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Seven Greatest Ideas for
Taking the Plunge

Introduction

I know it is an old cliche, taking the plunge, but it is the most apposite phrase to use
when you are contemplating emerging from gainful employment with an employer
who looks after most of your material needs and starting up the business of your
dreams. Apposite because it is scary the first time you do it, you know there is going
to be a cold shock as you hit the water and of course people do drown. The other
similarity is standing on the diving board looking down. Shall I, shan't I?

Here are some ideas proposed as, in the main, things you can do before you
leap. From understanding the need for short- and long-term thinking, Idea /, to
literally buying yourself out of a big company - Idea 5.

Idea 1 - Know that two heads are better than one

Later in this section you will have the opportunity of assessing your own suitability
for being on your own, but I have first to report from observation and from conver-
sations with people who have done it very successfully that the top person in a new
and growing company needs to have two heads, either literally or metaphorically.

The problem is the old one of balancing the pressures of today against the
longer-term thinking required to build the dream, and it looks like this:

1. Without a long-term strategy companies run the risk that decisions they are
making today will have a negative impact on results in the future.