Prerequisites to quitting a job?

[inputchip]

Hi fastlane family, I am hoping some of you will be generous enough to impart some of your wise words.

I am a mechanical engineer stuck in a 9-5 job with little room for advancement. I have had what I consider a culmination of events that has climaxed into a FTE. I’m ready to move on. I’m bound and determined to do better, to be better.

I have been spending the last few months squeezing in all information I can from the forum and books, while trying to find an idea/pain to solve. I love providing value to others, and I love the process. My main goal right now is to just serve others in any way I can. I am starting with people that I know who run profit driven businesses in order to gain experience and hopefully stumble upon a pain that needs solving.

Growing up, I knew I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. At an early age I started trading hockey cards for a profit. I started a yard care “business” in grade 5 going door to door handing out business cards. I went on to buy/sell/trade larger ticket items as I got older making a decent profit. I have kept a list of inventions and ideas that I think need solving ever since I was a kid. I love the thrill and challenge of solving problems I have never faced before.

I have been doing as much work as I can in my free time to further my learning and progress as I dive into entrepreneurship. However, with a full time job I have only been able to squeeze in about 4 hours of distraction free work a day. Even though I love this time that get to spend investing in myself and my future, I feel that it is not enough time and I am ready to quit my full time job and pursue entrepreneurship full time.

My wife is in full support of me quitting and pursuing entrepreneurship (she is as much a fan of TMF and Unscripted as I am), and she earns enough for both of us to live comfortably. We do not have kids yet, but we plan to within 5-7 years or so. I want to have good start in the fastlane before kids come along.

My question is:

Would it be unwise to quit and pursue entrepreneurship full time without a business, revenue or customers in advance?

I have somewhat of a game plan to get started, and I truly believe in myself to succeed, no matter how long it takes. I am skilled in technology of all sorts and I think I could resort to web design or eCommerce if needed. However, I am strongly attracted to starting a software business or physical product as this aligns with my engineering background.

Why does it seem the majority of people start something while working their full time jobs. Is it simply because they have no other financial support if they were to quit?

Would you quit your full time job to pursue your dreams if you could be financially supported in the meantime? It sounds like a no-brainer to me as I write this.

I know the forum cannot make the decision for me, I am simply seeking the advice of those who have been in a similar situation or have any wise words to share.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

 

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[c_morris]

My wife is in full support of me quitting and pursuing entrepreneurship (she is as much a fan of TMF and Unscripted as I am), and she earns enough for both of us to live comfortably.

This is all I would need to quit and go all in.

 

[BrooklynHustle]

Hi fastlane family, I am hoping some of you will be generous enough to impart some of your wise words.

I am a mechanical engineer stuck in a 9-5 job with little room for advancement. I have had what I consider a culmination of events that has climaxed into a FTE. I’m ready to move on. I’m bound and determined to do better, to be better.

I have been spending the last few months squeezing in all information I can from the forum and books, while trying to find an idea/pain to solve. I love providing value to others, and I love the process. My main goal right now is to just serve others in any way I can. I am starting with people that I know who run profit driven businesses in order to gain experience and hopefully stumble upon a pain that needs solving.

Growing up, I knew I always wanted to be an entrepreneur. At an early age I started trading hockey cards for a profit. I started a yard care “business” in grade 5 going door to door handing out business cards. I went on to buy/sell/trade larger ticket items as I got older making a decent profit. I have kept a list of inventions and ideas that I think need solving ever since I was a kid. I love the thrill and challenge of solving problems I have never faced before.

I have been doing as much work as I can in my free time to further my learning and progress as I dive into entrepreneurship. However, with a full time job I have only been able to squeeze in about 4 hours of distraction free work a day. Even though I love this time that get to spend investing in myself and my future, I feel that it is not enough time and I am ready to quit my full time job and pursue entrepreneurship full time.

My wife is in full support of me quitting and pursuing entrepreneurship (she is as much a fan of TMF and Unscripted as I am), and she earns enough for both of us to live comfortably. We do not have kids yet, but we plan to within 5-7 years or so. I want to have good start in the fastlane before kids come along.

