One of the scariest things about being in business is having to do things without knowing the outcome for sure. It might be that your side hustle has grown to the point where it really isn’t feasible to do it and your current job too. It might be that you need to set better boundaries with your customers and hope they stay with you even if you don’t answer their calls at 10 pm. It might be hiring employee(s) and hoping that you have enough business to keep making payroll a few months from now.
When you reach this point in your business, you know it is time to make a decision. In fact, the stress of not making a decision is often worse than how you feel after choosing one path or another. The key to making a decision is in evaluating the risk so you can move away from the worst-case scenario and embrace the path you end up choosing.
First, take a few minutes to completely explore what would happen if the worst possible result occurred. Ask yourself, what would you do if this happened?
For example, if you choose to leave your current job to pursue your growing side hustle, the worst-case scenario would probably be not making enough money to support yourself. There would be the embarrassment of dealing with all the people who told you to not leave your previous job. You might have some bills that go past due and there might be some business debt to pay off.
What would you do? You’d get another job. You’d tell people at least you tried. You’d pay off those bills (or really worst-case scenario, you’d go bankrupt). Only you can evaluate how hard it would be for you to get another job. That would depend on what you do and where you live – but I’ll bet you have a pretty good idea of how to go about it. In fact, you probably know at least five people that, if you called them, would have some pretty good ideas about where to start helping you to find a new job.
Even more empowering is to then consider what the best-case scenario would be. What if your business made you more money than you would have ever made at your job? What if you were able to save for retirement, go on vacation, and double up your house payments?
Then weigh your options. Most of the people sitting in my office start out envisioning the decision as though they are jumping off the back of a cruise ship into shark-infested waters. After the exercise, they realize that they are actually jumping into a swimming pool while wearing water wings. Once they know what they would do if the worst happened, and how exciting it would be if the best happened, they are able to confidently make an informed decision.
If you are struggling with a decision that feels overwhelming, you are welcome to schedule a strategy session with me at www.iWantMoreSuccess.com. I’ll help you weigh the options so you can decide what you want to do!
Charlise Latour a business coach and owner of Accelerate Your Success. She works with each client to determine what their goals are and create a plan so they can achieve them. She is actively involved in Dancing & Singing With The King which raises money to promote dance education including working with local schools to offer dance classes during the school day. This is a natural fit as she is an avid ballroom dancer.
