I think it's GREAT that you are ready to break away from 'the Man' and start your own business! My hat goes off to you! But, I do have a bone to pick with you first! What tools does your corporate job provide you that helped make you successful enough in the first place? Do you get unlimited administrative support? Do you have access to a large database of information that you may take for granted? Or, do you have an intranet/file management system that you rely on everyday that you couldn't live without? There are probably hundreds of other tools that your corporate job provides you that helps you do your job that you might not even realize. Let's take a look at possible solutions to the madness!

When I was looking at leaving my job as a Recruiter to start my own recruiting business (this is long before I shifted directions and became a Business and Career Coach), I thought I was ready and that it was going to be a breeze! Then I realized that I had some tools that my corporate job provided me that I took for granted and in order to get these same tools for my own business, I was going to need to dish out some money that I wasn't prepared to spend!

First, my company provided me a database with about 15,000 resumes in it that I was free to search anytime, anywhere. If I would have started my own business, I would have had to build an entire database of resumes on my own! If you have ever worked in the recruiting industry, you know that building a database of 15,000 resumes could take years and a lot of money to build!

Next, we used an on-line job board where I was able to post open jobs and let the candidates come pouring in! I decided I better check how much that service would cost before I left the company and it turned out that it cost several thousand dollars which I didn't have!

Lastly, (or at least the last example I want to share, I could easily go on and on!) I had virtually unlimited administrative help! If I needed a letter sent or something copied or something typed up, I had a person that was ready to help! Hmm, I quickly realized that I didn't want to do all of that administrative work on my own!

Now just because I was a top producer at this company and made both the company and myself a good share of money, I realized that if I went out on my own, all of that money WOULDN'T go to the bottom line! I am not saying this to try and get you to rethink your decision about starting your own business, rather, I want you to take all of those corporate freebies into consideration before you venture off into uncharted waters.

Let's now look at solutions to my situation. As for the resume database, I could have looked at joining a recruiters network where I would have paid a minimal fee every month for access to a 'B' resume database until I had my own database busting at the seams! (I say a 'B' database because it would likely have a lot of resumes from folks all over the nation with a lot of different backgrounds. An 'A' database, most likely similar to the one at my corporate job, would have a laser-like focus; job seekers in my neck of the woods with the backgrounds that I recruit for).

As for the administrative support, I would have either had to buckle down and do all the typing, emailing, filing, etc. on my own, or I could have looked at contracting a virtual assistant to help me.

Although NONE of these things would have stopped me from moving forward with starting my own firm, they all were things that I took for granted when I went to work everyday. They would have been costs that I would have had to dish out for every month on top of other expenses like accounting fees, legal fees, Internet, etc.

Again, I am not trying to deter you from leaving corporate America to pursue your dreams, rather, take a look at the corporate freebies that you may take for granted and figure out how you will be able to obtain those same tools on your own!