Plans and goals and pitfalls

I got thinking this morning about planning ahead in order to establish a 'get out' point. This has much to do with those of us who have forsaken the life of an employed person and taken the entrepreneurial path. We have a few dollars put away that we believe will cover expenses of day to day living and give us time to get our enterprise reasonably well established. How often does that dream 'fall flat?' We have longed for the day when we can say goodbye to the boss, the 'hated' job and at last be "free." The truth often is that "freedom" comes at an enormous cost. There's no regular pay day. All costs are yours, sales [revenue], come much later after the marketing, supply chain, warehousing and so on have to be paid for. If you are in the digital products arena, trust me, those expenses still exist, maybe in a slightly different format. Often you work considerably longer hours than as a paid employee. Here's where I think many budding entrepreneurs really fall over: They do not have an exit strategy [a plan for failing]. There are always signals [some early on] that indicate that the money is starting to run out, but usually there's no "line in the sand" that tells you it is time to quit and go back to the ranks of the employed. More often than not that decision becomes a banker's or accountants decision; liquidation or bankruptcy - or the dole queue! Most people who get trapped like this are usually in the mid to upper regions of pay scales. They do have discretionary money to go into a savings plan [ to be used to fund....a business, a house, holidays, retirement etc]. Over time those savings can be the difference between being truly "free" than the illusion of being self employed. It just takes discipline, forbearance,a little humble pie perhaps to get you there. Of course no job is guaranteed for life - nether is being in business. An example: A colleague [ corporate] had put himself in a position about 10 - 15years out from retirement that enabled him to save a substantial portion of his monthly salary toward his dream life. He subsequently took early retirement and has been travelling around Australia for some years with his 4WD and luxury off road camper. His funds are continuing to earn for him so he has no fear of going broke. He is one very happy man. Other options such as the MLM industry offer promises of that freedom too. Full of acronyms and cute phrases such as job becoming "just over broke"; TV becomes the "electronic income reducer" [time wasted watching could be better put to use prospecting], and so on. There are of course thousands who have prospered as entrepreneurs and MLM success stories, and millions who have failed. Whichever path you decide to take [ or have taken], make sure you have a clear plan or set of goals that are in alignment with your dream life. I suggest you include a "get out" plan as well. The numbers [finances], don't lie. As my boss always used to say, you cannot manage what you can't measure. Even God has a plan!