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Anybody here just quit their job, burn their bridges and took massive action?

Anything related to matters of the mind

Claude Roy

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Hey Guys,

I'm wondering if anybody here has any inspiring story of quitting their job, betting everything on themselves and taking massive action until you make it? I had a F*cking FTE this week at my job, we'll I guess maybe FTM if I'm even writing this and haven't quit my job yet but I now live in Florida and my rent is like 1.2k and I looked at the cheapest places to live in the US and Mississippi is the cheapest state and I found this nice place that is $630 a month and I'm thinking of burning the boats. I have like $35k saved and 50k CAD saved and I live pretty frugally, I don't really need anything much so I think I could get under 1.3k monthly expenses and the fact that not having a safe paycheck sounds scary but at the same time, I feel that I could make it. I know that's what MJ did and that inspired me a lot. I've seen a lot of people going to Thailand, Colombia or anything like that where you could get it even cheaper, but I want to stay in the US.

Any stories/tips?
 
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Brian Suh

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Do it. One life and what’s the worst that can happen? Go back to your own position? This is a battle and if you aren’t feeling like a warrior (hence the burning h boat analogy), you are dieing inside. All this will be forgotten, but will your soul have sang it’s song? That is the only true thing that lives on.
 

NewManRising

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I think you could do well. You have a nice chunk of money saved. I'll tell you my story briefly. About 5 months ago I started freelancing copywriting. Today I still do it but I have branched out to some marketing. The feeling and success I feel right now has made it where I know I don't want to or need to work at a job again.

It's been pretty hard emotionally. For several months I was "one foot in, one foot out". I wasn't quite sure if this would work. But thinking about all the BS with a job, and how I have grown a bit since I started freelancing, I decided to take the leap. But I had to work my way up to this in order to do it.

The emotionally hard part is not being used to a schedule where you dictate the hours you get up, when you work, and what you work on. You no longer get paid for just showing up. It is purely driven by yourself to make money and you only earn if you actually work.

It's a new way of life and I don't think others can fully experience it until they jump in with both feet. Giving 100% of your time and focus to this you can see how having a job on the side keeps you small and stressed out.
 

nickgraham1234

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Worst that will happen is you fail and go back. If you stay, you will always wonder what could have happened. The "what if" will dwell on you, so take action while you can!
 
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astr0

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I've done it once and failed, but not for the money reasons. Just too much tension between partners. We've managed to achieve x2-x3 income on average compared to our salaries back then, although it was a real rollercoaster. More details here.

Now, I'm almost in the same spot as you, just more savings and investments for the bottom line, own house and lower cost of living in Ukraine. I'm starting a service business mostly because I see a real need and have a competitive advantage from my experience and geo. Taking massive action already and would quit a job in a month. Sooner would be better, but I'm a pretty important employee for the company so don't want to screw our clients with not giving enough time for my replacement.

Service business is probably less risky than a product, especially a startup (Blue Ocean). Fewer investments, faster market response, less time to get profitable. We've considered a product(s) too, but my partners don't have much savings so can't take a risk to live more than a year without income.

I've done something like a startup too (at least budget-wise), failed and won't do it again unless I have whole funding covered with FU money pot.

Good Luck!
 

srodrigo

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I did it. I've been happily working (much more than when I was employed) on my own projects for a few months. Sounds great. "Living the dream!". It's fun indeed, and far more rewarding, but unless things take off and make money, it's not easy. The opportunity cost of earning a good salary is something to take into account. E.g. let's say you can make $1xx.000/year on a job you don't hate, or even a job you enjoy - that's still slavery, but not terrible slavery. We all like to be free, but no one stops you from building a side business while keeping a nice job that gives you a good pay, even if it means that being free will take more effort and time. Just something to consider (I'm considering that myself again TBH - As I said, it can be hard psychologically). Your priorities will tell you whether you really want or can make the short-term sacrifices or not.

Working on your own stuff also needs a degree of focus that working for someone else doesn't. I think freelancing is something in between, and it's something to consider. I personally think that mixing both is a good balance to keep going for longer but still have a chance to build something that takes off and changes your life.

I'm not a big fan of having a plan, because plans change really quickly and you must adapt, but at least have a rough idea about what you want. If you want to develop a product, estimate costs, time to market, and multiply by 2 at least to be safer. If you want to build a company (e.g. digital marketing agency), have a realistic (in theory) plan too and see whether it's viable with the time and money you've got. Things will go right or not, but at least you have a chance of succeeding before running out of money unexpectedly.
 

jesseissorude

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I had my bridges burned for me :happy:

I was planning to scale up my side business, so I was saving pretty aggressively.
Then, 2 days before Christmas, bossman tells 50% of the people in the office that they are let go. I was just a contractor and I work remotely, so I'm out. 5 years at the company, and peace out.
o_O

I've been trying to scale up since Jan 2nd. It's been a bumpy road, and it feels like my back is up against the wall... but it keeps me moving forward every day because I have no other option than to make it work.
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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I had my bridges burned for me :happy:

I was planning to scale up my side business, so I was saving pretty aggressively.
Then, 2 days before Christmas, bossman tells 50% of the people in the office that they are let go. I was just a contractor and I work remotely, so I'm out. 5 years at the company, and peace out.
o_O

I've been trying to scale up since Jan 2nd. It's been a bumpy road, and it feels like my back is up against the wall... but it keeps me moving forward every day because I have no other option than to make it work.
Yep. Everyone is disposable...

