Katie Krueger dreamed for years of starting her own grant writing business. She loved the idea of being her own boss, choosing her own projects and scheduling her own time. "I wished I could be courageous enough to do it, but at the end of every school year I'd say to myself, 'Oh, I'll stay another year,'" she says.
She was working as a grant writer for a school district in Madison, Wis. Then in May 2008 she got laid off and realized it was now or never. "I thought, if I don't try starting my own business now, I'm never going to try it," she says. "They pushed me out of the nest."
If you've been laid off, or fear you might be, becoming your own boss may be the ideal way out. You don't have to go through a grueling interview process, and you never have worry about being fired. The question is, how do you know if it's right for you and if you can pull it off?
There are ways to find out, particularly if you work in the service industry and don't require the overhead of, say, a retail store. First, you can freelance on the side. You can do this even if you're still employed. It'll help you build up clientèle slowly and see if you like being your own manager.
Tell everyone you know, both professionally and personally, about your new endeavor. Former colleagues and other business associates may be able to throw some work your way. Krueger asked her circle of friends and acquaintances if they had any suggestions or if they knew anyone she should meet, and she connected with people who needed her services.
Educate yourself about your intended industry. Krueger got in touch with professional associations and people in her field to find out what major issues she should learn about. She also learned who her competition was.
The best part of working in a service industry is that there's not much start-up cost or overhead. You can almost always work from your home, as Krueger does. It helps to have several months' salary in the bank to cushion yourself in case business doesn't take off immediately. Krueger's cushion was the severance she received when she left her old job.
Pamela Slim, unlike Krueger, didn't always dream of going out on her own. In 1996 she was the director of training for Barclays Global Investing in San Francisco. When the company went through a merger, she decided it was time for a professional change. She quit, figuring she'd find a new job easily.
But none of the jobs Slim interviewed for appealed to her. She asked her former boss, now at another company, if she could do some freelance work for him. "As soon as I started doing it, a lightning bolt hit. I realized I was meant to work for myself," she says.
Slim's business as a career coach and writer took off, and she's even authored a book about self-employment, Escape from Cubicle Nation.
"I love not having to be in the office all the time and knowing that I'm directing my own life," she says.
Slim recommends finding a part-time job if you're nervous about relying solely on yourself for income. That way you can ease yourself into being your own boss. "For some people a switch will flip, and they'll love it," she says. "Others will realise they like the structure of working for someone."
She also suggests seeking out entrepreneurial mentors, people who have started their own businesses and succeeded. You can begin simply by joining networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook and looking for small-business owners. "There's something about knowing that you're not the only one, knowing you're not crazy and you're not alone," she says.
Katie Krueger has been on her own for only about eight months, but she's more than making ends meet. Most important, she's happy. "I wake up every morning feeling I can create the day I want," she says. "And that is the best feeling in the world."
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