My question is:

Would it be unwise to quit and pursue entrepreneurship full time without a business, revenue or customers in advance?

I have somewhat of a game plan to get started, and I truly believe in myself to succeed, no matter how long it takes. I am skilled in technology of all sorts and I think I could resort to web design or eCommerce if needed. However, I am strongly attracted to starting a software business or physical product as this aligns with my engineering background.

Why does it seem the majority of people start something while working their full time jobs. Is it simply because they have no other financial support if they were to quit?

Would you quit your full time job to pursue your dreams if you could be financially supported in the meantime? It sounds like a no-brainer to me as I write this.

I know the forum cannot make the decision for me, I am simply seeking the advice of those who have been in a similar situation or have any wise words to share.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

No one can answer that question for you, but IMO, you are in a relatively ideal situation to hit the ground running & hit it hard...

Good luck!

 

[Empires]

My question is:

Would it be unwise to quit and pursue entrepreneurship full time without a business, revenue or customers in advance?

I did exactly this, although under different circumstances. (Money saved w/ no bills)

And I wouldn't recommend it to most people. But you may be in one of the few circumstances where it might be a good idea.

Why does it seem the majority of people start something while working their full time jobs. Is it simply because they have no other financial support if they were to quit?

Every bodies situation is different, but the majority of people can't just quit their job and pursue entrepreneurship. On top of bills, starting a business is expensive. People need to pay the bills and fund the business.

In the situation where someone has either enough saved for bills and funding or just no bills, it can be reasonable to quit a job to start a business.

 

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[ZCP]

You have an engineering degree. Use your training. Open up excel and put some math and science into your decision options. Do pluses and minuses. Think about the options / connections / tools available to you.

In the meantime, become invaluable at work. Work so hard they are cool with you working from home. Identify and solve problems. Find a way to create a process where you finish your 8 hrs of work in less time. Then use all available time to get started in business. You may need a few failed launches to find your fast lane path.

(This is the path I took as a fellow engineer)

 

[TonyStark]

A FTE

 

[MidwestLandlord]

My wife is in full support of me quitting and pursuing entrepreneurship (she is as much a fan of TMF and Unscripted as I am), and she earns enough for both of us to live comfortably.

This is all I would need to quit and go all in.

I'll be the contrarian here than lol.

@inputchip , I'm sure she means it, and is 100% in support of you quitting and so on.

But the reality is being the sole-breadwinner is stressful, and I think that is more so true if it is the wife.

I'm not saying don't go for it, I'd divorce my wife in a heartbeat if she wasn't supportive of my fastlane stuff, but that doesn't mean I'm unaware of how my decisions actually affect her and the relationship...regardless of what is said. (I learned how to "be aware" the hard way by often taking advantage of my wife and her support, cause I'm an a**hole sometimes)

So what does the reality look like 6 months, a year, 2 years down the road with her earning the household's money?

Just something to think about.

(remember this is a major life decision, and I'm just some dude on the internet too haha)

 

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[garyjsmith]

..she earns enough for both of us to live comfortably. We do not have kids yet..

That is a plus. In my experience, the first two years of a kid are void of free time.

While your wife earns enough for the both of you, keep in mind that seeing you day-in day-out working, not working, or appearing to not pull your share will wear on her. Even the most loving, understanding wife will feel this.

 

[Nathan F]

Today I am quitting my job.
My prerequisites were that I had my LLC, my product in hand, my brand name and identity established on paper and that I could pay my bills for a few months no problem.

Best of luck to you!!

 

[inputchip]

You have an engineering degree. Use your training. Open up excel and put some math and science into your decision options. Do pluses and minuses. Think about the options / connections / tools available to you.

Already doing this. It is difficult to remain unbiased even when I break it down quantitatively. My heart wants what it wants.

In the meantime, become invaluable at work. Work so hard they are cool with you working from home. Identify and solve problems. Find a way to create a process where you finish your 8 hrs of work in less time. Then use all available time to get started in business. You may need a few failed launches to find your fast lane path.

I work for a very large company. I already finish my work a lot faster than most other engineers here. The problem is the work doesn't end just because I work more efficiently.

