Do you spend a lot of time thinking about How to Quit Your Job and Start Your Own Business?
If you do, then you’re probably unhappy with one of the following:
- Your job
- Your salary
- Your lack of freedom
- Your limitations in your job
There are more and more people looking for ways to start their own business. Especially since technology has changed the job market drastically and there are so many “unemployed” and “under-employed” people or those who are simply staying in a job they hate just for security.
Sound familiar?
The problem with staying in a job just for “security” is that you are giving away the possibility of what could be. The reason people stay in unhappy jobs and situations is because they don’t have the answer to what could be. And we all know that our fear of the unknown is huge.
I was teaching a class years ago called “Quit Your Job and Follow Your Dreams” and I had an attorney in the class who said, “Michelle, I have a 6-figure corporate job and even though I hate it, I just can’t leave. I’m not like you, I’m not a risk taker.”
Well, that’s one way of looking at it. This attorney interpreted leaving the security of her miserable, but secure corporate job as “risk taking” because she didn’t want to trade in the known for the unknown.
Here’s another way to look at it…
Start creating a new life on the “side” slowly and deliberately.
You don’t have to wake up tomorrow and quit your job, but if you are fantasizing about a new life and it doesn’t involve your current job, than that is your internal guide telling you that something is missing in your life — listen to it!
Here are my 6 Tips for how to quit your job and start your own business:
- Create an Exit Strategy – Instead of “fantasizing” about how to quit your job and start your own business — start creating your exit strategy. The number one reason people don’t quit jobs they hate is money and the second reason which is tied to the first is job security. So start planning your exit strategy by answering these 3 questions: What type of business do I want to start? How much money do I need to start that business? How can I start right now? Once you answer those questions, then you can start taking small steps every week to move towards that. Right now I’m working with an attorney who wants to become a full time ghostwriter. She’s had her own firm for over 20 years and she’s mentally done! Within 2 weeks of working with her, she got her first ghostwriting job and the second one is being lined up right now. So you don’t have to make huge changes or take big risks, just move in the direction of what you want to do by taking small calculated risks. My client had no idea how to get ghostwriting clients, so she hired me to work with her in creating her online presence and getting clients in my year long Mentorship program.
- Make Your First $100 or $1000 – That’s right! Whatever you “think” you want to do, go out and earn your first $100 or $1000 and see if you like it. The worst thing would be to quit your job and hate your new business. It’s better to test out the waters. After my attorney client got her first ghostwriting job I asked her how she felt doing the writing project and she said she absolutely loved it! Even with all that she had going on during that time, she said she knows this is what she wants to do. Don’t guess at it, go out and actually earn money doing it. That is what a calculated risk looks like.
- Invest in a Mentor to Speed Things Along – The only short-cut I’ve found to success and minimizing the learning curve is to work with a highly qualified mentor. If you really don’t know what you want to do, but you just know you hate your job, then work with a Career Counselor. If you know what you want to do, then find someone who is doing that and hire them to mentor and coach you. I promise it will cut months and possibly years off doing it alone. The problem with doing anything alone is we lose momentum and we have no accountability. When you are paying a Coach/Mentor, I promise you that you will take action because your money is involved. So go out and find a great mentor to work with!
- Play the 9 Lives Game – We’ve all heard that cats have 9 lives, right? So pretend like you’ve been given 9 lives. What would you be/do? Would you become a writer, an artist, a race car driver, a make-up artist, a interior designer, a Coach? Play the fantasy game here and see what comes up for you. Our fantasies often lead us to things that are missing in our lives.
- Create Multiple Streams of Income – If you’ve had a job for a long time with one stream of income, it’s time to start thinking differently. If you lost your job tomorrow you would lose everything, right? So when you create your own business, start thinking about multiple streams of income within that business. For example, I have an online business and I have several streams of income as follows: Recurring income from my year long mentorship program, recurring income from my website design clients, royalties from my books on Amazon, income from my Amazon Bestseller Program, and income from my online courses. I’m not relying on one source of income and it’s what I call “income diversity”!
- Don’t chase the money, chase the LOVE — A lot of people make the mistake of starting a business that can make them a lot of money. This is the wrong approach because without that internal love and passion for what you do, you’ll just create another “job” for yourself and then you’ll be fantasizing about quitting your own business. Instead think about what you would love to do even if someone didn’t pay you for those services. If you keep getting hung up on the money, then “pretend” like you have $10 million dollars in the bank…what type of business would you start?
For years, I taught my class How to Quit Your Job and Follow Your Dreams and last year I released my bestselling book, “Quit Your Job and Follow Your Dreams: A 12 Month Guide to Being Joyfully Jobless.” I highly recommend you pick up a copy of my book because I’ve been where you are and I’ve been able to have an online business that gives me both time and money freedom. I can show you how to do the same.
How to Quit Your Job and Start Your Own Business doesn’t have to take years to achieve. You can literally be out of a job you hate and into a life you love in 12 months or less with the right support, encouragement and help!
You deserve to be happy…
