So many creative entrepreneurs we have worked with over the years have started their businesses while working a day job. It’s a classic path.
Having a day job while starting your business can serve as a HUGE advantage.
However, as we share in this article, there are some key business and legal considerations you should make to ensure that your transition from employee to business owner goes smoothly.
We get into it in this article.
Having a day job while starting your business is an advantage
Many people think they must quit their day job to start a business.
This is not true.
We’ve worked with many entrepreneurs who started their businesses while working at a 9-5 job. Working at a 9-5 job while starting your business offers some decisive advantages.
First, having a day job gives you the flexibility and support that you need to learn and make mistakes as you start your business. Making mistakes and learning from them is a key part of building a successful business, and having a day job is like having a safety net under you as you do it.
Second, having a day job gives income so that you can make appropriate investments in growing your business, such as having support to take care of critical legal tasks.
But avoid legal hang-ups
You want to avoid starting your life as a business owner with legal snags, either with your current employer or anyone else. So, with some planning, you can prevent most of them.
Here’s what to think about:
Respect your employer’s intellectual property
As an employee, you might have access to your current employer’s intellectual property and proprietary information. You must be exceedingly careful about using this intellectual property in your business.
Intellectual property includes creative works and brands, as well as customer lists, marketing strategies, and confidential business methods.
You should avoid using these things in a way that could result in legal liability for you or your company.
Review your employment agreements
Many jobs have employment agreements.
These employment agreements often address issues such as intellectual property ownership, conflicts of interest, and other factors that will affect how you start your business while working with an employer.
You must review these agreements with a lawyer so that you understand what is permitted and what will cause problems if not addressed now.
Be careful about using company resources
When starting your business, you must use company time or equipment carefully.
Since many employment agreements say that things created on company time or with company equipment belong to the company, you want to avoid making a situation where you inadvertently give ownership of your company to your employer.
Set up your legal foundation early
The stronger your business’ foundation, the stronger the company.
When you create a business, you create a legal entity. So, it’s important to think about the legal foundation for your business early to ensure that everything is set up properly.
When you make appropriate investments to set everything up correctly, your business grows faster because you avoid hang-ups that divert time, money, and energy.
The first step is to understand what legal steps to take as you build your business. These steps aren’t complicated, but they are essential. We’ve even created a simple-to-follow and free legal roadmap for entrepreneurs who want to know the most important legal things to consider (download).
The good news is that when you’re ready to take action, you can work one-on-one with lawyers to get solid legal and business coaching on anything we’ve discussed here. We’ve helped many people transition from employee to business owner, and we’re there for you, too.