“But starting a business is risky!”

I’m always curious as to what the opportunity cost of NOT pursuing the Fastlane is for most people...
 

Siddhartha

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I walked out on what people described as a good opportunity after watching people get immolated or get their souls crushed by (mis)management and conditions. When they tried to do the same to me, I printed out the two week's notice I had been saving for that FTE and handed it the f*ck over.

Unfortunately my chosen hustle (PoD niche merch) had already filled up due to low barrier of entry and copy catting that edged my business to obscurity. While I did finish that semester of school, my savings were getting light and I had some self-doubts, so I ended up going back to a day job, but at least one that was more humane.

I'm finishing school at the moment but spending a lot of time doing Altucher's daily practice/heavy research to find something that sticks with me and that I can develop, and when the time comes; I will fearlessly make the dive off the edge and achieve my run for the fastlane.

The biggest thing seems to be just keeping moment and keeping your head up. You have a horde of savings that dwarf mine and you don't seem to have location attachment from either family or work prospects; is anything specifically keeping you there?
 

Claude Roy

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Thank you guys for all your advice, I burned my F*cking boats and made the decision to not renew my lease and move out of my apartment, into a cheaper one, quit my job and make it work or go broke and I'm going to make it F*cking work! I'm taking a bet on myself. I'm going to create a progress thread and document my journey.

Thanks again to everybody.
 
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Claude Roy

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Do it. One life and what’s the worst that can happen? Go back to your own position? This is a battle and if you aren’t feeling like a warrior (hence the burning h boat analogy), you are dieing inside. All this will be forgotten, but will your soul have sang it’s song? That is the only true thing that lives on.
Worst that will happen is you fail and go back. If you stay, you will always wonder what could have happened. The "what if" will dwell on you, so take action while you can!

Thanks guys as soon as I saw your messages, I was like, you F*cking have to do it, I can get a software developer job back any F*cking day and I imagined the worse thing that can happen and I'm accepting it, that is not that bad at all. I'm F*cking doing it, leaving my job, looking for somewhere cheap to live and that's F*cking going to be it!
 

nickgraham1234

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Thanks guys as soon as I saw your messages, I was like, you F*cking have to do it, I can get a software developer job back any F*cking day and I imagined the worse thing that can happen and I'm accepting it, that is not that bad at all. I'm F*cking doing it, leaving my job, looking for somewhere cheap to live and that's F*cking going to be it!
Glad I could help. Keep us updated. Godspeed my friend!

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
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Ravens_Shadow

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Thank you guys for all your advice, I burned my F*cking boats and made the decision to not renew my lease and move out of my apartment, into a cheaper one, quit my job and make it work or go broke and I'm going to make it F*cking work! I'm taking a bet on myself. I'm going to create a progress thread and document my journey.

Thanks again to everybody.

Make a progress thread as soon as you can to keep yourself accountable. Doing what you did is more that a lot of people who browse this forum daily will ever do. Congrats. Welcome to the beginning of something a whole lot more interesting.
 

NewManRising

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I've done it once and failed, but not for the money reasons. Just too much tension between partners. We've managed to achieve x2-x3 income on average compared to our salaries back then, although it was a real rollercoaster. More details here.

That sums it up. There is still some stress but a different kind. It might even be a little more stressful than a 9-5. As a freelancer or business owner, your time is in your hands. And it is not restricted to a 9-5.

* You don't get paid anymore for just showing up.
* Work is 24/7; You get calls, texts, offers, etc at all times. You also get unexpected time pressures for things. Which then forces you to prioritize. You may have to work at hours you don't want to work at.
* You have to be much more organized and manage your time wisely


My experience is that it is better than a job for numerous reasons but there is still stress, but a different kind. And you can mitigate this stress based on how organized you are. Don't take jobs/clients that are too stressful or time consuming.

In the beginning you may want to take anything just to grab as much money as you can. But you'll later learn this is not the best strategy.
 

Claude Roy

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Make a progress thread as soon as you can to keep yourself accountable. Doing what you did is more that a lot of people who browse this forum daily will ever do. Congrats. Welcome to the beginning of something a whole lot more interesting.

I will definitely do that. I will post both on Sunday and Wednesday. It is the start of a hard and long journey but I know it's all going to be worth it and I've felt so much better since I made the decision. I will do whatever it takes. Thanks for the kind words my friend!
 
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Suzanne Bazemore

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One suggestion, since you are willing to live anywhere, is to consider not only living expenses, but state income tax.
 

Maxboost

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Don't be afraid to fail if you quit your job. My biggest mistake so far is trying to be perfect. I realized that there are a lot of people kicking my a$$ because they did not give a shit and decided to FAIL forward.

A good mind hack that I have been using lately is to have HOURLY goals to keep you focused. You'll be surprised at how many hours you waste procrastinating and seeking perfection which leads to analysis paralysis.
 

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