Time to Resign and Focus on Side Hustle/Business?

[telly123]

Hi all,

I'd be interested to get different perspectives on my current situation.

Since my initial post to the forum, my side hustle has really picked up, to the point where it once again exceeds my jobs wage.

At present my life is dominated by my day job, side hustle, limited time with my daughter (due to being divorced from the mum) and keeping in shape.

Over the last couple of months I've been becoming more twitchy about life in general (40 next year so possible midlife crisis ). I've been content/satisfied to keep my head down and grind when going through the separation, but don’t want life to keep passing me by, so something has to give.

I love the side hustle, but I don’t see it lasting forever or being the end goal. The end goal being a proper business of some sort.

I'm leaning towards quitting the day job so I can rinse matched betting whilst it's still around, spend more time with my daughter before she goes to school next year and also start to look for opportunities to offer value to others (start a business).

For full disclosure, financially I'm not in a bad place. Mortgage is covered with funds in the bank, plus £100k on top. Low outgoings in general.

My job is overpaid and fairly straightforward - £45k + 5k bonus. Market rate in my area is around 25-30k - generic desktop support.

Each day I seem to wake thinking I'm going to quit, then self-doubt starts to creep in - what happens if side hustle ends in 6 months, do I have what it takes to think of business ideas and deliver. But then I think, I'm not in a bad place financially, this is a great chance to spend more time with my daughter and get off the mundane scripted treadmill of life.

On the one hand I think I need to grow a pair, back myself, get rid of the scarcity mindset and just hand in my notice. On the other hand I feel am I being irresponsible leaving a relatively well paid job (for my area) without actually having any solid business ideas in place.

People around me say I should go for it - decent financial position, very strong work ethic, love learning/researching . I believe the extra time will give me the chance to research opportunities, work on creativity etc. I have a good network of contacts in the area, so worst case could always get another job (albeit lower wage, probably) in a few years, but that would be the last option.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

 

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[Xavier X]

Have a feasible plan in place for a true business before jumping out.
Commit to something, and start working on it right away. In some months, you'll know if it's worth resigning to double down on or not.

There is no point quitting and twiddling your thumbs at home all day, because you've realized your current side hustle lacks any spark.

When I resigned my job (similar pay range, but higher), I put in the longest notice.
It was about six months long, and I sat down with the regional manager to discuss it.
I also gave written authorization that they could start finding a replacement for me. I essentially made sure there could be no turning back for me. No room to chicken out.

This was December, 2013. I was 28. I haven't looked back, or considered typing up a resume since then.

 

[telly123]

Have a feasible plan in place for a true business before jumping out.
Commit to something, and start working on it right away. In some months, you'll know if it's worth resigning to double down on or not.

There is no point quitting and twiddling your thumbs at home all day, because you've realized your current side hustle lacks any spark.

When I resigned my job (similar pay range, but higher), I put in the longest notice.
It was about six months long, and I sat down with the regional manager to discuss it.
I also gave written authorization that they could start finding a replacement for me. I essentially made sure there could be no turning back for me. No room to chicken out.

This was December, 2013. I was 28. I haven't looked back, or considered typing up a resume since then.

Cheers mate. When you say lacks spark, do you mean interest? I've been doing it for 4 years and love it. In that time it has frequently exceeded my take home pay and that's doing it part time.

I'm.thinkimg that by resigning it will allow me to carry on with it and look at starting a 'proper' business.

I wouldnt be twiddling my thumbs in any scenario, that's for sure. If it did end I'd have even more time to spend on getting something off the ground.

 

[Xavier X]

You said: "I love the side hustle, but I don’t see it lasting forever or being the end goal. The end goal being a proper business of some sort."

This indicates you don't see yourself going all the way with the side hustle (like a side chick you would never marry).
My point is, get something you can truly commit to long term before you resign (even just a well thought out business idea).

 

[NursingTn]

What's your side gig?

Can't you make an actual business out of it?

 

[telly123]

What's your side gig?

Can't you make an actual business out of it?

Advantage play, mainly casino bonuses.

I know people who've done it fo years who've made a very good living from.

UK tax laws on bonuses changed last year and as a result many casino have revoked bonuses.

Still value out there, but you need a big bank to ride out the variance these days

It may go on for another 20 years it may end in a year or 2.

 

[biophase]

That side hustle definitely isn’t really a business. My advice would be to save up all that money that you’re currently making on your side hustle to invest in some assets like real estate or purchase a business.

 

[NursingTn]

That is not a viable business model due to the issue of control. However, you do have one thing going for you... Expertise. You are an expert at this side-gig.

Pack your knowledge up in courses, books, webinars, etc. and charge people who want to learn about it. Or give them out for free to build a community that will help you build a business that solve problems people are willing to pay related to your side gig.

What problems have you encountered while picking up this side gig?

 

[telly123]

That side hustle definitely isn’t really a business. My advice would be to save up all that money that you’re currently making on your side hustle to invest in some assets like real estate or purchase a business.

Interesting, thanks. Why do you recommend purchasing a business or assets as a pose to starting a business from scratch?

 

[Kevin88660]

Advantage play, mainly casino bonuses.

I know people who've done it fo years who've made a very good living from.

UK tax laws on bonuses changed last year and as a result many casino have revoked bonuses.