So what does the reality look like 6 months, a year, 2 years down the road with her earning the household's money?

This is great advice. No matter how much she tells me she is OK with earning our primary income, I know that it will eventually wear on her faster than it will wear on me if it takes a long time to get traction. My thinking is that the sooner I start on building our fastlane, the sooner we can both be free of our jobs. The more time I put into our fastlane everyday, the sooner we can be free.

Today I am quitting my job.
My prerequisites were that I had my LLC, my product in hand, my brand name and identity established on paper and that I could pay my bills for a few months no problem.

Best of luck to you!!

Best of luck to you as well! Do you have a paying customer?

 

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[Action Mike]

I have thought a lot about this for myself and I currently work full time in IT also and am working towards a business. I crave the day that I can quit my job, not that my job is terrible I just am not being full filled working a 9-5 job, I must pursue something bigger and better for my family and me.

My situation is different, I am the bread winner and my wife works part time. Having a spouse or SO that can pay the bills while you start a business would be a huge help.

Something to remember, time and capital do not equate to a successful business. How you execute it and how much action you put in to it will. I have enjoyed watching Gary Vee’s “Daily Vee” lately, it’s a VLOG of his day to day life running his business.

In your situation if I read it correctly, not knowing your details and in my opinion I think the best course you could take is…

1. No debt other than a reasonable house payment, pay off any debt, no car payments etc.

2. Look at your day to day expenses and where you can reduce your financial living burden? Less food, less play money, less subscriptions, downsizing living space if needed etc.

3. Save up at least a three month emergency fund that is used for nothing but living expenses in an emergency. If anything happens and your wife’s income stops it would be nice to have a cushion until you can get things in order.

4. If her income can pay all the living expenses I would keep working long enough to bank your income and make sure all debt is paid, an emergency fund is in place and save up a decent amount of capital to start a business, there will be a lot of expenses starting out, especially if you are starting an inventory based business or something that requires hiring help to develop it (programming, graphics, marketing, writing etc.)

5. In the meantime while things are getting in order financially keep chugging away learning and coming up with ideas, make plans etc. I love that you have kept a journal of ideas. I do that too and a lot of them may not be great at the end of the day but I have had several that I think can really go somewhere and taking time when the inspiration hits you to write it down and details of why you think it works helps a lot.

6. When you do quit commit to running it like a mad man. Never let your wife see you relaxing at any time that you could be working on the business. Once it takes off and you have a hot tub full of money that you bathe in like scrooge McDuck things will be different but until then its “Balls to the wall”

IMO I would not quit the day job until you had a good solid idea that has been tested for viability, actually start the business and run it enough to see if it has promise, then quit and focus 100% on building and running it. That’s just me though. Who knows, if I had the opportunity to be able to quit and the bills are still being paid I may jump in as soon as I know all the financials are in order and have the foundation setup for a solid business.

You just want to set yourself up for success as much as possible from the get go and the more stable your financial situation is the better.

 

[inputchip]

1. No debt other than a reasonable house payment, pay off any debt, no car payments etc.

2. Look at your day to day expenses and where you can reduce your financial living burden? Less food, less play money, less subscriptions, downsizing living space if needed etc.

3. Save up at least a three month emergency fund that is used for nothing but living expenses in an emergency. If anything happens and your wife’s income stops it would be nice to have a cushion until you can get things in order.

Forgot to mention that we have this already. Our home runs like a well oiled machine. We aren't big spenders, we just want freedom.

6. When you do quit commit to running it like a mad man. Never let your wife see you relaxing at any time that you could be working on the business. Once it takes off and you have a hot tub full of money that you bathe in like scrooge McDuck things will be different but until then its “Balls to the wall”

I think this is why my wife is OK with me pursuing fastlane -- because she knows my work ethic, she knows I won't stop until I get what I want.

IMO I would not quit the day job until you had a good solid idea that has been tested for viability, actually start the business and run it enough to see if it has promise, then quit and focus 100% on building and running it. That’s just me though. Who knows, if I had the opportunity to be able to quit and the bills are still being paid I may jump in as soon as I know all the financials are in order and have the foundation setup for a solid business.

