Should I or Should I Not - Quit My Job...

[wade1mil]

I would keep the job, create a solid plan, and hire people to handle the not vitally important, time-consuming tasks like compiling research, creating websites and graphics, etc. Then spend the few hours a day you may have handling important aspects of the business. I would do this until my business is profiting enough that I felt comfortable with the direction my business is going.

As much as members here encourage people to quit their jobs, the reasonably realistic alternative of not having an income or seeing profit for 6-12 months is not so much fun either. I went through that, and am glad that I was single during that time. I couldn't imagine the issues that could cause. A job can be stressful, but most are a piece of cake compared to doing it on your own.

 

[JAJT]

There is no right answer I'm afraid.

Many people keep the day job until they grow their business to a point where quitting is the obvious choice.
Others will grow the business to a point where quitting would hurt a bit in the short term but they are confident in their ability to use the extra free time to propel them forward.
Still others will jump out of the plane with no parachute, flapping their arms like a bird, and hoping they think of something before they find the ground.

There are great arguments for and against all of these choices. You have to choose what feels right to you and your situation in life.

 

[SteveO]

I had a great job with a great company and made decent money. But, I wanted more. I actually quit when the business was bringing in enough money for me to survive.

It went on to bring in so much money that I did not know what to do with it. Then it all collapsed and the money went away. But the knowledge gained did not disappear. I built the business back up to a very profitable place again.

The point is that building a business has risks to it. If you can make one profitable, you can repeat the process. Thus, there is no reason to fear the risks.

The real question is, can you build a profitable business?

 

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[actionmonk]

All right!

Did not realize it has been 4 years since I last updated this post.

Based on the tips I got from this forum, I was able to successfully negotiate a deal with my employer. For about 2 years, I worked only part time, but was getting paid a full-time salary.

It was all temporary though, and soon it was time for me to decide if I will quit or go back to doing the job full time.

I decided to quit.

I am willing to take a step in the unknown.

I have enough supplies to keep me and my family going for a year or two.

So the real fastlane journey has just begun.

Stay tuned...

 

[actionmonk]

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma, and would appreciate advise from the fastlaners here.

I've been working for a co. for a little over 12 years now, as a project manager. Decent job, rather a comfortable one and a decent paycheque along with a great relationship with the owners of the co.

But then there is a problem...

I am still in the slow lane, have been aspiring to get into the fast lane from perhaps a decade now. I've failed at an attempt in business at least twice. ( serious yet amateur attempt, involved debts etc, which thankfully I am out of now.) Yes I did learn in the process so no regrets.

At this very moment I am making an attempt to build an online business while I do my full time job, but the amount of effort I am able to put in here is not much, my job consumes about 12 hours (including the commute)

I am thinking of continuing it this way for another 6 months, and then quit my job, even if I haven't gained lot of traction in the business and intend to do it full time and live off savings - good to keep me going for at least a year.

Another thought, tells me to keep the job use the money I am making there and let that fund the business expenses like advertising and only quit when I am atleast matching my income from my job.

But to build a business you need consistent effort, I am trading a significant amount of time in the slow lane and very less towards the fast lane.

I am not sure if I am just afraid of letting go of a job that's comfortable and trying to give myself reasons why quitting may not be the right thing to do?

What are your thoughts, any body who has been in the same situation? how did it go for you?

Would love to hear from you.

Thank you

 

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[IGSKnox]

The Way i switched from being an employee to being a business owner was, when the dog growls at you cause you spend too much time away from working, and your "side" thing creates more revenue then your hourly job on a consistant basis, then its time to say goodbye...

 

[Andy Black]

Can you become a contractor to your current employer?

Can you drop down to a 4 day week with them?



Personally, I would keep the job, and use the constraint on the hours you can put into your business as a positive force.

It's less about having more resources (time in this case), and more about being *resourceful*.


EDIT: You've got great savings behind you, and you're obviously saving each month. Can you start using that money to get subcontractors to do work for you, either related to your current j.o.b. or doing something completely different? So then your evening 1-2 hours is managing contractors to get work done, and learning lots in the process.

