t resign sooner.”

Yaneek elaborates with four specific reasons why part-time entrepreneurship can hold back a business:

1. Leadership is critical to the success of any business, especially start-ups, and is needed every day.
2. By relying on another salary, an entrepreneur is not fully focused on the success of the business and may incorrectly think that the business just needs more time to take off, when it needs a “compulsory driving force” to succeed.
3. Hiring a manager cannot replace leadership and puts the business at risk.
4. Running a business and working a full time job will “cheat your health, quality of life, family, and sanity.”

These reasons are not meant to encourage a person to quit their job right away. In the article, Yaneek also provides eight steps to prepare an entrepreneur from leaving a full-time job to launching a successful business.

Read more.