Here’s a favorite topic of mine….Many people ask me when should they leave their corporate jobs. I respond, “if you have to ask, then you need to stay.” Becoming an entrepreneur is incredibly rewarding, but you have to be ready. The pressure is immense, and the accountability stares you right in the face everyday.

There are two levels of readiness:

1. Commitment
2. Experience

Commitment is the utter will of wanting to be an entrepreneur, having a passion-driven mission that no one, not even your mother, can talk you out of. You know what you want. You know it will work. You know it HAS to be done. Bill Gates had that commitment. How many people do you know who would drop out of Harvard? That kind of motivation can overcome any lack in #2.

Experience counts for quite a bit. It builds confidence, a track record of success that you can always lean on in lean times. Knowing that you’ve been stretched beyond your limits and still succeeded makes the approach to entrepreneurship real. It’s not the kind of experience of telling others what to do without getting your hands dirty. It’s the kind of experience that comes with having to be accountable for results when you have no help. When the task is so daunting that you have absolutely no idea how you’ll complete it at the outset. But you come through. You know you can. You’ve done it before. That’s experience.

So when should you stay at your corporate job? When you don’t have the above two items. Some people believe in getting a job in an entrepreneurial organization to get exposure. If that’s your transition step, then fine, but it’s not necessary. You can get the experience you need at your corporate job.

When you have both experience and commitment, jump ship. Don’t wait. Don’t overthink it. You’ll save yourself the aggravation of regret later in life. Ask yourself this question: what’s the bigger risk, depending on yourself, or some dim-witted supervisor whose whim drives your day? Know when–then take that leap of faith. You’ll find, win or lose, it’s worth it.

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