 

[mws87]

Like others have said, there is no "right" answer for this being that everyone's situation is different. You shouldn't use the responses to make your decision but better help understand your situation to guide you in what you should do. Only you know what would be best for you.
Your situation sounds a little similar to the one I was in - I recently quit a great paying job to try something different.
Is what I'm doing Fastlane? No, not by any means.
Is it something that can generate income? Yes, with a lot of work.
Am I generating enough income now to live comfortably? lolz, not by any means (yet)
So why in the world did I quit!? This can turn into a humongous response, but I'll keep it in TL;DR form - To wake myself up, to preserve my sanity.

The Long Answer
I was in an extremely toxic environment, I worked 12 hours a day, my health began to suffer, my relationships suffered but worst of all my sanity suffered.
I actually quit to help myself grow and teach myself a few things. I had to do something different, I had to break the cycle. I was always one of the "I'm going to quit next week" or "oh if _____ or _____ happens I'm so quitting" type of people - a talker. Finally, I had it, and I left.
How Am I Paying Bills? Obvious, I saved up enough money to cover bills for a while and I have several opportunities to become employed when I have to (duh).

This may seem careless/reckless to some, but for me personally it was all about showing myself I had a choice, much like MJ mentions in TMF . It's taking that first step that's always the hardest. I can't tell you how eye-opening it is once you realize you have the choice to create your destiny. It was also to get over that fear, the "what if" barrier. It was probably one of the best decisions I've made as far as personal growth goes. I learn more everyday, my mind isn't numb from the long, exhausting, redundant days.

You would be surprised at what you can accomplish when you're in a "have to" situation, when you don't have that safety net. I have read that if you release a domestic pig into the wild, there are 2 things that can happen: 1) it will die 2) if it learns to adapt properly, it will grow fur and tusks, similar to a boar. You're either going to give up and fail, or you're going to adapt and grow because you have to.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Do what you think would benefit you the most. Use the answers here as insight, but not as a solution. We all want the one answer, the magic bullet, but what we often fail to realize is there is no magic-bullet, there is no one answer for everyone.

You're going to learn a lot for sure if you take the risk. You're going to see how many people in your life are really supportive of you and how many aren't for the simple fact that it's something they wouldn't do. I think we (humans) all like to believe our opinion is the right opinion, I remember a bunch of friends and family calling me crazy, "OMG! You're going to lose everything!!!" Oh gawd; spare me.

Whatever you decide, don't be deterred by the difficulty. It's going to be hard, but remember - it's supposed to be hard.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-cant-make-your-life-decisions-for-you.33485/

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[arukomp]

It's harder to stay in a job for the rest of your life.

I believe it's the opposite. It's easy to stay in the same job for the rest of your life, because it becomes your comfort zone. CHANGE is hard.

 

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[Nic S.]

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma, and would appreciate advise from the fastlaners here.

I've been working for a co. for a little over 12 years now, as a project manager. Decent job, rather a comfortable one and a decent paycheque along with a great relationship with the owners of the co.

But then there is a problem...

I am still in the slow lane, have been aspiring to get into the fast lane from perhaps a decade now. I've failed at an attempt in business at least twice. ( serious yet amateur attempt, involved debts etc, which thankfully I am out of now.) Yes I did learn in the process so no regrets.

At this very moment I am making an attempt to build an online business while I do my full time job, but the amount of effort I am able to put in here is not much, my job consumes about 12 hours (including the commute)

I am thinking of continuing it this way for another 6 months, and then quit my job, even if I haven't gained lot of traction in the business and intend to do it full time and live off savings - good to keep me going for at least a year.

Another thought, tells me to keep the job use the money I am making there and let that fund the business expenses like advertising and only quit when I am atleast matching my income from my job.

But to build a business you need consistent effort, I am trading a significant amount of time in the slow lane and very less towards the fast lane.

I am not sure if I am just afraid of letting go of a job that's comfortable and trying to give myself reasons why quitting may not be the right thing to do?

What are your thoughts, any body who has been in the same situation? how did it go for you?

