Are you an executive dreaming of entrepreneurship?

Even if you were to say “yes” as it applies to your corporate job, defining yourself this way is much different when it comes to operating a business. You don’t have someone in your immediate vicinity to push you, compete with you, take interest in whether you achieve your goals or not, praise you when you do something amazing, or have a serious conversation with you in a situation where you could have done better. It’s all up to you to play these various roles when you’re a business owner.

It usually takes a few years of throwing yourself into a business for it to become stable enough that you can cut back to 40 hours a week and still be successful. Chances are, you already have been working this kind of schedule in your corporate job. But keep in mind that hours spent working at the level of immersion you’ll experience getting a business off the ground might feel different from spending that same amount of time at a corporate job where some of the hours go toward interacting with coworkers, preparing for big meetings, traveling on the clock, supervising staff and other tasks. Your time will most likely be spent on brain-challenging tasks like educating yourself how to do things you’ve never done before.

When you first go into business for yourself, there is no safety net. You don’t have a supervisor you can consult for feedback on making a big decision. You don’t have coworkers you can bounce ideas around with. You just have to decide on your own. If you’re someone who struggles with decisions and likes to research them thoroughly, you will need to build in time for yourself to be comfortable. On the other hand, if you like to make snap decisions and then you sometimes regret not thinking them through, that could put your business at risk as well. You’ll want to be very purposeful about how, when and why to make decisions, and surround yourself with trusted advisors who can help you sort out your thoughts.

You’ll be moving away from the structure that was built into your job description. Now it will be up to you to plan every single aspect of what you do each day. You’ll have to set up a schedule and determine deadlines, and then force yourself to meet those time commitments. You’ll have to organize all of the processes and procedures you use in your business, including business development or sales, onboarding new clients, fulfilling client obligations, invoicing, collecting payments, paying bills, marketing and so many other responsibilities. Planning and organizing are key.

Handling all the moving parts of operating a business will be challenging until you get established and bring in help, whether that’s in the form of contractors, employees or both. Getting to that point will take dedication, a strong will and a lot of faith in yourself and your mission. You want to be sure you’re up for the challenge.

Before you jump into this endeavor, you’ll want to do your homework and make sure you thoroughly understand the market for what it is you’ll be selling. Maybe you’re thinking of jumping out on your own because you’ve already noticed a need for a product or service. Be sure to research it anyway. You’ll want to have a steady stream of contracts and not just one or two, and to do that you’ll need to thoroughly understand your potential customer base.

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Give this some serious thought. Your competitors might not even do the same exact thing you do. Sometimes competition comes in the form of time, effort or dollars spent rather than head-to-head comparisons of a product or service. For instance, you might sell a service to clients who have to choose between spending money on what you offer or buying something completely different that will accomplish similar results.

Do you have the financial stamina to get through the possibility of a long ramp-up time? New businesses typically take about three years to get into a groove, and you have to keep your eyes focused on the long-term. Do you have enough faith in your business that you are willing to take a financial risk to make it come to life?

Are you going to have to alter anything about your life, like the time you spend with your partner or the time or money you can devote to childcare or elder care? Will this new endeavor take you away from daily or weekly family routines, will it affect your ability to take vacations or weekends off, will it prevent you from tucking your children into bed? Or will it improve your situation? Make sure your family is on board. There is nothing more stressful than going into business for yourself without the support and faith of your loved ones.

You might start your business with clients or customers already lined up, but what happens when those contracts are fulfilled? What if there is a lag time between contracts or a gap between when you invoice and when you receive payment? Do you have a financial backup plan for paying your bills if you hit hard times? You want to think you won’t need this because you know you’ll be successful … but plan for it anyway because you never know when your business is going to hit unforeseen circumstances.

When you’re in a job, you typically work in a defined ecosystem of people, and you’ve learned how to adjust to the idiosyncrasies of each individual. When you’re on your own, you will be establishing new relationships with prospective customers, the people who work for your customers, your service providers, your vendors, any employees or contractors you might bring in and so many others. Instead of relying on years of relationship-building and adapting, you will have to adapt to new personalities every day at first. It helps to know your own traits, perhaps through personality assessments, and understand how to work through any issues that might come up. After all, your business model might be all about a product or service, but the success of your business will be all about people.