Maroof HS CPA Professional Corporation, Toronto

Become your own boss! The Guide to Get Started With Your Business

Live life on your own terms!

In the age of start-ups and the rise of entrepreneurship, do not be a job seeker, but eke out a job maker!

Do not let your employer bulldoze you with work pressure. Be your own boss, be the rule maker!

Having your own business provides you with ample scope and freedom, but what comes along is responsibility. Plan, discipline, confidence and an orderly approach are all you need to become your own boss.

How ready are you?

Analyze your strengths and weaknesses before quitting your full-time employment. Assess your skills and abilities. Are you a team player? Does the presence of co-workers bring out the best in you? Can you inculcate enough self-discipline to become your own boss? When you can answer these questions with conviction, you can analyze whether or not you are fit for a business.

Evaluate your financial assets before starting your own business!

Do you have enough to sustain yourself and meet the initial capital requirements of your business? And also consider how much financial insecurity you are ready to handle. Of course, your startup will not be producing profit overnight. You are prepared to convert yourself from an employee to an employer only when you are not irked by the financial instability that you may have to encounter during the initial years of your business.

Are you willing to take risks? Entrepreneurship is a tough journey, be prepared!

Do you have an Escape Plan?

When the rule bounded hours of your job injects in you the syndrome of drapetomania, relax and take your time before you actually venture on your escapade. Prepare an escape plan. Inform your boss prior to leaving the job and build strong relations with your co-workers and boss. Take support from your friends and family. Before quitting the job, notify your boss in advance. Your previous co-workers might turn out to be your first clients. They might pour healthy advice in your cup.

In your journey of entrepreneurship and climbing the ladder of success, you are going to need each and every connection you have built throughout your career. Your ex-employers, ex-colleagues or even ex-clients may play important role in your success.

Market Yourself!

Even if you are leaving the job to be self-employed, keep your resume updated. A scintillating CV will attract potential investors and clients. Let your resume speak of your past achievements, accolades and experience that will eventually assist you in setting up your business.

A Solid Financial Plan

It is very crucial for you to have a clear understanding of your expenditures, funds required and savings for the profitability and sustainability of your business. Keep your budget ready before making any serious plan of quitting your job. Ensure that your budget also covers your livelihood, insurance and all the benefits that your current employer proffers you. Prepare a solid business plan based on realistic financial projections and estimates.

Take care of the costs

While being your own boss provides you freedom, it endows with plenty of responsibilities. Work out whether your business income would be enough to satiate your livelihood and whether it is at least of the same level as your current salary. Also, keep an estimate of the raw materials and resources you need, the taxes you need to pay and other financial commitments. This helps you create an idea of how much you would have to sell to keep your head above the waters. A successful business plan is needed.

Create a stable financial base before leaving your job. You should have enough to meet your initial expenditure for your startup. You make this base either by saving or by increasing your income. Cut down on the luxuries that are not needed and sacrifice them for some time till the profit from your startup is able to meet your requirements.

Rely on Various Sources of Income

Do not keep yourself limited to just one source of income. Explore diverse fields of generating income by relying on part-time jobs, freelancing, blogging and the likes. You may monetize the training offered on your website or generate income from your blogs or even set up some other side sources of income to buffer you during the initial period of financial insecurity.

It is advisable for you to start your business as an alternative source of income while still remaining in the job. Treat it as a time for marketing, increasing the outreach of your company and beginning to earn small scale profits. Once the business gains momentum and has etched a mark in the market, you may quit your traditional job.

Partnership and Talents

You may choose to enter into partnerships with other businessmen for running your company or recruit employees for dividing the workload. Keep your business plan ready as it would help attract customers, along with partners and other employees.

Legalities and Taxes

Contact a lawyer and take care of all the potential legal issues. Decide whether you want to set up as a Corporation or an unincorporated business. Get your company’s name registered. Search for the domain name and check whether it is available or not. You may also register the name as a trademark to protect your company or brand name from potential competitors. Sort out the tax details with a qualified tax accountant or consultant. Ask your banking professional about the type of account you should opt for. Take care of other legalities when you step into joint ventures and partnerships too. Check out the impact of taxes on your decisions.

Business Place

You don’t necessarily need an office room. Even if you are working from home, keep a room aside for the documents and papers. Record keeping and maintenance of books are required by different corporate and tax laws in Canada. Stay organized, for that is what self-employment and self-discipline essentially teaches you to be.

Work Schedule

Commit yourself to your self employed work as much as you were involved in your office work. Work for a stipulated amount of time that would bring out the best in you and allow you to maintain a track of the progress.

Outreach

Strategies on ways to increase your outreach. Research the market opportunities, identify your target customers and potential client base. Flaunt your uniqueness to attract customers. Invest in digital marketing to get the largest marketing results.

Also, set up your website and launch your products and services. Make your presence felt on the web so that you can contact customers and increase your outreach and public relations.

If you are ready with all the technicalities, risk-taking capabilities and a certain amount of financial security, take the leap. But even if you are tempted to walk out of the plush cage of your corporate office, inform at least two weeks beforehand. Take care of the legalities, plan, marketing, financial buffer and then you are ready to wield power on yourself, live your life on your whims.

Entrepreneurship is a tough and sometimes lonely journey. Staying positive and motivated is a key to success, do not give up!

At Maroof HS CPA Professional Corporation, we provide Startup and entrepreneur support, business plan writing services, investor presentations, financial projections and feasibility studies, income tax services and other services related to accounting. We also run a small mentor ship program for startups and entrepreneurs, feel free to reach us any time. We are just a call or an email away. 

Maroof Hussain Sabri

Maroof Hussain Sabri

Maroof is a CPA, CA in the province of Ontario and Alberta in Canada. He is also a licensed CPA from New York & North Dakota in the United States. He lives in Toronto.

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Maroof Hussain Sabri

Maroof Hussain Sabri

Maroof is a CPA, CA in the province of Ontario and Alberta in Canada. He is also a licensed CPA from New York & North Dakota in the United States. He lives in Toronto.

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