Would love to hear from you.

Thank you

I just did that about a month ago.
I am starting by first startup - I have a prototype and I got to a point where I was ready to launch a Kickstarter campaing so I decided to quit my 90k job to get on the fastlane.
I have the product almost there but I didn't have enough traction so I quit to focus on that. Building traction takes time, I found out quick. In retrospective, I could have hold onto the job to use that cash to do more marketing, but I don't know if I could have that part time either. Is tough to see it until you actually do it.
My suggestion will be to do your homework. Like how much you have, how much you can spend on building your customer base, and how long. If you time is 3 months to gain more traction, plan for 5 or 6 months.
Maybe find resources that you can do the basics like building you a landing page, articles for your blog ect. Fiverr.com is a great place to find the resources you need as little as $5, don't spend too much until you find the right person with the right quality before you spend more.

Taking risk is necessary when you are starting your own thing, but make sure is a calculated one.
Good Luck!

 

[TashiaW]

Great question/topic actionmonk. I would love to hear more opinions on this.

 

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[Kevin Peter]

Are you allowed to own a business parallel to you're day to day job in your country? If yes, then amazing! Please do not let go of this opportunity to cash in to the maximum. Back here in India, it is a crime for us to run a business if working full time in a company We do not have the liberty to implement our ideas until we quit the day job, and then run around.

 

[actionmonk]

I'd rather spend full time on working on a fast lane business. I'm also in this position and am planning on leaving my day job by end of this year. My thought is that my day job will always be in demand and that after 1 or 2 years, I can always go back if I needed money. I do however have 2 years of savings that I can live of. If you are young and have no family, now it is the opportunity

The thought of being able to say goodbye does appear golden, but the suggestions here are surprisingly refreshing and contrary to what I had expected. Thanks for your input.

 

[actionmonk]

Can you become a contractor to your current employer?

Can you drop down to a 4 day week with them?



Personally, I would keep the job, and use the constraint on the hours you can put into your business as a positive force.

It's less about having more resources (time in this case), and more about being *resourceful*.


EDIT: You've got great savings behind you, and you're obviously saving each month. Can you start using that money to get subcontractors to do work for you, either related to your current j.o.b. or doing something completely different? So then your evening 1-2 hours is managing contractors to get work done, and learning lots in the process.

On a deeper thought, you have opened my mind to a new possibility, a possibility where I may not necessarily need to terminate my relationship completely with my employer but rather convert it to one that will be mutually beneficial to both of us. Since I have acquired enough value and expertise, it only makes sense, that when the time comes, I can tell them I can still be available to them and the conditions - which chances are they will take me up on, because they can still continue to benefit from my services.

This also gives me the peace of mind, that perhaps, I can start by being neither in the slow lane nor in the fast lane, but in the mid lane, and gradually accelerate to the fast lane. So brilliant suggestion. Thank you! Looks like MidLane is the way to go in this situation.

 

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[actionmonk]

Like others have said, there is no "right" answer for this being that everyone's situation is different. You shouldn't use the responses to make your decision but better help understand your situation to guide you in what you should do. Only you know what would be best for you.
Your situation sounds a little similar to the one I was in - I recently quit a great paying job to try something different.
Is what I'm doing Fastlane? No, not by any means.
Is it something that can generate income? Yes, with a lot of work.
Am I generating enough income now to live comfortably? lolz, not by any means (yet)
So why in the world did I quit!? This can turn into a humongous response, but I'll keep it in TL;DR form - To wake myself up, to preserve my sanity.

The Long Answer
I was in an extremely toxic environment, I worked 12 hours a day, my health began to suffer, my relationships suffered but worst of all my sanity suffered.
I actually quit to help myself grow and teach myself a few things. I had to do something different, I had to break the cycle. I was always one of the "I'm going to quit next week" or "oh if _____ or _____ happens I'm so quitting" type of people - a talker. Finally, I had it, and I left.
How Am I Paying Bills? Obvious, I saved up enough money to cover bills for a while and I have several opportunities to become employed when I have to (duh).

