Read this article before you quit your job to start a business, we have searched the internet and collected the best advice for entrepreneurs who are considering making that “jump” in to starting their own business.

Starting your own business is not an easy task, by any means. However some people are just built for greatness, do you have that entrepreneurship spirit? Do you struggle to hold down a 9-6 job and feel like a circle in a square hole?

Here is a list of 50 signs that you are an entrepreneur at heart. If you have ticked more than 10 of these boxes, it might be time to consider making that ultimate leap of faith.

What is your passion?

This is arguably the most important question you need to ask yourself before you quit your job to start a business. As an entrepreneur myself, I can assure you you are going to work 10 times harder when you start your own business, therefore you better have passion for what you do.

Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life

These words from CONFUCIOUS, can be applied to entrepreneurship. Even though I was working 16 – 20 hours a day, It did not feel like work at all – because it was my passion.

If you find yourself looking at the clock from 3:45pm until 4:30pm when you can finally leave the office it is time . . . . to quit that job.

You refuse to accept the world as it is

In my previous life when I had a 9-5 job, I was referred to as the problem child of the office. I was in every committee, usually because I wanted to see change, but I would quit and leave the committee as soon as I realised, I was not going to change anything. One of my longest serving committees was the “Employment Equity Committee”. One day by mistake, the salaries of every employee in our company was emailed to all of us in the committee.

The curiosity, at first I was not sure what I was reading, but it soon became clear. The rage that came over me, when you realise how people that report to you earn more than you. I found myself not being able to reconcile this in my head, as a logical person where things have to follow a certain path that makes sense. I remembered the words of my ethics professor “in the pursuit of justice, men will abandon all logic”.

I was trying to reason this reality in my head, and in the pursuit of my own justice, I abandoned all logic and of course mailed everyone in our office asking them – “how”. Needless to say, I was faced with a couple of “disciplinary sessions” where I was kindly reminded to SHUT-UP.

You see opportunity where others do not

This is a common trait of an entrepreneur, the ability to find treasure in the most unlikely of places. Have you ever sold lemonade at school? or washed cars to make extra money? Entrepreneurs generally see the world differently from normal people. While most people were enjoying their summer holidays getting a tan, a good entrepreneur is thinking “what can I sell these people enjoying their summers getting a tan”. A better entrepreneur anticipates the summer, and starts buying out all the lemonade stands in the winter.

Good Entrepreneurs are like Good CEOs – Read about the 7 traits of successful entrepreneurs here.

5 Things you should know before you quit your job to start a business

A good entrepreneur plans ahead, here are the top 5 things you need to have in place before you make that leap of faith.

You need Savings

Entrepreneurship is an expensive journey, and it usually takes much longer than you initially imagine. If you have a plan to start you business and you estimate the time it will take you to be profitable. You should take that number and double it twice. It will always take you longer than you think, therefore plan for it financially.

Get Support

Ensure you have adequate support from your spouse, partner, family and children. Friends will be nowhere to be found, so your family should be solid and go in to this decision with you. They should fully support you and have alternative sources of income, or even be able to support you financially should the need arise.

The road is a curvy one not straight

Manage your expectations, get a supportive mentor who can help you navigate the journey. The road to success is not a straight one, you will face many dead-ends, curves and speed humps. Always be ready to shift gears, change direction, manage speed and keep moving.

Get ready to work hard and smart

Your social days are over, get ready to put in 200% of work. In your business, everything stops when you sleep and you do not have a lot of time. You need to work hard, and put in the hours. However like any journey, you need to take regular pauses – where you evaluate your position and decide if you are still on the right path.

This is why a good mentor is crucial in entrepreneurship, someone to constantly bounce off ideas with. The last thing you need, is to work so hard climbing a mountain only to realise, you climbed the wrong mountain. So you need to constantly re-evaluate, re-calibrate and re-organise yourself.

There will be hard days

Success is inevitable, you will eventually reach the top of your mountain if you keep walking. Never give up, expect many challenges, failures and hard days. There will be hard days when you jus want to give up, when you are so tired and have no motivation to keep moving. Entrepreneurship is a self-propelling machine and sometimes you run out of steam.

When the hard days come, it is ok to take time-off and catch your breath.

Read more on We are the ones we have been waiting for.