In my "What motivated you to take the plunge and devote yourself to your own business full-time?" poll, the answer "losing my full-time/part-time job" is the most popular answer. (Vote in the poll if you'd like - it's still open.)
Having "been there and done that" as they say, I appreciate what a difficult transition that can be. Working for someone else is just completely different than working for yourself.
One of the problems I noticed immediately is that I suddenly had to be paying attention to all sorts of things that other people used to look after for me - from getting the money I was owed through coming up with my own retirement plan.Eventually I learned that if I was going to be successfully self-employed, I was going to have to think and act differently. I had to develop what I call an "entrepreneurial mindset". 6 Traits You Need to Move From Being an Employee to Being Self-Employed explains what I mean.
What do you think are the most important characteristics of an entrepreneur? Add your opinion here.
More on Being an Entrepreneur
- Are You Ready to Start a Business? Quiz
- Thinking of Starting a Small Business?
- The Two Main Problems of Starting a Business and How to Overcome Them
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