You just want to set yourself up for success as much as possible from the get go and the more stable your financial situation is the better.

I think this is great advice. It makes me wonder if I actually need more time to find an idea/pain, or if I only need time to execute on that idea.

 

[cutthroughstatic]

Have something concrete in place first. You'll know when the time is right to pursue it 100%. But if you want your own business bad enough, you will make time with the time you have now to start creating the structure and laying the groundwork.

It needs to be a goal, something to work towards to. Your wife being able to support the whole family is great, but it creates a low pressure environment to succeed. Keep your job and use it to motivate you to make something happen in your extra time. Giving yourself unlimited amounts of free time is not generally a good idea. It will be a mass of unstructured time with little monetary incentive to grind (since your wife makes money).

I quit my corporate job and got a job doing essentially freelance work in the same field I was in. I thought "finally, I'll have some time to start my own business!". Didn't work. I had too much free time, it was unstructured, and my freelance gig kept me somewhat happy monetarily.

We uprooted, moved cross country, had a baby on the way - that's when I officially went into business for myself. I have massive pressure to make something happy every day now.

Try and get something started NOW. When it's rolling and it NEEDS more than four hours a day, leave your day job. Don't leave now and "try and figure it out". If you can't make progress with four hours a day, why do you think you could make progress with 12 hours a day?

 

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[Joe Cassandra]

Dude, you're in WAYY better shape than I was when i quit.

We had a 11-month old, my wife staying at home (no income), no family paying any of our bills (sometimes people don't share that about their 'quitting' story)...

PLUS...

We had a $168,000 mortgage, $10,000 credit card debt, $28,000 van debt, $11,000 car #2 debt, $7,000 medical debt, $22,000 in student loans.

Stressful? Eff yeah.

Haven't paid off all our debt, but have been self-employed 18 months-to-the-day. Made way more money than at my old job. Many sleepless nights.

1.) Make sure your wife is on-board and there won't be resentment

2.) To complete #1, you should have at least the foundation for what your business will be. If you don't, and you have all the bills taken care of, there will be ZERO URGENCY. (a killer). I had urgency because I was the sole breadwinner.

3.) You'll never be ready to quit your job. You just have to do it. Someone above said "Oh, get debt free first.." That's an excuse. Because if we wait until we're debt free, I'd still be in a job for 10 more years. Oh, then we have another kid, so gotta wait another 5 years...see where I'm going.

4.) If you have 0 kids and your job is 9-5...working only 4 hours on your business isn't enough. That's 12 hours of sleep and BS time left on the table. I work 14 hours a day with a 2-year old and now-pregnant wife. 5-6 hours sleep, at night if the TV is on, I'm doing passive work (research, sending emails, etc.)

 

[inputchip]

Dude, you're in WAYY better shape than I was when i quit.

We had a 11-month old, my wife staying at home (no income), no family paying any of our bills (sometimes people don't share that about their 'quitting' story)...

PLUS...

We had a $168,000 mortgage, $10,000 credit card debt, $28,000 van debt, $11,000 car #2 debt, $7,000 medical debt, $22,000 in student loans.

Stressful? Eff yeah.

Haven't paid off all our debt, but have been self-employed 18 months-to-the-day. Made way more money than at my old job. Many sleepless nights.

1.) Make sure your wife is on-board and there won't be resentment

2.) To complete #1, you should have at least the foundation for what your business will be. If you don't, and you have all the bills taken care of, there will be ZERO URGENCY. (a killer). I had urgency because I was the sole breadwinner.

3.) You'll never be ready to quit your job. You just have to do it. Someone above said "Oh, get debt free first.." That's an excuse. Because if we wait until we're debt free, I'd still be in a job for 10 more years. Oh, then we have another kid, so gotta wait another 5 years...see where I'm going.

4.) If you have 0 kids and your job is 9-5...working only 4 hours on your business isn't enough. That's 12 hours of sleep and BS time left on the table. I work 14 hours a day with a 2-year old and now-pregnant wife. 5-6 hours sleep, at night if the TV is on, I'm doing passive work (research, sending emails, etc.)

