Preparing to Transition from Business Employee to Successful Employer

By Rhonda Campbell

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA) nearly 600,000 new businesses are started each year. Starting your own business is a great way to gain opportunities to use and strengthen your leadership, communication, negotiation and financial management skills. If you’re 30 years of age or older, it’s likely that you’ve worked as an employee for several years. You’ve learned how to become a successful business employee. Now it’s time to learn how to become a successful employer. The process is going to involve one or more transitions.

Change Your Mind Set to Transition from Employee to Employer

To begin, you must change your mindset, so that you can move from being a capable technician to being a capable leader. While you’re still employed, start thinking of suggestions you can make to your employer that will help improve his/her bottom line. Take note of how business meetings are led by different creative business leaders at the company where you work, paying attention to communication styles that help to get attendees more engaged.

Other steps you can take to prepare to transition from business employee to successful employer include:

• Start managing budgets at work. If your job does not offer you opportunities to create and manage budgets, visit a library, bookstore or website and read up on business budgets. Also take online and/or offline business budgeting courses, including learning about cash flows and profit and loss (P&L).
• Cross train in two or more departments to gain hands-on experience in marketing, communications, research, etc.
• Ask to supervise or manage staff. Keep in mind that if you work as a supervisor, you don’t have to get promoted into senior positions to start managing and leading other workers.
• Study your employer’s mission statement and company objectives. Pay attention to how the mission statement and company objectives connect to business decisions senior management makes.
• Enroll in and complete digital and in-person training courses paid for by your employer
• Discover and attend top networking events in the industry you want to own a business in after you transition from business employee to successful employer
• Review examples of thorough business plans, ones that get required business funding
• Seek out mentors, people who are already doing what you are preparing to begin to do (own and effectively manage your own company)
• Read books written by business professionals who have already made the leap from employee to employer, gaining valuable tips and advice from what they share
• Study business cash flows in your industry (get a clear picture on trends, expectations, etc.)
• Participate in 360s or peer-reviews to discover your strengths and areas for improvement.
• Create a spreadsheet and record your living expenses, how much it takes to start a business in the industry you want to manage a new company in and how much profit you want your company to generate in the first one to two years. This way your mind can go to work, trying to figure out steps you can take to meet your living expenses and grow your business (even while you’re still working for someone else).

Think about it. While you’re still working as an employee you have diverse opportunities to conduct market research (especially if you plan to work as a creative business leader in an industry your current employer’s company operates in) on different businesses and industries. As you prepare to transition from employee to employer, you can also take advantage of business management training courses you can attend under your employer’s tuition assistance program. Furthermore, you can start networking with creative business leaders where you work as these people may become your first clients after you make the move to becoming an employer.

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