Introduction:
Well the moment of reckoning is almost here! On January 23rd 2017 I will be giving my 2 weeks notice to my company, ending a 15 year career in high level IT.
I originally wanted to do this in the first week of January 2017 but things were delayed a bit because of some family issues that came up and I did not want to complicate my health insurance.
That health situation will be resolved this week so that will no longer be a hindrance (excuse).
It was actually a good thing because it motivated me to go out and buy personal health insurance for my family now.
Since I already paid the $850 dollars for the first month of February 2017 that is another helpful kick in the ass to quit on my deadline since I would be throwing away the money if I do not (I have full family coverage through work).
Here is the email from Blue Shield who happily accepted my dough.
I Am Nervous As Hell
I am in a really good position. Even though I am quitting a job that pays me about a $150,000 dollars a year, I have over a years worth of living expense saved up.
Not my retirement, not my investments, but actual cash set aside just for this purpose.
On top of that, even if I make the minimum in 2017 that I made in 2016 in my Internet business, that should cover at least 6-8 months of living expense. And of course I should earn way more in 2017 since I only worked 4-5 hours a week on my business because of the full time demands of my job.
But guess what? Even with all of that preparation I am still nervous as hell about quitting my job!
Overcoming the Fear of Quitting
Its tough to overcome fear. I think its the number one reason most people don’t even attempt to pursue their dreams.
Even logically knowing and understanding this it is still very difficult to quiet that voice that is whispering “What the hell are you doing!?”
So I have come up with some strategies to deal with this fear and make sure I follow through for myself.
The Examples of Others
Looking at what others have done that were in a similar position that I am in now helps. For every excuse I have their are examples out there of people who have overcome them.
For example someone who has inspired me to believe I can do this is Gregory Ortiz. You can find a brief bio on him here. But the bottom line is for every excuse I could come up with he already overcame something similar.
Lack of knowledge and expertise? He started in SEO and online business after I did.
Family to support? He also has one son like me (and I believe a wife at the time of starting)
Lack of funds? Greg was manager of Bed, Bath and Beyond and also living in NYC, one of the few places more costly than Los Angeles. I do not know how much he made at his job but I am guessing he did not save over a $100,000 in cash before quitting his job like I have.
The point of all this is no matter what excuse you make for yourself that you cannot do it, there is someone out there that has proven that excuse wrong.
Here are some of the main fears/excuses I had to overcome.
I cant risk quitting because we are a one income household
Now is there anyone else out there that was successful online in this same position? Of course there was. I found people who not only had a one income household but had a much bigger family to support than I do. I only have one son and one wife to support.
I cant risk quitting because I am not (_fill_in_the_blank) enough
Whenever I feel lacking in something. Lets say, I am not good on video how can I be successful online? I find someone out there that proves that wrong. There are of course plenty of people who make money online and do not ever appear on video.
Questioning your age? You will find teenagers, people over 50 and every age in between who have all made the successful transition to an online lifestyle business.
Using Rationale to Defeat Fear.
When fear creeps in it almost always imagines the worse scenario. What happens if you quit your job and all of a sudden your Internet business stops doing well?
What happens if the cost of having a business is to much and you do not make it?
What I have found works for me is to battle back these voices with strict rationale counter arguments.
For example I would counter to myself when having these doubts, “Look I have made x amount of money in my Internet business just working on it 4-5 hours a week so I just think how much I can make when I am working on it 4-5 hours a day!
Another rationale argument is imagining if the worse case scenario did come true how would it be dealt with.
The truth is if I absolutely bombed after one year of working on my own Internet business and went through all my savings I could always go back to work.
Now the job I have now is probably the best one I ever had and I will likely not get that exact job back. But I could get a very similar job with very similar pay at any time.
So the worse case scenario is a year from now I’m at another similar, but not quite as good job. That is a pretty low risk to take in exchange for one year off from work and giving myself a chance to pursue my dream lifestyle.
On the other hand I could just keep the comfortable job I am in now for the next 20 years, living unfulfilled knowing I never took that shot of going all in for my Internet Lifestyle business.
Strategic Self Pressure
One of the strategies I have used is to put myself in a position where its going to be very uncomfortable for me if I do not follow through and quit.
