I had a lot of reasons to fear leaving my job and starting my own consulting business.
My dad tried to start his own business right after I graduated high school. When things didn't work out, it was a blow to his pride he never quite recovered from.
I grew up poor, and way before my dad tried to start his own business, my family was homeless and survived on food stamps and government cheese.
Those experiences meant having a steady paycheck and non-subsidized cheese in the fridge is a big deal to me.
But the biggest concern about starting my own company?
Health insurance.
By the time I started my company, I had been getting consulting clients on the side for about a year, so I was reasonably sure my family wouldn't starve—but health insurance was another matter.
My employer paid 100 percent of my family's health insurance premium, which was incredibly generous, and needed. Though I'm fortunate to have a healthy family, my youngest daughter has a history of seizures, and my son is, well, a son. He has an affinity for sharp tools and anything he can ride, flip, or do a "180" on. We've had multiple rounds of playground-related stitches, and a reattached fingertip after one incident with the neighbor's bushes and electric garden shears.
The challenge of replacing our health insurance was further complicated by being a one-income household. My wife had spent the prior 12 years as a stay-at-home parent, and I was the sole income earner and benefits provider. If I was going to start my company, we needed an alternate plan for health insurance.
For us to make the leap into entrepreneurship, my wife would have to reenter the workforce. Fortunately, the owner of our local startup incubator hired my wife as the facility's first community manager. Her new job meant we now had health insurance, which allowed me to become a full-time entrepreneur.
Other would-be entrepreneurs aren't as lucky as we were.