This may seem careless/reckless to some, but for me personally it was all about showing myself I had a choice, much like MJ mentions in TMF . It's taking that first step that's always the hardest. I can't tell you how eye-opening it is once you realize you have the choice to create your destiny. It was also to get over that fear, the "what if" barrier. It was probably one of the best decisions I've made as far as personal growth goes. I learn more everyday, my mind isn't numb from the long, exhausting, redundant days.

You would be surprised at what you can accomplish when you're in a "have to" situation, when you don't have that safety net. I have read that if you release a domestic pig into the wild, there are 2 things that can happen: 1) it will die 2) if it learns to adapt properly, it will grow fur and tusks, similar to a boar. You're either going to give up and fail, or you're going to adapt and grow because you have to.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Do what you think would benefit you the most. Use the answers here as insight, but not as a solution. We all want the one answer, the magic bullet, but what we often fail to realize is there is no magic-bullet, there is no one answer for everyone.

You're going to learn a lot for sure if you take the risk. You're going to see how many people in your life are really supportive of you and how many aren't for the simple fact that it's something they wouldn't do. I think we (humans) all like to believe our opinion is the right opinion, I remember a bunch of friends and family calling me crazy, "OMG! You're going to lose everything!!!" Oh gawd; spare me.

Whatever you decide, don't be deterred by the difficulty. It's going to be hard, but remember - it's supposed to be hard.

Thank you for taking the time and sharing your experience. I wish you the best! I will update on what I eventually did in about 3-6 months from now. For now, it's just time to hustle.

 

[James Thornton]

Good replies here. Definitely validate your idea! The market is brutally honest (w/ their action, not their words)

Also think of any possible sacrifices to lower expenses. Then less hours in the slow lane may be an option.

 

[actionmonk]

#1. Fail fast.
#2. Try to not base your model at the mercy of a third party as far as possible.
#3. They say if people don't trust you, they won't buy from you. No matter how sweet the deal is. I find this to be true.

Oh and one more thing, Keep moving forward. No matter what.

Thanks!

 

[Exuberant]

Please don't take it the wrong way. I'm just sharing my experience of twice having quit a job without generating enough income from my businesses.

This time around I'll be doing it differently.

I wish you all the best and I'm sure in a few months time we'll hear a great update from you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nez24]

I find myself in a bit of a dilemma, and would appreciate advise from the fastlaners here.

I've been working for a co. for a little over 12 years now, as a project manager. Decent job, rather a comfortable one and a decent paycheque along with a great relationship with the owners of the co.

But then there is a problem...

I am still in the slow lane, have been aspiring to get into the fast lane from perhaps a decade now. I've failed at an attempt in business at least twice. ( serious yet amateur attempt, involved debts etc, which thankfully I am out of now.) Yes I did learn in the process so no regrets.

At this very moment I am making an attempt to build an online business while I do my full time job, but the amount of effort I am able to put in here is not much, my job consumes about 12 hours (including the commute)

I am thinking of continuing it this way for another 6 months, and then quit my job, even if I haven't gained lot of traction in the business and intend to do it full time and live off savings - good to keep me going for at least a year.

Another thought, tells me to keep the job use the money I am making there and let that fund the business expenses like advertising and only quit when I am atleast matching my income from my job.

But to build a business you need consistent effort, I am trading a significant amount of time in the slow lane and very less towards the fast lane.

I am not sure if I am just afraid of letting go of a job that's comfortable and trying to give myself reasons why quitting may not be the right thing to do?

What are your thoughts, any body who has been in the same situation? how did it go for you?

Would love to hear from you.

Thank you

I found myself taking a good look in the mirror and this quote has stuck with me "Do not confuse movement with progress" I was doing the same old thing is was comfortable but I was getting nowhere same problems , same results and I did not see it for some reason. I had to change it does not feel good or comfortable to me but it was what I had to do to start growing. And having a support system.

 

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[Juke]

All right!

Did not realize it has been 4 years since I last updated this post.

Based on the tips I got from this forum, I was able to successfully negotiate a deal with my employer. For about 2 years, I worked only part time, but was getting paid a full-time salary.

