One of the biggest challenges you will face in starting your own business is adaptation and altering your mindset from that of a practitioner, dealing with data and with KPIs, with the here and now, to that of a CEO, having to think about business management, about staffing, about raising capital, marketing and branding, about strategic planning and forecasting and overseeing the operation of a business. These are very different worlds, and your success will depend very much on your ability to adapt and invest in personal development. You may have achieved your goal, but there is no question of putting your feet up. You must keep on learning, evolving and investing in yourself.

The skills you have developed throughout your career will equip you to deal with these new challenges. You will also be well used to learning on the job, to being proactive and taking responsibility for important decisions. Running a business is completely different to anything you’ve done before. Hence, it is important that you surround yourself with a power team of people who have the knowledge and expertise you might lack to support you.

Your new position will also open new opportunities. I began by opening a supported accommodation business and soon realised that what I really wanted to do was start a residential children’s home, which I probably could not have done, or even envisaged, had I not taken the intermediate step of running supported accommodation. Beyond that, I have discovered that I can now help others to do what I have done by writing a book and by talking on the subject at workshops and seminars.

Let go of the reins

You might be thinking, “I’ve just taken on the responsibility of running my own business; how on earth can I ‘let go of the reins’?” But one of the essential differences between being a frontline worker and being a CEO is that you no longer do everything yourself. In fact, you mustn’t. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in starting your own business is thinking that you should do everything and that, because you are in charge, you must have control of all aspects of the business. This will lead to more stress, anxiety and burnout. It is a recipe for disaster – as so many entrepreneurs have found to their cost.

You have assembled a power team; they know what they are doing, so let them. Delegate tasks that they will perform better than you, leaving yourself free to oversee, plan and direct. That is your role now. You no longer need to run around like the proverbial headless chicken, as you did before.

Nor does the buck always need to stop with you, as it did. In delegating, you will make others accountable, so that responsibility is shared and the pressure on your shoulders is lightened. You can trust them and truly work as a team, which provides its own satisfaction.

Take your time

To progress from a startup to an established business usually takes around three years. Your business must find its feet and be generating consistent revenue before you can hand in your notice and start your new life as CEO. It doesn’t happen overnight, but requires patience and perseverance.

Even having taken the leap, you shouldn’t expect to enjoy plain sailing from the word go, but should allow yourself another eighteen or twenty-four months to reach the point where your business is making sufficient profit to establish itself in the market. This was my experience and during that period I had a lot of doubts. Had I made the right decision? Was I doing things right? Would it work? Should I continue? Was this really for me? This is where you will need to call on your resilience and, above all, not be too hard on yourself if you feel that you aren’t achieving your targets within the anticipated time. If you truly believe in your vision and keep going, you will get there sooner or later.

Now you can, and deserve to, enjoy the satisfaction of having achieved your ambition to start your own business or take your career to another level, the fulfilment of being your own boss and controlling your own destiny. Where you might previously have felt stuck in a rut, merely trying to keep your head above water, the very fact that you have new challenges to face and new obstacles to overcome will give you renewed energy and job satisfaction.

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