Thinking about becoming an entrepreneur but don’t want to quit your corporate job?

Top 50 business thinker and award-winning author, Dorie Clark, shares how to become an entrepreneur while still maintaining a steady paycheck.

Before you jump head-first to your entrepreneurial venture: find out how to experiment with your venture, identify what work you want to do, and determine if it is a viable business.

The decision to quit a steady corporate job to start an entrepreneurial venture is a personal one that should be based on careful consideration and research. It depends on the individual’s situation and goals.

There are risks and rewards associated with starting an entrepreneurial venture, and the individual should weigh them carefully before making a decision.

It is important to have a well-developed business plan, access to capital, and a solid network of mentors and advisors before embarking on such a venture.

Here are 5 specific ways to help you de-risk and get started on your entrepreneurial journey:

1. Research the Market:

Before investing any time or money in your new venture, do your research to ensure there is a viable market for the product or service you wish to offer. Find out everything you can about your competitors. Are they successful? How did they start? How long did it take them to get traction? Did they have to raise capital?

You can do a lot of business intelligence using tools like Spyfu (for messaging and ad spend), Ubersuggest (for organic traffic sources and content marketing ideas), Crunchbase (for fundraising history and lists of investors), and of course LinkedIn (how many people do they have on staff, are they growing their employee base, are they creating videos and what type, how are they engaging with their audience through posts, etc.)

2. Leverage Your Corporate Connections:

Leverage your corporate network to increase your reach and build an advisory board. As a corporate employee, you may have access to resources you won’t have access to once you quit. Try to meet with as many people as possible, ask them for advice, and perhaps even for referrals to potential clients.

Creating a network of mentors is one of the most overlooked career and entrepreneurship objectives. Make it a habit to seek out potential mentors, figure out how to add value to them, and if they’d be open to have regular coffee-catchups to help you with advice.

3. Utilize Automation Tools

To manage your time and resources more efficiently, freeing up time to moonlight on your venture and test it while holding on to your corporate job.