That leap from being paid by others to relying on your own business for an income is a frightening one ? make sure you are going about it the right way.

I am guessing that you have already discovered that a couple of clients are not going to pay your bills for very long. This is the best way to start your own business ? but you are going to have some long working days ahead of you.

A word of caution first: Do not undertake your own business work, whilst you are on your paid work time. Do not use their facilities, copier, phone, software etc and absolutely do not chase their clients. This is the quickest way to be fired from your current job.

I would give yourself a reasonable time ? say 6 months to a year to make the transition. This decided, then sit down and work out the following:

* Plan how you are going to make this move and what you expect to achieve each year. For example you could set yourself the target of obtaining 3 new clients within 2 months and then 1 client for each month after that.

* Decide what your marketing strategy ? that is where you are going to find your customers and persuade them to buy from you.

* Decide what services you are going to offer and at what price.

* Decide what makes you so special that people will want to buy from you, as opposed to other businesses.

Once you have done all this, and most importantly, you need to work out what your break even point is. That is how many customers do you need to pay your bills and make all the work worthwhile.

When you have all this information, put your plan into action and do not forget to learn as much as possible about your trade, whilst you are still employed.

If you are in a very competive market, competing against many other people and companies, some that can offer very cheap rates. Please be sure that you can succeed before you give in your nice safe paying job. Good luck.

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