I did this by putting social pressure on the decision by not only sharing with family and close friends my plans to quit but what month I planned on quitting. This is a really good way to hold yourself accountable.
By telling my family and close friends enthusiastically about my plans they pretty much bring it up every time I see them. No one wants to be that person that tells people something they are going to do and than does not actually do it. It is kind of embarrassing and you will fight extra hard not to be in that position.
I also put pressure on myself by already putting things in place for after I quit date that cannot be undone.
For example I ordered and paid for Private Health Insurance to cover my family starting in February. If I don’t quit my job by that chosen date than I just threw away over $800 dollars.
Another useful tactic was choosing an exact date to quit. Before I would just say around the time I was going to quit. I finally narrowed down to the month. But what I noticed was there was ALWAYS a reason to extend it.
So I chose an exact date of January 23rd to give my 2 weeks notice. I even circled it on my calendar at home so I look at it every single day.
Even since I chose a specific date there have been more reasons that came up for me to postpone the quit date. But since I chose an exact date now, I have committed to that date regardless of the circumstances and will be following through.
Following My Path To Quitting Your Job
So what can you take away from this for yourself if you to plan on quitting your full time job and turning your part time Internet business into your full time passion?
Well first take note that I am very conservative with this. I planned this for over a year and like I mentioned have saved up a years worth of living expenses for me and my family. Even if I somehow failed miserably I should still not have to go back to work for at least one year.
So many people that do this are not as conservative about it as me. Part of that is my personality and the fact that I live in a very expensive place and I am the sole income provider for my family. If you have a low cost of living or no one depending on you it may make sense to be more aggressive with this.
Here are my suggestions to get going.
STEP 1: START YOUR BUSINESS NOW!
The first step I recommend you do is start an online side business today if you do not already have one! Do not wait to quit your job before starting your business. Use those evenings and weekends to validate your ideas and start generating profits.
I do not mean spending weeks trying to come up with a brand name, website etc.. All you need to be in business is a service or product and a customer. Go out and get that first customer!
STEP 2: OPTIMIZE YOUR DAY JOB
Next you need to optimize your day job while you still have it. So much time is wasted in a typical white collar work day, especially when you work for a large company like I do. Get obsessive about efficiency and getting the most impactful work done with as little time and effort as possible. This will not only free up more time for you to work on your side business but make you way more effective when you eventually go full time on your own.
STEP 3: EARN in YOUR SIDE BUSINESS
Now start earning money in your side business and be sure to keep all the money from your online profits separate from your personal or day job finances. Use only your business income to pay for your business expenses. You will than start to get a clear picture of how much profit you can expect from your side business (total revenue – cost) See if that is enough to live off of.
STEP 4: SAVE
Save like crazy! Again I am conservative and saved a years worth of living expense for myself and my family. Since we live near Los Angeles one of the most expensive cities in America and we live a pretty decent lifestyle that came out to over a $100,000. If that sounds like a lot of money do not let that discourage you. Much of that savings came from my side business while I was still working my day job. So if you have no savings start making money in your side business, save it and quit when you have a certain amount of months living expenses saved up.
STEP 5: SET DEADLINES
Make deadlines and stick to them! Give yourself an exact deadline to quit your job. A mistake I made was making my plan to quitting my day job to vague. Since there was no set date it kept getting delayed. There was always a reason to put it off a little longer. Now there is a set date of January 23rd 2017 and there is no getting around it. When that date comes its going down!
Conclusion:
If you are in a similar position I hope you found this article helpful. I am not going to lie. Even will all of this preparation, I am still in fear of quitting my job. It is the best job I have ever had and the most money I have ever made. But when I reflect on my life every time there was a big decision like this (especially career wise) I have always had some fear.
And every single time it has worked out. Every single time I have looked back and said, “Why did I not do that sooner?”
And the answer has always been fear.
Fear is a very powerful thing. Often we are more motivated by fear of loss than excitement for gain. The question you have to ask yourself is, “What is on the other side of this fear?” Is it the life you have always dreamed of?
After all you know what life will be like if you stay where you are.
I do not know about you but I am very excited to find out.