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Guide to Changing CareersWHITE PAPER

There are countless reasons why people decide to become an entrepreneur: they are fed up with their job, they want to be the boss, they want to earn more money, they want leave behind a legacy, and the list can go on. Sometimes more than one of these reasons is driving their decision, sometimes it's a combination of factors. The important thing is they want to do it.It used to be that people stayed in the same career path for the duration of their work lives, and in many cases that meant staying with the same company. But, in recent years, people jump from one career to the next, with the average person changing their career ve to seven times during their working life. Thirty percent of the workforce will change their job or career once every twelve months, with many of them choosing the path of an entrepreneur. For many, the only problem is knowing how to make it happen. One misconception is that it’s as easy as quitting their job and opening shop elsewhere but unfortunately, it’s a little more complicated than that. Finding the perfect t for a new career takes work, research and openness. But what makes becoming an entrepreneur so appealing?"Thirty percent of the workforce will change their job or career once every twelve months, with many of them choosing the path of an entrepreneur. "Why Become an Entrepreneur?Employees have a set schedule, which depending on the type of job they do may or may not change each week. They have a boss they report to about what they are working on. They have deadlines that must be met, and meetings they must attend. Employees show up, do their job, get paid, go home, and repeat it the following week, with very little control in what they do, and employers hire and re as they see t. Being an entrepreneur gives you more control, because you are the boss. Things go in the direction you want them to go. No one can tell you what to do or where to go, because you call all the shots. You control your fate. Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Employees earn an hourly wage or a salary, which is set by the company or negotiated by a union. While they can get raises and promotions, or earn bonuses, there is a limit to how much can be made. On the other hand, as an entrepreneur you’d have unlimited earning potential. Even if the business fails, which is always possible, you can use that failure to increase your motivation to try again. Generally speaking, having a job means employees have a place of work they need to go into several times each week. While some employees get to work from home, typically there is still a head oice they need to make an appearance at from time to time. Owning a business allows you to control that. If you want to, you can run everything from halfway across the country, or you can build an online business that doesn’t even have a physical location. You don’t have to be tied down anywhere, because your business can support you, no matter where you are. You control your earnings.You control where you work.While some companies are more generous than others when it comes to vacations or time o, there is a limit, and employees need to book their days o around their employer’s schedule. It can be diicult being spontaneous or dealing with a life circumstance that suddenly pops up. As an entrepreneur, you have the freedom to spend your time however you see t. You can balance your time, and have work t into your life instead of being controlled by it. Let’s face it, life is short, which makes time the most valuable resource. You control your time. When an employee retires from a job, they leave it behind. No matter how long they’ve been with the company, when they leave, someone else takes their place. It’s not a family thing they pass on to their children, and it’s not something they put in their will. Owning a business on the other hand allows you to leave your business to your family in hopes that they carry on your dream. A successful enterprise can be more than just something to give freedom from the nine to ve job, it can be something that supports a family for generations. It can be a source of pride for many down the line.You control your legacy. $Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Finding Inspiration People change careers all the time, and many open their own business because they know they can’t nd happiness working for someone else. They have their own ideas, their own goals and inspirations, and the only way they feel as if they can move forward in their career is by branching out on their own. Where do these inspirations come from? What drives an entrepreneur to make such a big change in their life? While there is no one way to nd it, it is oen an integral part of what keeps them going. An entrepreneur by nature is a creative person, and over the years they are bound to have come up with several business ideas. Some of these ideas could be viable, but weren’t moved forward for whatever reasons, and others not so much. The ideas can come at any time as well, from lying in bed to showering, commuting or even while at work. The thing a lot of people don’t realize either, is that many new entrepreneurs aren’t recreating the wheel. They are simply adapting it and making it something better. While not every idea should be turned into a business, the best ones should be given enough thought to see if they could be a success. Successful entrepreneurs aren’t afraid of risk either. In fact it inspires them to take advantage of the opportunities in front of them. They know that people are hardly ever rewarded without taking a chance, and that investors won’t back timid people. They are always willing to take that step forward if they believe they can succeed, even if the nancial and emotional risks are high. Inspiration can also come from the chance to be a leader. Entrepreneurs love to take charge, to motivate and inspire others by showcasing their passion, ideas and vision. They are generally willing to impart their wisdom and help guide those who ask them for help. They also lead by example. By putting their thoughts into action and showing others what is possible, they hope they can convince others to do