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Note to readers: This post marks the beginning of this blog officially being an interactive business blog. Future “meaty” posts on Startup Launchr will include Classrooms™, an interactive presentation such as the one included above. For more on Classrooms, click here.

You’ve got that million-dollar business idea, and can’t wait to put it to action.

This idea probably came to you in less time than it takes to snap your fingers at first. But you’ve nurtured this concept, and over time its evolved from a vague idea to a full-grown brainchild.

You’ve taken down your notes, and whatever spare time you have are spent with visions of your new company up and running. Any book with “how to” and “start business” on its front cover probably catches your eye. You’re thinking about subscribing to Entrepreneur magazine (if you haven’t already done so) and follow a huge set of blogs about business.

And there’s only one thing stopping you from pulling off this plan of yours.

“I Can’t Let Go Of My 9-5.”

What you do doesn’t really matter here; the fact is, you spend a huge chunk of your time and energy on something other than a business of your own

Maybe you’re a student in college or high school, and find it hard enough to balance school and social life.

Maybe you work a full-time day job, and can’t afford to give up the security of a steady paycheck coming in every couple of weeks.

Maybe you’ve read the statistic that only 1 out of 100 businesses manage to live for ten years or more (90% of all businesses fail within the first five years. And out of those that survive, 90% fail within the next five years), and are worried what you would do should your business not make it past that cutthroat statistic.

For one reason or another, your main responsibilities are holding you back from achieving your aspirations of entrepreneurship. And you really, really want to get started.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re thinking about starting your own business but aren’t quite ready to give up your day job just yet.

Here are four reasons to consider why starting a small business while holding on to your day job can be a good thing for you.

Learn Through Action

Before you walked, you had to crawl. Before you swam a lap around the pool, you had to wear floaties. Before you rode that ten speed mountain bike, you had to ride one with training wheels.

In the same sense, before you run your own company effectively, you have to learn the intricacies of business first. And what better way to learn the ropes than to launch and run a company on the side?

In the same way you’ll never learn how to ride a bike just by reading a book, you’ll never fully grasp the principles of running a business until you actually start one. You could read all the books about entrepreneurship that you want to, and that’s fine. But the longer you delay applying your knowledge, the bigger the chances that you won’t ever apply it.

So go ahead; start a business. You’ll never get anything right on the first try anyway, no matter how hard you work at it. Live and learn.

You Start Small — Naturally

Successful businesses are never built overnight. Once they introduce their product/service to the market, companies that make it listen to what the market is saying and tweak to accommodate for their needs. This could mean changing your pricing structure, decreasing your turnaround time, improving current services, offering new products, or changing your entire business structure all together.

When you’re launching a business on the side, chances are you won’t have the resources to go after the overnight payday. You’re almost forced to start small and make necessary improvements as you go. Not to mention, a steady paycheck means you have a continuous source of funding in the case that you need to invest more in your business.

Earn More Money

A lot of people work a second job (sometimes, even a third) as means of getting extra income, so why not launch a business instead? A good business is something automated, can run and make money without you having to be there. What better way to earn more money than something you have to put in a couple hours a day for?

And once you grow it into something bigger, you’ll eventually get yourself freedom from your day job (and everything else that motivated you to go into business in the first place!). Hell, it sure beats having to clock in during the weekend.

Failure Is Impossible

Your business could end up being a flop, but you will never be a failure. You won’t be worrying your head off wondering how to pay next month’s rent. You’ll still have a job to go back to and a paycheck coming in your bank account regularly.

Of course, by starting small, you’ll see if your business idea is actually a viable idea. Somewhat related to the first point, you’ll be able to test for yourself if the marketplace will bite. If it doesn’t; no harm done, really. Just take the lessons you’ve learned and apply it to your next business. You won’t lose your shirt with a failed venture, and even if you’re at the risk of doing so you can bounce back much faster than someone starting from square one and doesn’t have a job.

At the worst extreme, you’ll find out entrepreneurship isn’t for you and decide that you’re much content being an employee than an entrepreneur (which is completely fine; nothing against employees because they make the world go round).

Conclusion

You’ll get the feel from this article that being a sideline entrepreneur means starting with a small business. And it’s easier than you thought. You don’t have to pour tens of thousands of dollars to start a business — in today’s online world, all you need is a website, a few hours of your time, and a good idea (which we’ll be discussing in the next few articles).

Scared money don’t make none, they say. And it’s true.

But I’ll be first to say that smart money makes a boatload of cash.

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