Money-Smart Solopreneur. Laura D. Adams

enjoy the additional free matching funds many employers offer. There won’t be an automatic payroll deduction that seamlessly moves money into your investments.

      Fortunately, there are great retirement accounts designed for the self-employed, such as a solo 401(k) and a SEP-IRA. They give you the same tax advantages you’d get from an employer’s plan. But you have to take the initiative to open an account, choose investments, and make regular contributions to fund your future retirement. In Chapter 18, we’ll cover the best ways to create a self-employed retirement plan.

      6. You Have Administrative Requirements

      Whether it’s dealing with a retirement account, business regulations, records retention, invoicing, or collections, being a solopreneur means having many administrative requirements. You must be organized enough to complete time-sensitive tasks or delegate them effectively.

      If you don’t maintain a sound record-keeping system for receipts, payments, and employee data, your tax returns probably won’t be correct. If you fail to maintain accurate records and you’re audited by federal or state authorities, you could end up owing significant back taxes and penalties. We’ll cover how to keep records like a pro in Chapter 15.

      7. You Must Make Complex Decisions

      Being self-employed is incredibly rewarding, but it can be much less glamorous than you think. You must make difficult and often complex decisions, such as whether to offer a new service, ask for a retainer payment, or join forces with a new partner, and you may not always have as much data as you’d like before you do. Dealing with uncertainty is part of being a business owner.

      You may be used to the complexity and decision-making risks of a day job, but when it’s your money and time on the line, it can be significantly more intense and stressful. If you procrastinate making important decisions, it can be detrimental to your business.

      If you’re not a good decision-maker, you can get better at it over time. You can also hire advisors or coaches to help you work through problems and knock down barriers to your business success.

      8. You Must Manage Your Time

      As an entrepreneur, you’ll have a lot of demands on your time—from clients and vendors to family and friends. Everyone has 24 hours in a day to divide among our professional and personal priorities. You’re the only one who can make the necessary adjustments to your schedule, such as eliminating activities that don’t align with your goals.

Evaluating a Solo Leap

      Working as a part-time or full-time solopreneur can be the key to increasing your income, leveraging your skills, and building a life around your priorities. As you consider the pros and cons of working for yourself, answer the following questions:

      $ Which upsides of becoming a solopreneur am I looking forward to the most?

      $ Which downsides of working for myself am I dreading or worried about the most?

      $ What resources or professionals could help me overcome or minimize any cons of becoming a solopreneur that I anticipate?

      $ Who do I know with a similar, successful business in my industry or field whom I could meet with to ask about their experiences?

      If you’re used to working as a W-2 employee, with schedules and priorities dictated by your boss and teammates, you won’t have that as a solopreneur. You’ll need to stay laser-focused on activities that create revenue, make customers happy, and build your business skills. While you can’t create more time, we’ll cover the secrets to increasing your productivity during the time you have in the next chapter.

       CHAPTER 3

       KEEPING OR LEAVING YOUR DAY JOB

      You’ve probably noticed that people are embracing entrepreneurship like never before. Due to the widespread availability of technological business tools, there’s never been a better time to become your own boss. With an internet connection and a smartphone or laptop, you can work from just about anywhere on the planet.

      While there’s nothing wrong with holding down a W-2 job and getting a steady paycheck, having income from your own business comes with many upsides, which we covered in the previous chapter. But if you’ve been dreaming of quitting your day job to start a business, you might be wondering if taking such a big leap is worth it.

      The good news is that there are incremental ways to become self-employed that are stable and reduce your risk, instead of plunging abruptly into a precarious financial position. In this chapter, you’ll learn practical strategies for building a solo business while keeping the security of a regular job. Since doing both for an extended period (or even a short one) may stretch your limits, I’ve also included some essential tips for creating smart work habits and getting more done in less time.

Tips for Building a Business on the Side

      Becoming your own boss may seem glamorous from the outside, but it can have stressful pitfalls, such as little pay, no insurance benefits, and unpredictable clients. However, you can avoid or minimize some of the downsides by maintaining a reliable day job while you grow your solo business. Having the security of a job and the excitement of becoming a solopreneur gives you lots of upside with much less risk. A steady paycheck may give you the confidence you need to take business risks—such as buying more advertising, equipment, or software—that will make your venture more profitable.

      Aside from maintaining a reliable income stream, being both an employee and an entrepreneur can make you a better worker. In my experience, growing a side business also builds skills and experiences that make you more effective at your regular job. You may even find your side hustle revives an appreciation for your day job. There’s a lot to like about having a salary, benefits, and other perks, after all.

      Whether you decide to be both an employee and your own boss for weeks or years, it will take some juggling to manage successfully. Here are five tips to face your career fears responsibly and prepare for the future by adding entrepreneurship to your resume on the side.

      Define Your Vision for Success

      Before changing your job or making the transition from employee to self-employed solopreneur, take the time to define what you truly want to achieve in your career. Sometimes your ideas about success come from other people, and they can cause you to follow a career path that never truly fulfills you.

      Maybe your boss thinks you should regularly work late so you can climb the corporate ladder, or a parent says you should go to graduate school. You might take a lucrative job in a field you’re not crazy about because that’s what your friends are doing. But if that job requires frequent travel when all you truly want is to start a family, care for aging parents, or spend time enjoying where you live, you’ll never be happy.

      If you don’t pause periodically to reflect on what success means to you, it becomes easier to follow other people’s priorities when it comes to your work. If your decisions aren’t purposefully leading you toward a life that excites you, you’ll likely wander away from what you genuinely want.

      Never let external markers of success, such as a big paycheck or a fancy job title, become more important than your heartfelt calling and goals for your life.

      That said, getting in touch with your real desires isn’t always easy, and you might have to listen carefully to hear your inner voice. Try incorporating some quiet time into your daily routine. When you first wake up or when you’re settling down at bedtime, think about what