It was all temporary though, and soon it was time for me to decide if I will quit or go back to doing the job full time.

I decided to quit.

I am willing to take a step in the unknown.

I have enough supplies to keep me and my family going for a year or two.

So the real fastlane journey has just begun.

Stay tuned...

Congratulations, wishing you all the best!

I find myself in a similar situation, deciding on the right time to quit my job and go full time Fastlane entrepreneur so I know exactly what you were going through and how hard that decision was.

Looking forward to hearing how you get on! Good luck

 

[zblundell]

I would quit my job right and dive in to the fastlane, however I have so much debt right now that it is not even plausible. (I literally could by a super car if my debt was reversed) Keep going, keep trying, never give up, and don't be dumb like me and get in over your head with debt. As long as you stay motivated, you will succeed.

 

[Harti]

What about the bills you have to pay, how much money do you need per month?

Can you afford to live your current lifestyle when you switch to a part-time job?
If not, are you willing to lower your standards until you've made it?

 

[actionmonk]

What about the bills you have to pay, how much money do you need per month?

Can you afford to live your current lifestyle when you switch to a part-time job?
If not, are you willing to lower your standards until you've made it?

I need $500/month - includes monthly business expense if I do advertising on a budget.

I have no rent to pay. I have right now $7000 in savings. By end of the year I am sure it will be atleast $10,000. ( I am in India )

I am willing to compromise, life style is not a problem I am not a big spender. Also, I am not married, so as such I only have my mother to care for (she also gets a pension.)

What bothers me is, I worked hard to get to the stage I am in the job, so the only question is, does it make sense to compromise and let go of all of that and take a risk, or continue to play it safe, keep attempting fast lane part time. (which makes me think I am being a chicken, but another thought tells me I am being rational.)

Thank you!

 

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[actionmonk]

So far 2 votes to keep the job and go fastlane gradually, this is getting interesting...thanks to all who commented.

 

[exclusives88]

I'd rather spend full time on working on a fast lane business. I'm also in this position and am planning on leaving my day job by end of this year. My thought is that my day job will always be in demand and that after 1 or 2 years, I can always go back if I needed money. I do however have 2 years of savings that I can live of. If you are young and have no family, now it is the opportunity

 

[actionmonk]

Can you become a contractor to your current employer?

Can you drop down to a 4 day week with them?



Personally, I would keep the job, and use the constraint on the hours you can put into your business as a positive force.

It's less about having more resources (time in this case), and more about being *resourceful*.


EDIT: You've got great savings behind you, and you're obviously saving each month. Can you start using that money to get subcontractors to do work for you, either related to your current j.o.b. or doing something completely different? So then your evening 1-2 hours is managing contractors to get work done, and learning lots in the process.

The suggestion to drop to a 4 day week is quite unique and considerable. I will keep this in mind.

At this point I am still developing the business model - I am following a blueprint, that's a thought worth considering once I have things rolling.

Thank you for your inputs. Appreciate it.

 

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[actionmonk]

There is no right answer I'm afraid.

Many people keep the day job until they grow their business to a point where quitting is the obvious choice.
Others will grow the business to a point where quitting would hurt a bit in the short term but they are confident in their ability to use the extra free time to propel them forward.
Still others will jump out of the plane with no parachute, flapping their arms like a bird, and hoping they think of something before they find the ground.

There are great arguments for and against all of these choices. You have to choose what feels right to you and your situation in life.

Great input, my concern is the "opportunity cost" of staying vs "risk of leaving".

 

[mws87]

Thank you for taking the time and sharing your experience. I wish you the best! I will update on what I eventually did in about 3-6 months from now. For now, it's just time to hustle.

Sorry about that, didn't mean to hijack the thread, just wanted to give you an example of a similar situation. Looking forward to your progress, man. Keep us updated for sure!

 

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[actionmonk]

Sorry about that, didn't mean to hijack the thread, just wanted to give you an example of a similar situation. Looking forward to your progress, man. Keep us updated for sure!

Hey that was a welcome post, I sure will keep you posted.