Roman Jewell bombarded friends with peanut butter taste tests.
Roman Jewell is grinding nuts when he answers the phone at the Fix & Fogg factory in Wellington.
He spends his working day up to his elbows in peanut butter - but it has been a rapid transition. For almost 10 years, Jewell was a lawyer at a city firm. He began making peanut butter as a hobby, but it turned into an obsession, including forcing friends to take part in countless taste tests to hone the perfect recipe.
Jewell began to dream of turning his hobby into a career. He sold his first jar at a local market in August 2013 then took a deep breath and plunged from legal battles to a full-time career in the food business.
Today, his jars are stocked in 50 places and he has started exporting to Australia.
"It has been really fast, furious growth," he says. "I've swapped one grind for another."
At this time of year people's minds wander into daydreams of a career and life change. Resolutions are made, a new direction mapped, research is done and then ... well, quite often nothing.
If being your own boss appeals to you, you're not alone. The latest Small Business Sector Report, released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment this year, showed New Zealand had 460,000 small businesses, of which almost 70 per cent were sole traders.
But does ditching your day job to follow a dream really pay off? And if you're on the verge of taking the plunge, how can you give yourself the best chance of swimming, not sinking?
Jewell gave up his job teaching a professional legal studies course, a requirement for new lawyers seeking admission to the Bar, at the end of last year. He had previously been a commercial litigator in Sydney.
Finally signing off from fulltime employment was a matter of a deep breath and simply going for it, he says.
Roman and Andrea Jewell.
The tipping point was when Wellington's gourmet grocery firm Moore Wilson's picked up Fix & Fogg's peanut butter. To keep up with demand, Jewell had to get serious about production. "I went from doing weekend markets, half a day on Saturday and trying to make peanut butter at night, to being full-on as of January 1. We could make it work because my wife, Andrea, still had her income but there was a period where we were free-falling for a bit."
Jewell also had to invest in machinery. Andrea now works part time as a lawyer and helps Fix & Fogg with office work, tasting stalls at supermarkets, and at the markets. "It's full-on for both of us."
Lifestyle is one of the biggest motivators for many wanting to be their own boss.
This year's Small Business Sector Report found a third of people listed that as their main motivation. Julie Thomas, of Careers NZ, estimates that as many as 10 per cent of people re-evaluating their careers are considering starting their own business. "Like any option, it requires research and planning and in this case, serious business planning as well."
Do the career change maths and the figures are daunting.
MBIE data shows a quarter of enterprises with fewer than 20 employees fail within three years. Almost 70 per cent of sole businesses launched between 2001 and 2009 failed. Those employing one to five people had a 51 per cent failure rate.
Even if you can sustain your business, it doesn't mean a flood of easy money. The number of small businesses reporting profitability has increased, but only from less than 30 per cent in 2009 to almost 35 per cent today; small-to-medium businesses reporting profitability increased from 35 per cent to 40 per cent.
Thomas says it's important that people have the skills to make their dream work.
"Make sure you talk to people and take your rose-coloured glasses off. It's easy to say 'I'll work the hours I want and do something I love' but have you got the capital to start up your own business?"
Leadership coach Suzi McAlpine doesn't doubt the challenges - but says the rewards are there for people in unhappy careers and with realistic expectations. "I coach people who have had the courage to follow their dreams and almost every time it's ended up being positive."
But it's important to give any move a lot of thought before you jump. McAlpine encourages clients to talk to others in the field they want to get into and to read as much as possible.
"People should use their heads as well as their hearts. Once they've made their decision, most people seek information to back that up and help them decide it was the right one. So it's important to play devil's advocate," she says.
Also consider why you want to move. "There's a subtle difference between running away from a job you don't enjoy and running towards something you do enjoy."
McAlpine says it's worth thinking about whether you can remain in your existing field for a while to ease the transition. But it will always be a scary prospect.
"People who do it don't have a lack of fear but they look at the fear head on and think: 'Is it guiding me or stopping me from doing what I want to do?' Often they're scared but they do it anyway."
Another consideration is a back-up plan. The number of 40- to 49-year-olds who left self-employment - the age group with the highest rate doing so - was almost 5000 in 2012.
The older you are, the greater the risk in leaving an established career. So, career coach Kaye Avery says if you're going to leave, avoid the temptation to tell the boss where to stick it and carefully manage your exit.
"Remain performing even when you are disengaging while looking for new work."
She says it is harder for people who are over 50 to get a job interview.
"There is a prejudice against taking on the older worker.
"The majority of recruiters are in their 20s and they're going to screen out older workers, even if their CVs show years of service."
One of the biggest reasons people have for wanting to leave their job is that their managers don't recognise their potential or give them opportunities for development.
