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Starting your own business can sometimes seem like a circus, with you assuming one of two roles. Perhaps you're a juggler, preferring the security of keeping three balls going at once: a full-time job, your own business and your social and family obligations. But, unless you're a magician, something usually has to give. Or you may be more like a tightrope walker who is working without a net: You quit your job, throw yourself headfirst into your new business, and hope for the best.

If you're serous about starting your own business, you must pick one of these roles before you begin. However, there are right ways and wrong ways to do it, and if you take the time to prepare properly, you can streamline the process as much as possible.

Are You Ready for This?

First, you must consider your personality before making your move. Some people work better knowing they'll have some money coming in. If you fit into his category, you might consider taking a part-time job that will pay for your living expenses while you devote your attention to running your new business.

Another option is to save as much money as you can before you make your move, while never letting the goal of owning your own business out of your sight.

Kirsten Gehlbach did just that. Gehlbach, president of Results Marketing/Communications, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, worked on a fast-track career path after graduating with a degree in finance and business administration. She worked for an aerospace firm in Los Angeles, for a small ad agency, and then for a medium-sized book distributor. All along, she never lost sight of her goal to have her own business. She didn't think it was going to happen so quickly, but corporate politics pushed her toward her goal sooner than she expected.

Gehlbach doesn't consider herself a juggler; the 70-hour weeks she put in at her previous job left no time for that. With her business and financial background, she was very methodical about making her move.

"I prepared a business plan and shared it with several professional friends for their comments," she says. "then I gave six weeks' notice; I don't burn any bridges.

"Trying to juggle while developing sales for my business would have been nearly impossible, as I felt I had made a commitment to the company to finish out my tenure there." However, Gehlbach did make contacts during those six weeks, and she was able to pick up a few clients that way. "I jumped all at once," She says, "but before I jumped, I made sure there were people out there who knew what I was going to be doing."

Leaps and Bounds

Francesca Gern is president of body Sculpting by Exterior Designs Inc., in Cleveland. The organization is a nationwide exercise program that reaches students through community schools, franchises, and corporation. Gern started juggling her own business with her long-standing job as a bailiff at the Cleveland justice center. But it was a tragedy that finally made her decide to run her business without the support of a full-time job.

"In 1984, my boss died and I got laid off," says Gern. "Outside of work I was teaching personal fitness training and had a couple of clients a week, but I didn't have a chance to expand when I was working full time. I had a business plan already developed and I knew how much to charge and how to get clients, but I needed something to kick me out of the next."

Although Gern had the confidence it took to go into business, that doesn't mean she was confident every step of the way. "For the first four months, I went through an anxiety attack every day because of my financial situation," she says. "I had my retirement money to use, but there was a great deal of uncertainty about whether this was going to take off."

Five years later, Gern's business had grown to nationwide proportions, something she didn't envision in those early months. Now, she is in the process of franchising her body-sculpting workshops and is working with Ohio's state officials on a certification program that would put her stamp of approval on instructors in health clubs. She also published manuals and, like Gehlbach, didn't burn her bridges when she struck out on her own. "Today, I share my offices with some of the attorneys I worked with at the justice center," she says.

Sometimes deciding whether to jump or juggle depends on how you've operated best in your previous jobs. Are you used to juggling a dozen things at once, or do you work best focusing all your attention on one task and then moving on to the next item on your agenda?

If you're good at juggling, it may give you a head start in your business. In order to succeed, you will ultimately have to concentrate on running your business "with blinders on," as entrepreneurs frequently cite single-mindedness and the ability to focus as the keys to success. Working for yourself entails both juggling and focusing, so it helps to have skills in both areas.

Flexible Freelancers

Freelancers, whether they are consultants, writers, or bookkeepers, are frequently excellent jugglers. They display a great deal of flexibility and know-how to do whatever is necessary to make things work for them. They also know what working for themselves means. But they can be great jumpers too.

Virginia Blackert owns Proper Hill Publishing Inc., which publishes three regional magazines within the state of Vermont: Woodstock Common, Vermont Seasons, and Stowe County. Her publishing empire began as one of several freelance projects. Yet when Blackert saw that the magazine projects were very lucrative, she gave up juggling and phased out her other clients so she could concentrate full time on magazines.

Blackert, whose background is in writing and public relations, used to work at a local advertising agency. One of the agency's accounts was Stowe County, a magazine published by the Mount Mansfield Co. In Stowe, Vermont. When she left her job to begin freelance writing, Blackert took on the magazine as one of her clients. Before long, Mount Mansfield decided to take the magazine in-house, so Blackert decided to start her own magazine which would be centered on her community, Woodstock, Vermont. She put together the magazine, Woodstock Common. Unlike most magazines, she actually made a profit on the first issue.

Blackert held a number of freelance jobs in order to keep Woodstock Common afloat. Meanwhile, the magazine kept getting bigger and bigger. "It became much more than a second income," says Blackert, "and the local businesses loved it."

Blackert took on one last freelance project that allowed her to save money and devote herself completely to her magazine. "I wrote during summer and fall, 80 hours a week. But when I was finished, I had $10,000 in the bank, free and clear, and I lived on that for the next year. I quit all my freelance jobs and worked at the magazine and nothing else."

Blackert's juggling - and jumping - has paid off. Woodstock

Common is a success, as are her other magazines. Interestingly enough, a few years after the Mount Mansfield Co. brought the Stowe County magazine in-house, they decided that they couldn't make money at it, so they offered it to Blackert. She bought it, and it has thrived under her leadership.

Should You Jump or Juggle?

"If you go to work for yourself, there are a few privileges and quite a few drawbacks," Blackert says. "It's hard work, you're the one who's totally responsible, you're thinking about the business 24 hours a day, and you don't have someone who's going to pay your insurance and sick leave. There are trade-offs, and to me the biggest trade-off is my personal freedom." Her advice for others making the decision to jump or juggle? "Learn to use your time, and save as much money as possible."

Francesca Gern agrees. "You need at least a four-month supply (of money) in case things don't go the way you want," she says. Running a business is chock-full of variables, so even if you decide to jump all at once, you ultimately end up juggling your time and responsibilities. She adds, "Give yourself solid objectives and stick to them. And don't deviate from your budget or else you'll get in trouble."

Kirsten Gehlbach says, "I saved up three months' worth of money, but I would recommend saving much more than that if it's possible."

She adds that if you're even contemplating starting a business, you should prepare a detailed business plan, based on very conservative estimates. "Figure your expenses and double them. Then figure your sales, cut them in half, and see where that leaves you."

Perhaps the most important considerate when deciding how to approach your business is your home life. "Starting your own business requires an incredible time commitment," warns Gehlbach. "If you have family or another person to support you for a while, it definitely helps. Also, if you don't thinks of it as all-consuming, the business won't be a success, because it takes 100 percent focus and commitment to make it."

So if you're starting your own business, look for the net before you jump, or make sure you're warmed up when you start juggling. Either way, running your own business can be like running a three-ring circus.

Distributed by Singer Media Corporation