Wow, that really puts things into perspective. Thanks for the reply.

My job takes up 6:30am to 5:30pm with commute, 11 hours
Business 5:30pm-6pm, 0.5 hour
Make and eat supper 6pm-7pm. 1 hour
Business 7pm-8pm, 1 hour
Gym 8pm-10pm, 2 hours
Business 10pm-12:30am, 2.5 hour
Sleep 12:30am-6:30am, 6 hour

Sometimes I work till 1am or so on business, or cut into my workout a half hour or so depending on the day.

@Joe Cassandra what constitutes as a foundation for what my business will be? If I don't have an idea, but I have a game plan set in place in order to find an idea by reaching out into industries, is that a foundation?

There are some other projects I can work on in the meantime such as helping my father in law scale his business.
Advice for scaling a high end imported goods business

 

[JAJT]

Here's the thing people always forget (and by "people" I mean me, and by "forget" I mean I never thought about until it was a problem):

Your business will cost money to start and it will cost money to grow.

Your wife can support the bills - and that's a fantastic safety blanket. But it's probably not enough. If your lifestyle costs "x" and her income is "x" then your working business cash is 0. If you have some capital already saved up, then you have a countdown clock measured in cash and you have to decide if it's enough.

You need all the money needed to start up your business, for starters. Including but not limited to:

- Everything to do with product (samples, shipping, mistakes, customization, travel if you want to inspect or see trade shows, etc...)
- Assets related to your product (photography, video, label design, copy, digital renders, package art and design and photograph, etc...)
- Website (monthly fees for hosting, design, coding, photography, copy writing, customization, etc...)
- Advertising to let people know you exist (facebook ads, amazon ppc, paid shout-outs from influencers, whatever)
- A bunch of other stuff, probably, there's always "something"
- Mistakes

The more you can do yourself, the less you have to hire out, but it's worth considering everything and deciding where your skills and time and effort will lie and which things need hiring out. I thought I could do photography myself since I'm somewhat proficient but I sank a few dozen hours trying to figure it out and decided I needed a lot of equipment I simply couldn't afford to acquire and learn to use properly.

But cool, let's say you are up and running, product on the shelf. You spend $1,000 on product and bring in $1,500. Not bad. But if you're smart you'll want to reinvest that profit, not take it out for yourself. That means new products, better infrastructure, more ads, more markets, etc... Make more, invest more. Repeat. The biggest mistake I ever did was live on my profits. It stagnated every business I tried to run until I figured this out very late in the game.

You have to consider all these things before deciding to quit and "just do it". As much as I love jumping in and just getting dirty - the money has to come from somewhere and you need to know where that somewhere is.

If you keep your job, and your wife can pay all the bills, that means you have a job that can be 100% dedicated to everything I just mentioned. You could literally have your employer pay for product. Pay for ads. Pay for the website, etc... at the cost of your time keeping the job, of course. But it's a reliable, replenishable source of business capital. You can F*ck up to the tune of your paycheck every 2 weeks for as long as you keep your job.

I've genuinely considered going back to work to gain access to that source of funds for my own projects. I could seriously use it. Like you my wife has a well paying job and keeps all our heads above water, but she can't fund my businesses. My businesses need to fund themselves, which is pretty hard if I'm being honest. Things have to go right, and a lot of them. And if I need cash that the business isn't providing it means dipping into debt since there's nowhere else that capital is coming from.

I'm not saying quit.
I'm not saying stay.
I'm just saying think.

 

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[inputchip]

You can F*ck up to the tune of your paycheck every 2 weeks for as long as you keep your job.

Your post was incredibly insightful. Thank you for taking the time to reply. Rep transferred.

 

[sparechange]

cut back your hours at work if possible....start making sales / getting customers then jump head first in the deep end (quit)
im single but relying on someone for money especially a spouse seems like one of the crappiest ideas in the world, thats a ticket to argumentvillve.

you have 20 hours a week of work you can do on the side + weekend 20+ theres 40 hours + a week whilst working your crappy job and having steady income atleast. in the mean time i would say the best option is bank your money and lock it up. and make sales

 

[inputchip]

Well guys,

This happened today.



