Crossing the chasm - from part time income to full on business

[hydrogin]

I am getting to the point where my commitment to my online endeavors is catching up to the 24/hrs in a day limit. In addition to a full time job as a webdeveloper, 1 more year as a business student, managing a network of sites is becoming more and more stressful (time constraints, and constant urge to try new ideas, to improve, etc.)

But, even with the 16-18 hr days, 7 days a week, I truly enjoy this. My problem is the mental block on how to really expand this business so I am not micro-managing. I have begun for a few months now compiling valuable business contacts for outsourcing, etc. so I have a solid network to deal with. My next move is to find a business manager and a 'secretary' type individual to carry out the orders and put the ideas in motion. This is just the start...

My question(s) to you are...

How did you deal with this issue?

How do you deal with the million ideas/approaches/todo's in setting up a real business?

How do you manage your contacts, website todo, project development,etc.

How would you choose the right individual to be a part of your "empire"




.. feel free to add additional questions/answers/thoughts ..



Looking forward to some good stories :rasta:

 

[aeiouy]

To be honest, it becomes so much easier when you are making real money. You can afford to outsource a lot of work you might be doing yourself which gives you more time. Until then, you just need to get as much done as you can.

I don't recommend people make the jump until they are solidly making money, hopefully more from their business ventures then they are making from their job.

If you have extra income from your current job, I would advise investing that into your business to try and grow it faster. Use it to pay for those things that you are not that good at it. When I did it, I was living on savings and had no money to really spare.. so for a long time I did absolutely everything myself. But that takes an enormous amount of time and energy. Now I focus on the things I am good at, and pay people to do everything else, and it is a much better use of my time and money.

If I had been working full-time, I would have invested as much money back into my business as I could have afforded, as it would have helped me get to where I am now much more quickly.

The danger is you don't get there though, so until you do, it is wise to hang on to your job. I didn't have a choice, if I did, I would not have stopped working, until I was comfortably beyond what I was making.

 

[hydrogin]

aeiouy, I am not planning to leave my job anytime soon, I am just looking for some insight on how to expand my business

 

[reaper]

Completely agree with aeiouy.

I would trim outgoing expenses as much as possible, grab any overtime you can and funnel the saved/extra cash into outsourcing if you don't have the time to do the work yourself.

Also, what I found hardest to do is focus on one project at one time. I tried to do multiple projects all at once - and I either didn't finish them - or they came out crap!

Buy a notebook and write each and every idea you have down in it, then just pick one project and do it until it's finished, then consult the journal and pick another.

It seems like such an easy solution - too easy maybe - but it's harder than it looks. But if you can do this, you're 90% of the way there.

To be honest, it becomes so much easier when you are making real money. You can afford to outsource a lot of work you might be doing yourself which gives you more time. Until then, you just need to get as much done as you can.

I don't recommend people make the jump until they are solidly making money, hopefully more from their business ventures then they are making from their job.

If you have extra income from your current job, I would advise investing that into your business to try and grow it faster. Use it to pay for those things that you are not that good at it. When I did it, I was living on savings and had no money to really spare.. so for a long time I did absolutely everything myself. But that takes an enormous amount of time and energy. Now I focus on the things I am good at, and pay people to do everything else, and it is a much better use of my time and money.

If I had been working full-time, I would have invested as much money back into my business as I could have afforded, as it would have helped me get to where I am now much more quickly.

The danger is you don't get there though, so until you do, it is wise to hang on to your job. I didn't have a choice, if I did, I would not have stopped working, until I was comfortably beyond what I was making.

 

[hydrogin]

Re: Focus on one project a time
Although I agree its good to focus on one project at a time, in reality, I actually have a few going at the same time just because of the time lag for some aspects of the project such as getting the article writers to finish writing their articles,etc. So in the meanwhile, I will be working on another project, while one is being populated with content.