Returning to Work

Although breaking from work for a significant time period can make you feel refreshed, it is daunting to join back with the same motivation and excitement. It is a common notion that a break helps put things into perspective, but it is far from reality. The longer the duration of staying away from work, the more difficult it gets to resume. The worst part is that the pending assignments that need immediate attention are pushed into further delay. It gets even worse when one is looking for a new job.

The reasons for taking a sabbatical from work could be many, like wanting time to recover from an illness, taking a break after having worked for a number of years, changing jobs, maternity leave, contemplating a change in the industry, getting married or settling down, or simply taking a break from work for the sake of it. Once you decide to work again, you will be asked a number of questions during the interviews: Why did you decide to take a break from work? What took you so long to decide to join back? What did you do while on a sabbatical? Are you sure you will be able to deliver and take on the pressures involved in the job work?

If you join back the company you were working for before deciding to take a break, things will be as difficult. You will have lost touch with the right people in the company. You may not realise it, but with a little bit of exploring, you can ease out the nervous anticipation and start like you had never left. Take up a part-time option before taking up a full-fledged job. It does not necessarily have to involve going from one place to another. You can work sitting indoors, by exploring an opportunity to work online. If you are a fresher with some experience, you have options like marketing, business and content development, HR, teaching, marketing communication, etc.

You should keep in mind that all of this may not guarantee recruitment, let alone starting a level lower than where you had left. The employers would always want to hire people who have on-job experience than the ones who don’t. These days many people are taking the franchise route too. It is a good option considering the initial hand-holding the franchisors provide, aside from lowering the risk involved owing to successful business models. The only dampener could be the initial investment that one is required to make. So, weigh these options carefully before taking on the mantle of starting work after an extended break. All the best!

Getting Investment.

The investment route to acquiring funds is a challenging route for a start-up. As investments are against equity rather than on collateral, the investors would be sharing the risk. Hence, the investor would be as interested in you as an entrepreneur, your vision and your commitment to the enterprise as he would in the assets you have created.

If you have a sufficiently innovative idea, you may approach angel investors who would help you at the starting stage. A commendable business plan too can help you arrange alliances and therefore obtain financing from them. Like bootstrapping and getting a bank loan, obtaining funds via investors has its share of challenges. In this day and age, having high-profile investors can give you new business credibility and contacts, which can help make your business a success. Though success cannot be guaranteed, it can provide you with a source of financing that can easily help make a more rapid growth.

You usually have to give up a large percentage of equity ownership in exchange of venture capital funding. This gives them a huge say in your business, which could put you under great scrutiny in your duties and earnings. When accepting this way of funding, you also have to agree to certain restrictions with the investors on things such as how you will pay yourself, how involved you will be in other operations and how much equity you will have to give up to your investors.

But more than the current assets, the investor would base the investment decision on the potentially inherent in your business to grow dramatically in the near future.

Growth Potential of your enterprise is measured in terms of your own commitment to your business, as you are the most important aspect of it. Investors will then determine the value of the concept, the potentiality of the market and your financial projections. The crucial aspects over which the final decision rests is the intangible value you have created in your business in terms of the brand, the goodwill with customers and the processes and systems put in place that deliver satisfaction to customers.

Your commitment to your enterprise will be viewed in terms of how much of your personal assets have been invested and whether you are dedicating all your professional time and attention to the business. The originality of the concept and the difficulty to replicate it will enhance investment prospects as it keeps you ahead of the competition. The size of the market is important to see if the growth plans would be supported by availability of targeted customers. These factors being default, investors will be keen to review the extent to which you have been able to build success in your business.

Write in to us for your views and opinions. Best of luck, Quitters!