the same. To them it’s not about being selsh, but about sharing what they have. Opportunity and reacting quickly to it is also highly inspirational. A good entrepreneur knows that sometimes you need to move fast, otherwise you miss your chance, and these days, with the high-speed travel of information, it’s even more important. If you’ve seen an opportunity, odds are someone else has as well, and if you don’t move quickly that someone will beat you to the punch. It can be a key to success. Many entrepreneurs believe that every day has a new opportunity in it, and they get excited when they wake up in the morning as they try and nd out what it is. Owning the rights to something drives many creative people, entrepreneurs included, to push themselves as hard as they can. Obtaining intellectual property rights is inspiring because you are gaining the ability to implement something that's already proven itself to be a success, but you also get to put your stamp on the business and make it your own. You get to create your legacy. But, in order to get these rights you need to move faster than anyone else. Think of it as a race, and the idea as the trophy. If you win, it’s yours. It’s one thing to come up with an idea, but it’s an entirely dierent thing to come up with something original that people may try to copy but can never duplicate."Inspiration can also come from the chance to be a leader. Entrepreneurs love to take charge, to motivate and inspire others by showcasing their passion, ideas and vision."Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Finding the Right Fit Finding the right t for a new career path can be a struggle, partly because in many cases the one seeking change is looking to enter a eld they haven’t worked in before. But, there are some simple things you can do to make the transition easier for yourself. Finding the right career path requires a balance of things. It needs to be something you are passionate about, yet it also needs to match your personality, principles and work preferences. On top of that, you need to choose a career that will be around for longer than the short term. Career assessment tests can help determine which career path to take, because they look at weaknesses and strengths, hobbies, values, personality and more, and come up with suggestions of areas to focus on. Researching the career path will help as well, specically nding out the dierences between the idea of the career and the reality of the career. Finding the right t for a new career path can be a struggle, partly because in many cases the one seeking change is looking to enter a eld they haven’t worked in before. But, there are some simple things you can do to make the transition easier for yourself.When you are trying to nd a new career path, you need to be honest with yourself. You need to be thoughtful and analytical about your decision and remove as much emotion from the equation as possible. Emotion, Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

when it comes to choosing a career path, can lead you astray and cause you to make choices that aren’t in your best interest. You need to be excited about the journey of course, and you need to trust your instincts, but relying too heavily on your emotions can get you lost.Shadowing someone for a few days who is already working in the industry can help as well. By observing or talking to someone who is already working in the eld, you can get great insight into what the reality of the career path is like. You can see what a typical workday will look like, and what extra skills you might need. Interviewing someone and watching them work will help you nd the right t a lot easier and help you truly understand what it takes to work in the industry. You might want to look at turning your hobby into a business when trying to change your career path. For instance, if you are good in the kitchen and have taken some cooking classes in your spare time, you might want to consider opening a restaurant. If you have a knack for cleaning cars, you may look at an auto detailing franchise. Thinking critically about your hobbies can help you nd the perfect career t. If it makes you happy in your spare time, it makes sense that it might be able to do the same for your career as well. Asking the people who know you well what career path they think is the best one for you is always a possibility as well. Friends and colleagues will give a lot of dierent answers, some of which won’t be very useful, but some of them may point in the right direction. Sometimes the answers will be so simple that they are constantly overlooked, yet if others see the potential for it being successful, maybe the path should be considered. Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Finding a Mentor One piece of advice you will hear repeatedly as you prepare to transition from an employee to an entrepreneur is “nd a mentor.” It makes perfect sense, aer all a mentor is a guide, a teacher and an advisor all rolled into one. They are someone you can look to when you have questions and someone who can guide you when you aren’t sure which way to turn. But, nding a good mentor is easier said than done, and while sometimes the perfect one is right under your nose, other times you need to search a little harder to nd them. You might even have to try a couple of dierent mentors before nding the best person to ll the role. Throughout your life, you’ve met all sorts of people you’ve made a connection with. From teachers and classmates to colleagues, employers, clients and acquaintances, you’ve met others who have inspired, motivated and taught you. Look back to those people rst when seeking a mentor. Build a relationship with them to see if they could be a good match, and if they aren’t, they may be able to introduce you to someone who is.Explore your network.There are plenty of meet-up groups and networking events across the country where you can nd a mentor. It may be a conference hosted by a local small business association, or a meet-up where entrepreneurs get together once a month to discuss their operations. In some cases, the events aren’t even business oriented, they are just a way for like-minded people to get together and unwind. They aren’t very hard to nd, and are oen advertised online, on LinkedIn or Facebook, or on sites like Meetup.com. While professional organizations such as the American Medical Association, the American Bar Association and the American Dental Association are instantly recognizable, there are many more than that. Most industries and professions have a professional association, and they are a great place to nd others in the industry who can potentially serve as a mentor.Go to local events.Join a professional association.Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Many entrepreneurs enter a new industry because something or someone has inspired them to do so. Sometimes that inspiration comes aer doing research on the industry, and sometimes it comes long before you even think about taking the rst step. It doesn’t hurt to take a chance on seeing if that inspirational someone would be interested in being a mentor. Aer all, it’s not a bad thing to learn from a hero or someone who achieved something similar to your dreams. A new friendship could bloom from it too.Take a chance.The internet is made for research, and when it comes to nding a mentor it can be very useful. LinkedIn has several groups focused on helping connect entrepreneurs to mentors, SCORE is a volunteer organization that helps match mentors with mentees, and MicroMentor and FindAMentor.com will also assist business owners with nding a mentor for free. Your local Small Business Development Centre can also be found online, which may be able to help with the search. These are just a few of the possible resources that can be used, and no matter which sites are chosen, they can lead to nding prospective mentors in the area to chat with or e-mail, and even potentially meet up with.Even aer nding a mentor, you need to ask yourself if they are right for the job. Unfortunately, it’s hard to determine if they are or not until you get to know them. Diving in headrst in can lead to problems, especially if you discover that you don’t really get along, have fundamental dierences in your characters or they have problems understanding your vision. You should spend a bit of time with them rst, grab a couple of drinks or dinner, and just talk. You should slowly build the relationship, and once it’s been established, decide then if you want them to mentor you or not. And if you do, make sure you both have a clear understanding as to what you want out of the relationship. You can’t just assume someone is your mentor either. It needs to be clear that they are more than just a friend, otherwise you won’t get everything out of it that you want, and the relationship could deteriorate because of it. Use online resources."Learn from a hero or someone who achieved something similar to your dreams."Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

To show a mentor that they aren’t wasting their time, you should let them know you are genuinely interested in what they have to say by being prepared to follow up on their advice. While you don’t have to agree with everything they are saying, and don’t have to follow every piece of advice, if you agree to do something you need to do it. If you procrastinate or are disinterested, it’s probably not a good t. You should also have something to oer back to the mentor to show them how grateful you are for the help. This doesn’t mean paying them, which you should never do, but being ready to do something to help them instead. They may ask for help, but they may not. It’s up to you to pay attention and oer. Like all relationships, it’s a two-way street and should never be taken for granted.One person to avoid when looking for a mentor is someone with strong ties to the business. Don’t choose someone who is nancially or personally involved with a direct competitor, because it will be impossible to determine if they have the business’ best interests in mind. They might have the right expertise, but in the long run they won’t be a good t. Someone with a vested interest in the company should also be avoided. Whether it’s an investor, a supplier, or even a client, they will always be looking to push the company in the direction that will suit them best. They might also tell you what they think you want to hear, instead of what you should be told. Keep in mind, a mentor doesn’t necessarily need to be in the same industry either. While they may not be able to get into the specics of the industry, an outsider can still oer valuable advice and be an amazing teacher. Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

The rst step for anyone looking to open a business is to gure out what it is they’d like to do. They need to nd the right balance between what it is they can see themselves doing and what their skills, abilities and experience will allow them to do. While some people can completely change their career path and try something they’ve never done before, they still have something to bring to the table that can help them in their new position. This is also the time to brush up on and learn the new skills that will be needed. Decide on a path.You also need to write a business plan, research franchises, review your nances, discover tax breaks and incentives, make sure there is a local demand for the products and services the franchise oers, and more. There are plenty of reputable resources available to help, including several important guides and reports available on FranchiseGrade.com.Do the homework.The United States of America is a land where dreams can come true, and the American Dream is equal opportunity for all. There is nothing more opportune than opening and running a business, and yet it can be a scary time, full of risks and facing the unknown. Opening a franchise can help lessen some of those risks and fears. With close to 800,000 franchises in the United States, and an economy looking to rebound from the COVID-19 crisis, the opportunity is greater than ever. In order to prepare for the transition from employee to franchise owner, there are a few things that can be done to make the process easier and help you achieve the greatest possible success.Preparation and PlanningFranchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