This quote from @Fox really made me think and may have actually pushed me over the edge. Well that and the fact that at the company they freaking hip-hip-hooray-ed a guy retiring after 45 years of service to the company. A freaking hip hip hooray is what the guy got and what he needs is a hip replacement.

I always wanted to be my own boss so I just decided one day to go for it. I thought if I could survive a year then I could do it forever. I will reach the year mark in two months. My dad, my uncles, my two brothers, my granddads - all self employed. Even when I was making big oil money it would still get to me that I had a boss and couldn't decide on my own destiny. If I was told I was working somewhere thats where I went. I make a lot less now (I had months over 40K) but I much prefer it. I would rather be a hungry lion than a well feed lion in a zoo.

If you go for something with the right approach you will make it work.

Time to get down and dirty on my fastlane projects. Starting work on a SaaS product and looking to get into web design to start out!

A real “F*ck this” event fears nothing

1) Giving up on my dreams for years - F*ck that

2) Worrying about losing my job that I hate - F*ck that

3) Not being able to buy the things we want and need without worrying about money - F*ck that

4) Feeling so tired at the end of the day that I just want to lay down - F*ck that

5) Making constant excuses for why things are okay the way they are...even though I know they're not - F*ck that

6) Spending time inside a cubicle on a perfect spring day - F*ck that

7) Not being able to be with my kids and wife as they grow up – F*ck that!

8) Having to accept my father-in-law's handouts and feeling like a loser - F*ck that

9) Feeling hopeless - F*ck that

10) Feeling less free as I get older, instead of more free - F*ck that

11) Looking back at my dreams and hating myself for not achieving them - F*ck that

12) Holding off on buying things because we can't afford them - F*ck that

13) Feeling bad about the money I spend on myself because it takes away from my family - F*ck that

14) Being ashamed of myself for not living up to my potential - F*ck that

15) Looking at the older people that I work with, and knowing that's what I'll look like if this continues - F*ck that

16) Asking permission to leave early, come in late, or take a day off - F*ck that

17) Working with people I don't like, and pretending to like them even though they're not very nice - F*ck that

18) Skipping the things we love doing because we can't afford them - F*ck that

19) My wife having to work at a 9-5 just to make ends meet - F*ck that

20) Taking direction from someone all day long when they don’t know what they want – F*ck that

21) Having bad posture from sitting all day – F*ck that

22) Working for the man – F*ck that

23) Commute – F*ck that

24) Not living where we want to – F*ck that

25) Not being able to wear the clothes I want anytime I want – F*ck that

26) Investments threatening my retirement – F*ck that I make my own retirement

27) 2% pay raise – F*ck that

28) Being paid every two weeks – F*ck that

29) Waking up early to go to work and not do anything – F*ck that

30) Live poor, die rich – F*ck that

31) Boss gets all the credit for my work – F*ck that

32) Benefits, salary, routine, RSP’s – F*ck that

33) Working for 45 years to receive a F*cking hip-hip-hooray F*ck that!

34) Working 4 years for a P.eng. and getting a 60 cent raise. -- F*ck that

35) Working harder than others for no gain in income. -- F*ck that

 

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[KrzyszWawrzyniak]

Can you tell us what exactly are you're going to do right now and what your plans are?

And by the way, that's really nice to read it - I feel like you have a good foundation and you're well prepared. I wish you all the best
I know I'm not here yet, but if I could recommend something for you I would advise to constantly read books that are somehow connected to what you're doing - if you'd read at least few books a month, inasmuch every (even the worst) book have a potential to improve our knowledge at least by a little bit, I bet you could definitely shorten the time it will take you to win your freedom.

Keep it up!

 

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

I find it almost naive that a lot of people read posts on the internet, have no product, service, or idea in mind, and think it's a good idea to quit their job and pursue entrepreneurship 100%. You're much better off continuing to make money and learn from free on-the-job training (that's basically what getting a paycheck is anyways if you have a decent enough job), rather than just diving in the deep end with nothing moving and having all the stress and pressure on yourself, your wife, your family, and your peers because you might not be able to pay the bills in a years time.

