By Jada Nemmers

Entrepreneurs tend to become entrepreneurs for a wide variety of reasons. There are too many to list in this short article but most would cite reasons such as unhappiness with pay, unhappiness with environment, unhappiness with hours, or unhappiness with the boss. These are all very valid reasons that can be eliminated by becoming your own boss as long as the venture is planned well from the very beginning.

What you really don’t want to do when you go out on your own is trade one problem for another equally annoying problem. For example, why would you want to trade unhappiness with pay for an 80-hour workweek? Why would you want to trade unhappiness with the boss for unhappiness with employees? If you aren’t VERY careful, 5-10 years after leaving the stressful corporate world, you might find yourself just as stressed and miserable as you were before. Imagine how frustrated you would be if you worked so hard and spent so much money to build your business only to never find freedom!

So why do so many entrepreneurs fall into this trap? The reason is because they didn’t even know there was another option. They didn’t plan for happiness; instead they only planned to make money. Well, what if you can combine money, entrepreneurship, and happiness at the same time? All it takes is a little planning in the beginning.

If you are debating on leaving the corporate world, then before you do anything, determine the answers to these two questions:

How much do you want to work?

Where do you want to work?

Now, I’m going to break down these questions and explain why they are absolutely 100% vital for long-term success and happiness as an entrepreneur.

How much do you want to work?

Seems like a crazy question right? Most people will respond with answers like until retirement age, 40 hours a week, etc. My answer would be as little as humanly possible. Sure, there are people that say they love their jobs but do they really? The next time you hear that, ask that person if they would be willing to work for free. The answer is of course no, and that is because nobody likes to be obligated to work. We as humans want to do whatever we want during the day. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up and do exactly what YOU want to do all day? This tends to be a problem for entrepreneurs who end up working even more than they did during their corporate life.

Let’s say you are a roofer and you decide to start a roofing company. When would you be able to stop working? If you stopped acquiring roofing jobs, how fast would it take until your bank account ended up in the red? Pretty fast right? Now, what would happen if you invested in a good SEO consultant and built a drop shipping ecommerce website that ran on its own? There would be some work in the beginning but once it’s up and running, what would you really have to do during the day? Watch sales come in, update pictures? You could stop or drastically slow down your work and the bank account would continue to grow. This is called residual income. It is powerful and will allow you to have the freedom that you so desire.

Now I know that some of you are saying, “But I don’t know websites!” You don’t have to focus on websites at all. If you are creative, you can think of many ways to make residual income. Just like you can think of many ways to make money by working every day. If you are preparing for a life of entrepreneurship, now is exactly the time to plan well. If you have the choice, why wouldn’t you decide to spend all your energies finding your niche or company based around residual income? If you don’t then you run the risk of always having to put in those hours. Life is short and you only live once. Make sure you can enjoy it!

Where do you want to work?

This question also sounds pretty basic. Most would say in the office. A big office for that matter with lots of employees right? Wrong! If you had the option to work from home in your pajamas all day, would you still rather brave traffic and weather to drive to an office? How much is this office going to cost anyway? Offices are also very expensive to run and cut drastically into profits. It’s not just the office either, what about the phone system, employee payroll, electricity, paper, the list goes on and on. Also, if you have an office, how are you going to travel the world for extended periods of time?

If given the choice, almost everyone on the planet would rather work from home on their own terms. I can already hear you though, “But I will invest in an office to boost sales!” Sometimes yes, but again, you are in control at this point in your entrepreneurial career. Why spend all this time thinking about and planning a potential business that will eventually require you to rent an office space somewhere? Why wouldn’t you spend all that energy on developing a plan where you can work from home? Don’t give up until your business idea involves freedom to work where YOU choose. You will be more than thankful when your life revolves around being free from the bondage an office brings.

The ultimate goal is happiness and freedom. It is my hope that this article found you in the planning phase of your next business idea. Be sure not to fall into the trap of trading one problem for another. If you design your business around residual income and complete freedom from an office, you are setting yourself up for true success.

Imagine being able to work as little as a few hours a week from home. How would that change you or your family? The decision is not a difficult one as long as you are creative and determined. Research residual income opportunities instead of thinking about what you are good at. Ensure your success from the beginning by planning for freedom instead of planning to make an income. It could mean the difference between long-term happiness within a few years or long-term stress.

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Jada Nemmers is an owner at ColoradoCustomCoach.com. She has extensive experience with working in the corporate world as well as being a successful entrepreneur. She is currently building her dream business involving both residual income and working from home. She believes that this is the only way to true financial and emotional freedom.