Making the transition from employee to entrepreneur can seem daunting.

Perhaps you think that one has nothing to do with the other. If you are new to business ownership, you might think that you are starting from scratch.

Good news!

You have been preparing for entrepreneurship throughout your career as an employee – but, maybe you just haven’t realized it yet.

Here are 4 ways you can leverage what you have learned as an employee to make a successful launch into business ownership…

1.    Figure out what you care about

You’ve spent enough years compromising your ideals in favor or furthering other people’s agendas.

Now that you’re finally striking out on your own, you get to call the shots.

That means creating products and services that mean something to you, and running a company based on your personal values and ethics.

Hopefully, during your career as an employee, you learned a lot about how you’d like to run things if only you were in charge. Or, at the very least, you have a clear idea of how you don’t want to do things.

Being a business owner is intense and demanding work, so make sure your entrepreneurial goals include doing something you care about.

Believing in your business on a deep level will help you get through the tough times (and there will be tough times).

2.    Redefine success on your terms

We all want to be successful, but what does success mean, anyway?

If you work for someone else’s corporation, success is pretty much mapped out for you. You get a promotion, a raise, a job title, a corner office… and you’re called successful.

But when you are in business for yourself, these things quickly become meaningless.

Why do you really want to start a business? Is it all about money? Is it about being in control of your career? Is it about making more time for your family? Is it about making a difference in your community? In the world?

You’ve probably heard about finding your “why” – this is what that part of the process is all about.

Whatever your “why”, be sure to define success on your own terms, and be okay with not following the herd on this one.

3.    Take inventory of your skills

You picked up many skills during your years as an employee.

Chances are, if you’re like most people, you know more than you think you know.

Many of your skills were not clearly defined or valued when you worked for someone else, so maybe you think you don’t have these skills.

For instance, maybe as an employee, you never managed a team. So, you never enjoyed the title of supervisor, or team leader, or manager, or something like that.

However, you did spend a lot of time communicating with and coordinating suppliers and seeing a project through from start to finish. Maybe you silently trained some interns or new recruits when no one was looking.

What you were doing all along was picking up leadership skills that will benefit you when you want to run your own company.

When you launch your business, take careful stock of what skills – both hard (technical) skills and soft (transferable) skills – and find out where your strengths and weaknesses truly lie.

Make sure you take full advantage of the skills you’ve acquired over the years, and be honest with yourself so that you can get help or improve upon the skills you are lacking.

4.    Network

Over the course of your career as an employee, you were likely building a network of professionals that can help you get your business up and running.

You may or may not have a strong or large network, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Make a list of who you know and reach out to learn more about them and where they are at professionally. Your goal is to form meaningful relationships that will help your business grow.

You might want to join a professional networking organization, seek out meetups of like-minded entrepreneurs, or look to social media to find your tribe.

These people will ultimately become your support, your potential clients, your suppliers, your mentors, and your contractors. Businesses don’t prosper in a vacuum, so make sure you give your company the best chance at survival by building a solid and stable professional network.

Making the transition from employee to entrepreneur can be a challenge. However, there are many ways your old life as an employee can prepare you for life as a business owner. For one thing, now that you’ve experienced business as an employee, you can finally make your own decisions and do something you care about, instead of following the agenda of others. You now have the opportunity to redefine success, regardless of what mattered most when you worked for someone else. You picked up lots of skills along the way, both hard technical skills and soft transferable skills. Some of these skills might not be as obvious to you as others, but chances are, you know more than you think you know. And finally, you can leverage your network. Start with what you have and build upon it so that you have a strong support group that will help you grow your business.