You have 168 hours a week. Take away 49 for sleep. Take away 50 for your job and commuting. That leaves you with an extra 69 hours a week to go start something FIRST. And, you'll have more capital to inject in the business and way more creative space in your brain because you're not stressing over bills (Yes, even if your wife 'has you covered', there is still going to be an added stress factor).

Too many people are trying to jump into entrepreneurship like its the latest fad (it kind of is), and they have never sold a thing in their life, they've never started a business, and they have no product, service, or idea in mind that they want to solve. People are throwing hail marys when they should be running for a few yards up the middle instead.

Be realistic and think long-term.. and use the hours you already have in the day to try to solve a problem before jumping to the latest 'fad' of entrepreneurship.

 

[inputchip]

I find it almost naive that a lot of people read posts on the internet, have no product, service, or idea in mind, and think it's a good idea to quit their job and pursue entrepreneurship 100%. You're much better off continuing to make money and learn from free on-the-job training (that's basically what getting a paycheck is anyways if you have a decent enough job), rather than just diving in the deep end with nothing moving and having all the stress and pressure on yourself, your wife, your family, and your peers because you might not be able to pay the bills in a years time.

You have 168 hours a week. Take away 49 for sleep. Take away 50 for your job and commuting. That leaves you with an extra 69 hours a week to go start something FIRST. And, you'll have more capital to inject in the business and way more creative space in your brain because you're not stressing over bills (Yes, even if your wife 'has you covered', there is still going to be an added stress factor).

Too many people are trying to jump into entrepreneurship like its the latest fad (it kind of is), and they have never sold a thing in their life, they've never started a business, and they have no product, service, or idea in mind that they want to solve. People are throwing hail marys when they should be running for a few yards up the middle instead.

Be realistic and think long-term.. and use the hours you already have in the day to try to solve a problem before jumping to the latest 'fad' of entrepreneurship.

I agree, it's definitely a decision that should not be taken lightly. I suppose I just value my time more than most people, and I won't spend another second of it wasting away for someone else's benefit. I've tolerated working in that toxic environment long enough. Life is too short to not be happy with what you are doing, and your choices are a direct reflection of where you are in life. For your information I already have multiple streams of income as I am involved in another business as well as various other investments (not that I have to prove myself to you). Really, if worse comes to worst I can get another job, probably a much better job than my previous one. But do I want that? Hell no.

 

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[JoelM]

For those who may be in a similar situation, if you are not 99% sure of the road you need to take, you need to do due diligence. It may take more reading, money, knowledge, grow up, etc. I say this because I am going through a similar situation but I know the road I have to take and have what I need to push the accelerator. You don't need a solid business to get started but just the road to follow to get there. Like MJ says, it is the process, not the event.

 

[TreyAllDay]

I have been spending the last few months squeezing in all information I can from the forum and books, while trying to find an idea/pain to solve. I love providing value to others, and I love the process. My main goal right now is to just serve others in any way I can. I am starting with people that I know who run profit driven businesses in order to gain experience and hopefully stumble upon a pain that needs solving.

Thanks in advance for any responses.

It definitely depends, there's no one answer. As long as you can afford to live, not ruin your credit long term by defaulting on loans or debt, then quit.

Personally - I had expenses and gave myself 10 months of leeway, my expenses were super low. I took about a 50/50 risk that I wouldn't be able to pay my living expenses and thankfully it worked out. I can tell you, the pressure of NEEDING that money made me work extra hard and 10-12 hours of work a day made all the difference.

If your wife will support you, then great. However, I would personally try to find out what your business will be and what you will be doing before quitting. I mean, incorporation costs, insurance costs, etc can all play a role depending on the business. I had $12k of savings and almost $3k immediately went to startup costs I didn't plan for.

 

[TreyAllDay]

also @inputchip if you're still in Edmonton you should let me buy you a beer one day in the next little bit, would be interested in hearing more.

 

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