Many wish they had their own business once the daily drag of corporate life eats away a good chunk of their being. As such a person I want others who are in the same situation to prepare well before taking the jump. Since I’m still in process (not completely insane..yet), I can only offer what I’ve bumped into so far.

First, be prepared and understand you will lose current benefits like health insurance and 401K. Unless of course you didn’t have it anyway, in which case you’re a step there already. Health insurance is quite expensive, so make sure you can swing it.

Also be aware of what behind-the-scenes requirements your business will come with. For example, what licenses might you need? Will you need a certain insurance for something unique about the business (stuntman dying from being impaled by blunt object insurance, for instance)? How will you hire employees? This behind the scenes stuff requires a lot of research; know the business well before you start. Become an expert.

Finally, what is your revenue model? This is very important but it seems many don’t even consider it. There seems to be the thought floating around that if you do the business and work hard the money will come. Hard work is great for your work ethic, but if you don’t have a revenue model you’re likely to crash and burn. To start it helps to create a model of the business, and figure out costs, prices, and profits. This model will allow you to play with inputs to see how it affects the business. A lot of times this stuff isn’t intuitive, so making the model really helps you make fact based decisions.

These are just some of the foundations to starting. I’ll update as I progress; if anyone has thoughts on this please post in the comments. Best of luck! FREEDOMM!!!

Whether it be your family or newly acquired family (e.g., wedding, adoptions, abductions), it is common to eventually have someone in your family who just drives you insane. As I often get reminded, homicide is highly frowned upon illegal in this country and usually the person is not worth the angst. So before you whip up the rat poison margarita mix, take a breather and think about it. Something I read once really hits it on the (stupid) head -

For most people, dealing with annoying relatives or in-laws is like cleaning the toilet. It’s not something you want to do, but something you have to do.

Sometimes the situation is worsened if this pile of annoying is your spouse’s family. Your significant other may be the best most loving person in the history of man kind, but somehow they manage to be related to hell spawn. I’ve found it helps to always keep in mind that it is all temporary. The shithead leaving trash all over the place? The trash will get picked up and their poor hygiene will get them eventually. Maybe they’re eating all your snacks that you try so hard to hide. Eh, they’ll be gone soon, and your stash will once again be holy and safe. Hey, maybe you’re contributing to making them super fat..REVENGE IS BEST SERVED COLD.

Get very good at extracting yourself from any situation. This will come in very handy when you get so annoyed that your left hand reaches for the candlestick. Getting away from a sticky situation will give you time to breathe and think, and usually just let it go.

Many guides and articles online about the issue ultimately propose that you spend alone time with the
public disturbance. I however, tend to disagree. Once past a certain point of annoying, alone time can be catastrophic. I am in the standing that the best way to go is to try and make yourself laugh at the issue and put enough space to not let any issues erupt. Limit the contact, increase the breathing. And remember, no rat poison.