5 Ways to Know if It's Time to Consider Leaving Your Day Job to Start Your Own Business

You’ve heard it before. Someone seriously complaining how much they hate their job. Yet, week after week, they return. Still complaining.

Some think they’re stuck in a go nowhere job because they believe they have no experience; and can’t do better. Others have grown complacent and will struggle, daily, until they’re fired, laid off or retire. And others simply don’t know they actually have dozens of options, so don’t even think about leaving.

If you’re experiencing any - or all - of the scenarios below - without doubt it’s time to reconsider your current situation:

1. You absolutely hate getting out of bed Monday mornings. Or any workday.

When you can’t, or have no desire, to get up and ready for work, that’s a good sign your current job isn’t for you. Career consultant, Andrea Kay, says “Do you wake up and dread leaving the house?”

If you’re already feeling this way, perhaps it’s time to start thinking about how and when to move on. And if you’re thinking this may be the perfect time to start a business of your own, there are dozens of simple business set ups, which won’t cost an arm and a leg. Which will give you a new start.

2. The company structure, environment or culture has become oppressive.

Today, many companies have unique structures, or cultures, which require full employee involvement. Anything from corporate developed plans to Six Sigma. In time, these structures, or cultures, can stifle employees creativity and desire to participate. Even independent thinking.

While every company has a right to develop structures, and cultures, which best fit their business, it’s up to you - when it starts closing in - to decide whether to stay or throw in the towel. Also, Kay says, to decide whether you're no longer comfortable participating. If so, it may be time to think about something which allows you more independence. And provides you a more fulfilling and challenging life.

3. The relationship you have with your boss is questionable, if not difficult.

Most people claim a poor relationship with a boss, or close employee worked with, as the reason for leaving a day job. While no job, or relationship is perfect, working in a stressed-out mode, daily, not only wears you down mentally. Doctors believe it can play a part in creating physical problems and some illnesses.

Whether you start your own new business from home, or create another unique scenario, your decisions and your ideas will help it grow into a successful business you can be proud of.

4. Work responsibilities are a chore, no longer enjoyable.

There’s no getting around it. Every job has good days and bad. But you’ll know it’s time to think about reconsidering it, when “overwhelm is the rule rather than the exception - stress is a way of life". And you consider people who actually enjoy their job or business as certifiable.

If your job no longer fits your strengths or it’s evolving into something you don’t enjoy, and can’t be revitalized, it’s time to re-think what you can and should be doing, instead. And whether it’s the right time to move on to setting up your own business. One where your strengths will be the very foundation upon which your biz is based.

5. You realize there are no longer any opportunities for advancement.

You’re at a meeting, having lunch with co-workers, at a company function, or run into an old co-worker. And it hits you: everyone around you has moved up and on. Except you. Whether it’s the type of job, it’s responsibilities don’t pave the way for a better future, or other reasons. It can come as a shock. And have you questioning other things in your life, too.

Now’s the time to ask, “What do I really want to do with my life?”

In the end, any entrepreneur will tell you, staying in a dead-end job isn’t worth it. And while starting a business isn’t for everyone, it may be right for you. In fact, you could end up looking back saying “It was one of the best decisions I've ever made". n