Have you been thinking about quitting your job to work on your business full-time?
Maybe you’re wondering how long you need to blog before you even think about quitting? Should you just bite the bullet and go for it or take it slow?
But what if you’re impatient or don’t have the time to invest in our business AND job at the same time?
Phew! Luckily today I’m sharing my story and my tips with you on what I believe you should do! Let’s hit it!
I quit my job in June 2016 and I quit before I was ready and before I was making enough money from my blog to cover my basic living costs. So I calculated that I would need to make at least $300 a week to survive, and that’s a very minimal amount. I was making way more than that at my job but that was all that I needed to survive each week.
I also want to reiterate that I was willing to sacrifice a lot of stuff in order to make this happen. All the lunches and dinners with friends, going on road trips, and spending money on going out went bye-bye. But I was willing to eliminate it all just to make this happen.
So I quit my job in June with a couple of grand in savings backed up. And for two months after I quit, I didn’t make enough to cover those expenses, so that back up came in handy.
I’m just lucky in the sense that by the third month I was making enough to cover my basic living costs, like a survival amount. And each month after that, I was able to do it also.
But that didn’t happen with me just sitting on my butt and going, “Oh yes, like I went from this crappy amount to this amazing amount without doing anything!” I worked my ass off, I worked hard and did all-nighters. I would stay in my room and work all day, every day. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t glamorous, but I did the work because I wanted this more than anything else, and I still want it more than anything else, that’s what drives me.
However, it didn’t come without it’s dramas, like I have mentioned in a post before that, you know, things got low at some points, and it really screws with your mindset, it sends you into scarcity, and it’s a really unhelpful place to be, especially if you’re trying to build or grow a business.
So after saying that, after hearing my story, my advice to you if you are wanting to blog to build a business in order to make a living from it so you’ll replace your job, I would recommend:
1. Cut back your hours or go part-time
Either cut back your hours or get a part-time job or start selling a lot of stuff so that you’d have a lot of money to play with, sort of like loose cash.
The second thing I would do, if you’re going to go forward with quitting, quit when you can cover your living costs from your blog because there’s nothing worse than being worried about money. Honestly, there’s nothing. I’m sure you know, so quit when you can cover your living costs, and also have back up savings. So I had like a couple of grand back up, and I really recommend that you get as much as you can, under your belt, before you quit.
Yeah, so going back to the question of “How long do you have to blog before you quit your job?” – It’s not a case of how long; it’s just how hard you’re willing to work to make it happen, and then setting yourself up so that when it’s time to quit, you can cover yourself with minimal stress. Obviously, there’s going to be stresses in business, regardless, but if you can make it easier on yourself, go for it.
I know I’m being a bit of a down-buzz and probably not what you wanted to hear, but I kind of feel like a parent and want to tell you, “I have seen what happens if you go down this path, so I want to cause you the least amount of stress as possible,” but you know, at the end of the day, if you want to quit, if you want to take the risk, if you’re like me, do it!
Take the leap and just do it!
For me, when I quit, I said, “At the end of the day, if it all goes to shit, I can get another job, it ain’t the end of the world. It’s not like all jobs ever disappear and I can’t ever get another one.”
I have no regrets about what I did. I mean, yeah, it caused me a lot of stress that was totally unnecessary at times, but I honestly think I grew so much more from going through those situations than if I didn’t and done it the easy way and transitioned slowly.
But everyone is different and everyone has a place to do it. If it resonates with you, go for it, do that, make the transition from job to business as easy on yourself as possible. But if you’re a risk taker, go for that as well because it’s going to be exhilarating and fun and worse case scenario, you can find other work!
Have you quit your job yet or are you planning to quit your job soon? If so, what’s your strategy?
