Working full time and running a part-time business? How do I move forward ?

There are positives and negatives to running a part-time business while holding down the day job, of course. Most obviously, there will still be money coming in to pay the bills and give yourself a well-earned treat occasionally.

While you need to keep your day job until such time that sales grow in your business, very often the fact that you have the day job prevents you from putting the time in to grow the sales to allow you to move full time into your own business.

So there is an apparent conflict which goes around in a continuous circle. Only you can provide the answer.

If your sense is that you could grow your own business significantly if you only had the time, then you need to start stepping away from your job. If you can do this gradually, ie by stepping back to three or four days initially, this would be fantastic as it would allow you the security of full-time work.

If you can't do this phased approach, then you will have no choice but to conduct a serious review of your business plan to see if it could be viable long term.

Don't forget that, in the right circumstances there is grant assistance to encourage people to start their own businesses and other supports like mentoring to give specific advice.

Look at the grant section of your Local Enterprise Office and it will give you some idea of the type of supports available.

My experience of trying to run a business on a part-time basis is that it is extraordinarily difficult to make it work.  Growing a business needs lots of focus and time.

Your clients will very quickly pick up if you can't dedicate enough of your time to the enterprise.

If you have any queries in relation to either starting your own business or growing an existing business please email jfenelon@rda.ie or ring 053 9170507.