While it is possible, you need to keep in mind that you don’t have to do everything by yourself. There are lawyers, legal advisors, consultants and more that can help with the transition. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to take on too much by themselves when there is someone out there who has taken the same steps before who can help. While some expenses can be cut, these are ones that might be in your best interest not to.Get help from the right people.You don’t have to face the decision to open a franchise by yourself. You can talk to your friends and family to let them know what you are thinking of doing. Friends and family can help see things that might have otherwise been missed, both good and bad. They can also motivate you to move forward and give you that much-needed condence boost. Talking to other franchise owners is also a good idea, to nd out what their experience has been like. They can give valuable insight into the entire process, from getting prepared to seeing what pitfalls can be avoided.You need to ask some serious questions before moving forward with a franchise. Will the business be the start of an empire or something smaller? This will give you a good idea of where you see yourself and the direction you need to take. How much time can be put into the business? A franchise might take up a lot of your time, at least at rst, and if you are looking for a typical nine-to-ve job, you might not nd it here. The most important thing you need to consider is your level of passion for the business. Not everything is about making the most money. Your greatest success will always come from doing something you are passionate about.Talk it out.Identify your goals.Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

With a business plan in one hand and the investment in the other, it’s time for you to leave your current career behind and transition to the next phase of your working life. To make the transition as easy as possible, you should consider how you're going to exit your current line of work beforehand. This strategy will not only help prepare you for what’s ahead, but it will help you leave the old job behind with as much grace and professionalism as possible. The rst step is to pick a date. It’s important to have a deadline to meet because it not only gives you a goal, but it allows you to plan out all the small stu too. You don’t have to tell anyone you are leaving as soon as you have a date picked out, but a deadline gives you a chance to plan backwards and leave enough time for appropriate notice and a week or two vacation before starting something new. As soon as you’ve determined you are leaving, it’s time to stockpile as much money as you can and get your nances in order. You need to cut out any unnecessary spending, including eating out and extra luxuries you don’t really need. You can even clean out your home and sell items that have just been sitting in a corner, gathering dust. The sooner you start this, the better, because there are always unexpected surprises when it comes to money and things don’t always go as planned. Consulting your support system and talking out your plan with them will help build your condence and make the change that much easier. You don’t just want a group of "yes" people as your condants either, you need individuals who are non-biased who will ask the tough questions. If there is one constant in life it’s that things don’t always go as planned, which means it’s important to be exible. When you are getting ready to leave your job, and have started making your plans, the last thing you want to acknowledge is the possibility that the planned date for doing so needs to change. Maybe there is a deadline at work you really need to help with before you go, or maybe you had to spend some of your savings for an emergency at home. Whatever the case, it’s important to remember that these things happen and exit plans can be modied as needed. An exit strategy is a personal thing, and although you should consult your support group, beyond that, no one else needs to know. The more people who know, the less control you will have. For instance, if word gets around at your current job that you are leaving, the company may start looking for your replacement sooner than you’d want. The more people who know, the less exibility you will have because everyone will be expecting your move. No one needs to know you are leaving until you are ready, and the date is close. Preparing Your Exit Strategy "Consulting your support system and talking out your plan with them will help build your condence and make the change that much easier."Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

It can be hard to avoid burning bridges when leaving a job, especially if things have gone sour over the last little while, but it never hurts to play nice and keep options open. Aer all, it’s always possible to run into them in the future or need a reference from them. To make your departure as easy as possible you should always give proper notice, tell the boss in person you are quitting, try to keep things positive, keep it brief and oer to help train the replacement or coworkers on how to do the job. It’s also important for you to say goodbye to coworkers, even those you might not have gotten along with. As tempting as it may be, you shouldn’t relax your work ethic and coast for your last few days working at your job. By continuing to work hard, you are showing your soon-to-be-former employer that you are thankful for the chance you’d been given, and it will help you avoid any negative feelings. This also includes avoiding doing research for the new business during company hours or reaching out to connections using company computers or phones. If you have a benet plan through your work, the weeks leading up to your departure is the perfect time to take advantage of it. You should go to the dentist, get new glasses or that massage you’ve been wanting. Aer all, once you open your business, you will be the one paying for these things personally, so why not get what you can before leaving? Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Preparing Your Personal Finances Simply put, it takes money to run a business. Not only that, but it can take a bit of time before the business makes a prot. Without your personal nances in order, you might have a hard time surviving without that regular paycheck. On top of that, no matter how well you plan, unexpected expenses could pop up and require you to dig into your savings. If you need a loan or line of credit for the business, banks and investors will look at your personal credit score and credit history to determine if they will lend the money. You also must keep in mind that there is a chance the business could fail. As important as it is to keep an optimistic view, it’s important to keep in mind that the failure rate for new businesses is high. If it does fail, you will be out of a job with a debt that needs to be repaid. If you have your personal nances in order, you will be better prepared for that worst-case scenario. There are several proven strategies that can be taken advantage of to get your nances organized, but it all starts with an audit of what you have. You need to make note of how much you make, how much you spend, what your debt situation looks like and how much you have in savings. It’s also important to consider what you have put together for your retirement. This audit needs to be complete in order to make sure you are in a good position to start a business. Part of this process should be the consolidation of debt. This means gathering all the debt accumulated on credit cards, personal loans, lines of credit and the like, and putting them together in one place. A debt consolidation loan can be taken out to help, but any debt that can be paid o, should be. Keep in mind that debts don’t have to necessarily be eliminated, just kept under control. You should create a budget as soon as possible to help minimize your expenses. There are some things that not much can be done about, such as mortgage payments, car loans, property taxes and things like that, but there are other expenses that can get out of hand if attention isn’t paid to them. People are oen surprised at what can be eliminated or lowered without causing a signicant lifestyle disruption, just by setting a monthly budget. Talking to an investment broker will help determine what the right t is for investing the extra money you are saving, which could be stocks, high-interest accounts or other investment opportunities. It doesn’t matter what the investment is, but the sooner the strategy is started, the more money that will be available later on. Another strategy you can consider is nding ways to get extra income. You can do some freelance work on the side or withdraw some of the payouts from your investments. You could rent out a room in your house, or a cottage you only use a couple of times a year. Rental properties are a great way to earn some extra income without having to put in a lot of eort. "You should create a budget as soon as possible to help minimize your expenses. People are oen surprised at what can be eliminated or lowered without causing a signicant lifestyle disruption, just by setting a monthly budget. "Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Possible ChallengesOwning a company has the potential to be one of the most rewarding experiences in your life, but even though some people make it look easy, it’s far from it. There are challenges getting it o the ground and running it, both professional and personal, which you will need to face in order to make it work. Not everyone can tackle the challenges either, but knowing they are coming, and what they are, make it at least a little easier to face them. Here are a few to consider:Almost everyone who opens their own business has started their career by being an employee at another company. It’s during this time they might nd the motivation to become an entrepreneur or come up with the idea that changes their life. As tempting as it may be to walk up to the boss and quit as soon as inspiration strikes, it’s better to take things slow. While some entrepreneurs can do just that and nd success, for most, it doesn’t happen that way. Take the time to build the business idea and prepare for the nancial burden it will be for the rst couple of years. Only move forward with the plan when everything is in place. Moving too fast. Most jobs are well dened, and if something isn’t in an employee’s job description, they really don’t have to know how to do it and can pass the work on to other departments or subordinates. For business owners however, everything is their job. New challenges will pop-up they know nothing about, but it will be their job to gure it out. Talk to other entrepreneurs in the industry to nd out what some of those challenges may be, and what skills they had to learn to run the business properly. You can be better prepared for running your business if you take the time beforehand to learn the skills you will need. Not knowing what's needed.Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

No matter how prepared you are, you will nd yourself under a tremendous amount of stress when you launch, because running your own business brings a whole dierent kind of stress than working for someone. Instead of hitting deadlines, you will be more concerned about sales and nances, responding to customers’ questions and concerns, hiring employees, your website and many other things you hadn’t given a second thought to before. As the business expands, these stressors will only amplify. It’s hard to prepare for stresses like these because you’ve probably never had to deal with them before. You can, however, learn how to deal with them, learn how to address them one at a time and avoid not letting them build up. As you learn all the little intricacies about the business, you will discover the best ways to handle all the problems that pop up, and you will nd yourself thinking on your feet. You also need to make sure to nd time to do the little things you enjoy outside of work to help destress, otherwise you will be constantly wound up. It can be stressful. During the planning stages of the business you will inevitably set both short- and long-term goals, and even though a lot of time and eort may have been put into reaching those goals, the reality of it is, some of them may not be obtainable. It’s important to aim for the goal, but keep in mind that until the business is launched, it’s impossible to really know what to expect. It can go either way, too. Sometimes the business may reach the goal earlier than expected, and new long-term projections and goals will need to be made. It’s important to keep this in mind, because even if the business doesn’t meet the goals, it doesn’t mean the business should be closed. Goals are meant to keep people motivated and focused, but they aren’t the make-or-break point of success.Unattainable goals.Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

