A lot of people want to become entrepreneurs but aren’t sure how to go about it- especially when their idea is doing something completely different than what they’ve done in the past.
I’ve seen this as someone who counsels small businesspeople, as a former SCORE mentor of wannabe entrepreneurs, and as a mentor at Workbox.
Many of the people I counsel are just starting out. Some have lost their jobs, some have jobs but are unhappy. A very large number of them want to start a business doing something completely different than what they have been doing.
Some are civil engineers who want to run a restaurant. Some are graphic designers who really want to build a handmade soap business. Some are financial planners who want to start a daycare.
When you’re unhappy where you are professionally, it’s really tempting to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to start over, doing something completely new & different?
Well, yes! But, creating a new business is a really difficult thing to do. Doing a 180-pivot to do something radically different is very, very difficult to do, especially on your own.
You probably don’t know much about the industry you’re hoping to move to. There is often a steep learning curve to learn the new industry and understand competitors, pricing, and what customers want.
It is quite difficult to start and build a successful business when you already know a LOT about that industry. You have little or no credibility in this new field, your contacts and network are not built here. And your insights into the customer mindset are probably more limited, too.
I attempted this a few years ago — twice, in fact, and failed miserably both times. And in both cases, my attempts were really just pivots, not 180-degree turns.
The first was my brainchild to counsel businesses on exit or succession planning. I was a practicing corporate lawyer with a solo practice, and wanted to expand my offerings — especially into consulting and away from the pure practice of law. I thought this was a promising option.
I went through an extensive training course and got certified. Unfortunately, like many of these courses, they were very focused on cramming in all the subject matter you need (and to be fair, there IS a LOT to consider in business exit planning). However, they spent almost no time teaching students how to create a business out of this new expertise.
And so, not surprisingly, I floundered. My client base consisted of small entrepreneurs and startup businesses. They weren’t interested in talking about exit planning — that was way too far down the road for them! I also had a couple of larger corporate clients, but any succession or exit plans were not discussed at the level of my client contacts.
I tried speaking at Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce, and they were receptive to conversations. But I was not a trusted advisor to these businesses, and so those business owners were not really ready to have the kind of probing conversations that real exit planning requires.
The people who were somewhat successful at adding this to their practice were the financial planners and accountants who already had built relationships with many of these types of more mature small businesses.
But in talking to them, it turned out they really struggled as well. The real problem with this type of offering was that it took a LOT of conversations and a LOT of time to convince even those clients to consider grappling with these issues. Not surprisingly, most small business owners are so busy working in the business, which is their baby, that thinking of leaving it and moving on was not really something they wanted to consider.
A second flop was an attempt to sell record management software to healthcare companies. I was approached by a company who knew I had worked in several healthcare companies, and thought I might be a good fit.
I wasn’t. Yes, I knew my way around pharma and medical device and biotech companies. But my connections were in the regulatory and sales and legal functions.
And it turned out that all of the decisions to evaluate this kind of product were initiated and driven by the IT departments. Where I had almost no connections. And really no credibility with them. I didn’t have a background in software or IT.
I gave up after several months of unproductive attempts at meetings.
Moral of my sad stories? Even pivoting too far from your wheelhouse can be very difficult.
My stories of course don’t necessarily mean you’ll fail. By all means, you should explore your dream.
But I would recommend considering perhaps finding a job working for a while in the market you want to pivot to, if that is remotely possible. If you want to open a restaurant, work in one or two for a few months. If you want to start a daycare, work in one. If you can’t afford to do that full-time, then do it part-time or in the evenings.
If that’s not physically or financially an option for you, maybe consider buying a franchise in the field you want to move into. At least with a franchise, you will be buying into a proven system of building a business. And some of them actually prefer a franchisor who doesn’t come from that industry, who may have pre-conceived ideas about the best way to do things.
True, franchises are not for everyone – they require a healthy down payment, and because they have a proven system, they often don’t have a lot of room for creating your dream menu or your unique t shirt designs.
If you can’t afford the down payment now, maybe develop a 3-5 year plan where your goal is to start putting away enough to be able to pay that.
But if neither of those options sound reasonable to you – either because of other life commitments or because it doesn’t fit with your dream, then my personal advice is to go back to the drawing board.
That doesn’t mean starting and building a business isn’t for you. But you may want to try doing something a little closer to your area of experience and knowledge.
Consider whetting your entrepreneurial chops by first pivoting in a smaller way. If you’re an accountant in a larger firm, try being a freelance bookkeeper, or open your own little accounting firm. If you cut hair for a chain, consider opening your own shop.
Here, you likely already have the necessary credentials. You know how this slice of the business world works. You’ve seen from your past employers and competitors what works and what doesn’t. You may even be able to convince some of your existing clients to follow you.
But whatever you do, think it through carefully! You’ll likely save yourself a lot of headaches and money!