Avery recommends people consider which skills they have that are transferable to their new field. "If they're too obscure, it's not going to happen easily."
A job that had meaning became more important to people as they reached the middle of their working lives.
"If you're disillusioned, disheartened and disengaged, and have a very good idea about what you could be doing, making a change could be a good thing."
And then there's the stress to consider.
Avery says a major change of career is not advisable if it will negatively affect your family, or income when financial commitments can't be changed.
"The stress of reinventing one's career can be high and, for example, going into business is a risk that needs to be taken carefully and due diligence carried out thoroughly."
Jewell says the best advice is to take a measured, strategic approach.
When he finished his job, he sat down and drafted a strategy, looking at how many clients the company needed and which stockists would fit with the brand.
"A lot of small businesses, particularly food businesses, are not profitable.
"We looked hard at our expenses and fixed costs and got them as low as they could possibly be. Could we get a cheaper jar? Or smaller premises? That introspective look helped us."
Asking for help has also been essential. Fix & Fogg signed up with a mentoring system that matched them with someone who could offer advice.
"I'm a great lawyer but those skills don't necessarily translate. You need someone with business skills to give advice on how to do it.
"We signed up four or five months ago. I wish we had done it earlier as they could have given me so much more guidance."
Today, the lifestyle is more than the money. Jewell says he pays himself a meagre wage and invests most of what the company makes back into its growth.
But he's reaping other benefits. Although working for himself means the working day never really ends, there is a lot more flexibility, which helps when it comes to their 15-month-old son, Otto.
"If I want to start a bit later, I can. Otto and I go to the pool every Tuesday - that would have been a lot harder in my old job. That's special time."
Megan Sanders set up Pineapple Heads shampoo and bubble bath so she could spend more time with Jimmy. Photo / Michael Craig
Megan Sanders spent almost 20 years in advertising agencies in New Zealand, Singapore, Britain and Australia.
When her son, Jimmy, now 3, was born she was back at work by the time he was 3 months old. But she started to look at life differently.
"Being in a creative industry it's quite natural that one comes up with hare-brained ideas. And I have come up with a few in my time. I started looking at this amazing world of ours with a different lens."
Sanders, 43, says she discovered that a lot of children's hair and skincare products were full of chemicals and the natural alternatives were dull.
"Children don't live in a black and white world. Their world is full of insane colour, smell and laughter. That is when I started to conceptualise the idea that is Pineapple Heads."
The Auckland woman started the company two years ago - and now British supermarket giant Sainsbury's has accepted Pineapple Heads for a trial run on its shelves. Her work world is now more solitary - but there is more time for Jimmy. She wakes before he does in the morning to check the orders that have come in overnight, and during the day will meet buyers from supermarket chains, do samplings at supermarkets, talk packaging and fragrances with her team and fulfil online orders. Then she'll pick him up from daycare and spend time with him until he goes to bed, before she picks up her work again.
It has not been easy: a high-paid job in advertising has been replaced with worry about earning enough. " It used to be 'what shoes am I buying this month?' now it's 'what food am I buying?' I started taking my iPhone into the supermarket to calculate the cost of what's going into the trolley. I'd never had to do that before. "
But the change has huge benefits in others ways. "It used to be that I was dropping him [at daycare] at 7.30am before the gate was even open and he was often the last one picked up, then I'd have conference calls, often until 8pm and he'd be in front of the TV.
"It's a different pressure now but it's a nice one. I want to be the mum who picks him up. That's the goal. Most mornings I have to pinch myself that I am actually living the dream."
• Stop and think
Think about what drives you. What are your values, interests and passions? What will make you excited to get out of bed and go to work on Monday? Is how much you earn important? Then consider what makes you want a change. Do you really have a burning desire to own a vineyard, or is it just that you don't want to work at your current job a minute longer?
• Research
Will the reality live up to your expectations? Talk to people already in the field to make sure your dream is realistic. They may be able to offer advice on things they could have done better, or introduce you to contacts.
• Get advice
A career adviser or coach can offer an objective view and may be able to point out transferable skills you didn't realise you had. A mentor is invaluable. Business Mentors New Zealand offers a six-month start-up programme for $300.
• Plan
Before you do anything drastic, map out how you'll get from where you are now to your dream career. Do you need more qualifications or experience? Could you take a short course or pick up some volunteer work? Do you need to build some new networks? Is there a way to make the move in stages so you don't have to quit your current job completely?
• Have a survival fund
Unless you're debt and dependent-free, it's not a good idea to quit your job if you don't have some income or savings. Save six months of income as a back-up.
• Take a business start-up health check at business.govt.nz to assess whether you're ready to go it alone.
• Test your personality type at humanmetrics.com
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