The Hurdles of Changing Careers Like anything in life, changing careers has its fair share of hurdles you will need to vault in order to succeed. Some of the hurdles are just part of the transition process and are expected, while others will come as a surprise. Becoming an entrepreneur may look easier than working for someone else, but the reality is that while things are dierent, things are going to be a lot harder than expected. The rst hurdle is the hardest for many people. Reality starts to sink in when you are on the brink of making the move. You realize you are giving up a regular paycheck, paid benets and paid vacations. Everything is now on your shoulders, which is scary. This realization is what stops a lot of people from moving forward. You need to take that rst step though, face the fear, and believe things will work out in your favor. To make the process less scary, ask yourself if it's something you can be comfortable with. Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it’s important to expect the best but plan for the worst. This doesn’t mean you plan to fail, just avoid failing to plan.It requires a leap of faith.When you hear how much the company you are working for has brought in in a single day, or see the big contract they just signed, you might be blinded by dollar signs and imagine that’s how much the owner of the business is making. Unfortunately, that’s simply not true. While the business may have made a lot in one day, and the contract looks good on paper, there are bills and taxes to pay, checks to sign, salaries to hand out and more. At the end of the day everyone gets paid before you will see a cent, which means everyone you hired is potentially taking home more than you are. This can go on for weeks, months and even years as the business starts up, which can be demoralizing. You're the last to get paid.Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Odds are you aren’t the only one relying on the success of the business. You will more than likely hire people to deal with the day-to-day functions of the company, who all need to be looked aer. They need to get paid on time and get enrolled in the right benets plan. You will be the one responsible for hiring and ring people, and if the business doesn’t do so well, you will be the one responsible for laying them o. You will hold your employees’ livelihood, and the livelihood of their families, in your hands. It’s a big responsibility not many can really understand until they are in the thick of things.People rely on you.While being the boss may be one of the driving factors for you to make the transition from employee to business owner in the rst place, the reality of what that means doesn’t really start to sink in until aer you’ve jumped into it. You will get all the credit when things go right but take all the blame when they don’t. When there is a problem, you will have to handle it. When something needs to be resolved, you need to come up with the solution. You will need to be the expert in all aspects of the business, because no one else will be. It's all up to you.Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers

Conclusion: Living the Dream vs. Living in RealityDeciding to launch a business at the same time as changing your career path is an ambitious, yet scary scenario. It’s a brave venture, given what's at stake. The road will be rough at times, but the challenge will be worth it. The question you will need to ask yourself though is, do you really know what you're getting into? You may be living the dream, but you need to remain objective and live in reality at the same time. You need to look at your plan through something other than rose-colored glasses. Over the years you might have romanticized about the career path so much that you can’t see it for what it is, but you need to clearly see if this career shi is truly for you. Some hard questions need to be asked, such as whether the product or service is needed, will the consumer pay for it, is there a consumer for it in the rst place? Look ve years into the future and ask the same questions to see if the product is a fad, or if it will last. It’s important to be as honest as possible, otherwise you might be wasting your time.For simplicity's sake, consider two main points on your career roadmap. Point A is where you are right now, and Point B is where you want to end up. While Point B may be the dream, the reality of the situation is you can’t get there without plotting a route. There need to be several points in between A and B, points that describe what the goal is, how to obtain the goal, how long it will take and more, and without them, you will end up lost. In most cases it’s not a direct route from A to B, and there will be plenty of detours along the way, but that’s all right. As long as you end up where you are planning to go, it doesn’t really matter if it takes longer than expected or what road is taken to get there. Beyond the dream, the readiness to take risks and the needed knowledge, if you are looking to change your career from employee to entrepreneur you will need one last thing: passion. While those other things are great and extremely useful, without passion you won’t go very far, and you won’t make your dreams come true. You need to look beyond your dreams to make sure the new path is something you can be and are passionate about. You can’t just dream about doing it, you need to do this. The reality of any career change is that it’s a hard thing to do. It takes more than dreams to get where you want to go, including preparation, research, planning and passion. Anyone can do it, but you need to make sure you keep one foot on the ground as your head soar the clouds. Franchise Grade | White PaperGuide to Changing Careers