Still value out there, but you need a big bank to ride out the variance these days

It may go on for another 20 years it may end in a year or 2.

Good job!

Seem like you have a high income skill, not really a business.

You have cash in bank. Mortgage paid up. Pretty financially safe to take more risk.

I know guys in Taiwan who do it for a living.
1) Organize a free tour consist of relative and friends. Tell them that the casino will pay for their tickets and hotels.

2) Get everyone to collect the bonus chips

3) Skilled gamblers take over the chips and do optimal response for blackjack. No card counting needed. Enormous cash coming in.

If you can make more during off work hours, my gut feeling is you should quit your job and just make as much money as possible. Don’t worry about it not being a permanent thing. Just save up what you make and don't spend like a king.

The pro gamblers usually diversify the loss of control (not having good bonus or low edge games) by having large geographical access to global casino. You can consider

1) fly around the world and not limit yourself to UK. Always there will be new casino with crazy bonus. House edge may differ.

2) Consider selling the shovels. Take in students and charge them a fee. Lots of young guys will be interested.

 

[biophase]

Interesting, thanks. Why do you recommend purchasing a business or assets as a pose to starting a business from scratch?

Because right now you have a side hustle that won't last. So you make $50k at your job and $50k at your side hustle today. Next year, you may make only $50k.

Wouldn't it be nice if your side hustle money got transformed into:
1) Safe investment returning 5% = $2500/yr
2) One rental property cashflowing $5000/yr
3) One business making $20000/yr

Instead of blowing the $50k on a car, or a bunch of small things, etc...

You can start your own business also, but it sounds like you don't have alot of free time.

Do you have any assets?

 

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[telly123]

Good job!

Seem like you have a high income skill, not really a business.

You have cash in bank. Mortgage paid up. Pretty financially safe to take more risk.

I know guys in Taiwan who do it for a living.
1) Organize a free tour consist of relative and friends. Tell them that the casino will pay for their tickets and hotels.

2) Get everyone to collect the bonus chips

3) Skilled gamblers take over the chips and do optimal response for blackjack. No card counting needed. Enormous cash coming in.

If you can make more during off work hours, my gut feeling is you should quit your job and just make as much money as possible. Don’t worry about it not being a permanent thing. Just save up what you make and don't spend like a king.

The pro gamblers usually diversify the loss of control (not having good bonus or low edge games) by having large geographical access to global casino. You can consider

1) fly around the world and not limit yourself to UK. Always there will be new casino with crazy bonus. House edge may differ.

2) Consider selling the shovels. Take in students and charge them a fee. Lots of young guys will be interested.

Cheers mate. Yes, strong part of me and others that I know who do it full time say leave the job asap and make as much as I can whilst it's available. Could make several years of my job wage if I can get another 2 years out of it in it's current state. I only play online at present. If the online side was to go down hill I'm confident of being able to make a living from brick and mortar shops, although not to the same extent. But yes, would look closer overseas as well if the EV justified travel.

Not only that but I genuinely enjoy the 'work' and you can pick and choose your hours, so I'd be able to get involved a lot more with my daughters life, plus start working on other business skills/ventures. Autonomy in life and having freedom from having to be at a regular job for large chunks would be a massive plus.

 

[telly123]

Because right now you have a side hustle that won't last. So you make $50k at your job and $50k at your side hustle today. Next year, you may make only $50k.

Wouldn't it be nice if your side hustle money got transformed into:
1) Safe investment returning 5% = $2500/yr
2) One rental property cashflowing $5000/yr
3) One business making $20000/yr

Instead of blowing the $50k on a car, or a bunch of small things, etc...

You can start your own business also, but it sounds like you don't have alot of free time.

Do you have any assets?

Yes indeed. I have 40k in index funds and add to this each month.

No rental property yet. I have researched the idea, but haven't pursued further yet. Feels like adding landlord duties to my current setup would be a pain in the arse.
Bogleheads forum and some UK based finance forums indicate you need to factor in a fair amount of time into your life to deal with the crap that comes from being a landlord and that index funds returns aren't much different over the long term, with a lot less hassle.

My main query around the post was as to why they recommended purchasing a business, rather than start one from the ground up.

Funny enough I did come close to buying an S5, but stopped looking in the end. Thought I'd much rather build an empire than start buying expensive toys too soon, that would make me even more apprehensive above leaving employment.

My thinking is to cut the least lucrative and time consuming thing out of my life so I can look to take it to the next level. That happens to be my job.

 

[biophase]

My main query around the post was as to why they recommended purchasing a business, rather than start one from the ground up.

You can buy or start one from scratch. I think either is fine. Buying one would get you up and running alot faster. Starting from scratch will take a while to get profitable (if you ever get profitable) especially if you've never started one before.

 

[telly123]

6 months later I'm still doing both the job and side hustle. Manager has raised redundancies possible next month or October again. Now have over £150k saved (no mortgage).

My redundancy package is worth around £25,000 so I'm tempted to step forwards and take voluntary

Urge to pull trigger on my job is strong, but I have mental block that it's somehow irresponsible to leave employment, even though the side hustle in bringing in more money.

Can anyone recommend any good resources for helping to reach the right conclusion? Feels like I'm over analyzing and end up just keeping on the path I'm already on.