Who quit a good-paying Slowlane job and is now a Fastlaner?

[SteveO]

I worked for HP for many years with the full intention of retiring with them. One day I had a revelation and began working on a plan. Two years later, I quit my job. My ex-wife quit hers as well.

The next few years had its ups and downs although mostly ups. The ex could not take the lifestyle of feeling little security. We parted ways and she went back to work.... But, she took her million dollars with her from the settlement...

It has been 17 years since I have worked for somebody else.

 

[xmartel]

I joined this forum a long time ago. But it took a couple years of hanging out here, and quite a few years prior to arriving here, before I stopped being a wantrepreneur.

I took the plunge and quit my day job and started my business at about the same time. Sink or swim. It was quite liberating.

My day job was one that would have paid North of 100k/yr within 1-2 more years. The job itself had a lot of enjoyable moments, and I do miss it from time to time. But I've never regretted the decision to jump.

I've had a lot of ups and downs in the years since. But things are growing strong. And with our projections for this year, we'll overtake some of our largest competitors.

We're in a very capital intensive business, but have never had to take on any investors. My wife and I are sole owners. And we became self-made millionaires at 28.

From the book, I have a number in mind that I'm trying to hit. It's 8 figures. While we won't have that net worth for probably a few more years, if we hit our projections this year, we will have an asset that produces the same income as my number would at a 5% return.

If we hit that goal this year, I'll write a more in depth storey about my journey for the benefit of those here.

I've now worked for myself since 2010, when I was 24 years old.

 

[Vigilante]

@Vigilante ??

I did, but not in the traditional sense. I bootstrapped companies and double dipped income with fat consulting gigs as long as I possibly could. I had extremely high paying consulting gigs, but I kept them until I could justify leaving them.

The FREEDOM DATE is the date where your passive income exceeds your regular income. On that day, you are free to leave, free to double dip as long as you can... free to do what ever. I have written elsewhere on the forum about navigating to your freedom date.

But I didn't go all in, as some on the forum have. I tried to maintain the best of both worlds, but then did eventually wean off the high income revenue streams as soon as my business was able to sustain and grow itself, and sustain me on top of that.

 

[Vigilante]

By the way, use your industry expertise.

I have had several short term consulting gigs. All of them came to me from LinkedIn. Some as short as a few hours worth of research and interviews with analysts.

And, last year, I had some side consulting money that paid me nearly six figures (not bad for a side gig with very little time investment).

I just sent out this morning a proposal to a company that asked for it. If all goes well, it will bring in $200k+ over the next 12 months. On the side.

The criteria for these gigs are that they are buying expertise, not time. I'll agree to specific deliverable, but not specific hours. My time is not for sale. My expertise is.

Point being, this doesn't have to be an ALL OR NOTHING game. You should be able to cash in on what you know.

If I were a former FBI guy, I would do security consulting.

If I were a former HR executive, I would do company restructuring consulting.

If I were an MBA, I would do business strategy stuff.

If I were a former accountant, I would straighten out people's hard core IRS tax issues for huge premiums.

Milk it while you can, as the more separation there is between you and the corporate world, the less valuable or relevant your skill set is.

 

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[SweetTooth]

I quit my job in November 2015. At the time I had a "pretty good" job as a car salesman. I had a 2016 Mustang and was living in an apartment with a 12 month contract. I was tired of working for other people so I quit the job. I sold the Mustang for a big loss right before it was about to be repossessed. I got out of my apartment by having another person sign over the lease for me right before I was about to be evicted.

Then I worked on figuring out how to make money from my laptop. I started an ecommerce store and made some money from that. Then I got into copywriting and web design for clients. I wouldn't say this is Fastlane, but I'm making my entire income working at home on my laptop which was one of the goals. Now I have the opportunities to work on and fund more ventures.

 

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[Justin Gesso]

I would love to hear some quick stories from people who left their good-paying Slowlane/corporate/whatever job and became a thoroughbred Fastlaner.

I find these stories very motivating and interesting.

It's tough to leave a solid, consistent, and secure job...especially if you have a family to support. But man, we know what's possible. Many of us dream of doing it. Some of us go for it.

A few examples:

• @GiroudJD - "Quit my day job as an attorney when I consistently started earning more every single month just by self-publishing." thread
  
• @JustAskBenWhy - Left the life of a professional musician and instructor to be in real estate and internet marketing and "jobless for a long while now." intro
• @oldkevx - Left CMO job to flip a "common service business" on its head.
• @G_Alexander - Quit 6-figure banking job to launch e-commerce business. thread
• Me - Left a strong 6-figure telecom strategy, product, and operations role to pursue real estate investing and various internet marketing/ecommerce ventures. Enjoying much more (scalable) income and much easier life now.

So what's your story?!

 

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[eliquid]

I've never quit to become a Fastlaner. I've always had my hand forced.


But the last time this happened, I had a six-figure salary and was on top of the world as someone who lived in a rural part of the midwest.

Forced to exit, I simply had enough of the BS with getting the carpet pulled from under me and started down my own path with affiliate marketing, lead gen, and building my own SaaS

 

[JustAskBenWhy]

I remember it vividly. I was director of a music school, which I helped establich. I hustled. I taught a lot. The second year in operation, my income touched $100,000. Tax time came - blew me the F*ck away. I'd been paying quarterly, but in the end owed a large chunk. My CPAs told me that they took every deduction known to mankind, and there was nothing more they could do - I was making the wrong kind of money in the wrong kind of way...

Started buying RE in 2006. Some say I did great. Others say I could have done more. But, whichever way you put it, I haven't had a job since 2013. And now my wife doesn't either. We find IM interesting and stimulating, but unstable and potentially highly taxed. Real estate income is much more stable, and structured correctly offers a shelter not just for its' own sake, but likely other income as well.

I am selling my house in Ohio as we speak, as well as some other assets, and we are relocating to AZ. Why - cause we want to. Real estate and IM allows us to live more so on our own terms than most people. Not everyone. A lot of folks here are fare more down the fastlane. But, we are certainly better off than most...

Looking forward to knocking some heads in Arizona!

 

[Duane]

Went to college to be a Chemical Engineer quite a few years ago.. My goal was to graduate and get a good job as an engineer. I'd buy real estate over time and eventually build up a portfolio big enough to quit my job and live off the passive income. 2 years into the degree (last summer), I got my first internship. My friends were mad as hell they couldn't get one and how lucky I was to have it (yes even engineers have a hard time finding internships/jobs).

It was a 3 semester long internship (May 2015 to May 2016) with the chance of being able to renew it if things went well to eventually be a full time employee there (start pay is around $90k/year there not including quarterly bonuses) (internship pay was about $16/hr).

June 2015, I realized that I didn't want to work as a chemical engineer anymore. Between engineering classes and an internship, you have very little free time to work on a business on the side, so I quit that job with no source of income in August of 2015. I still want to get my degree, because I love doing research into clean, sustainable energy. Without that degree, I can't work in these labs.

Back on topic, it wasn't until January of 2016 that I finally figured out what I wanted to do and got that business going. My business doesn't obey all of the commandments, but I know it well and how to grow it and it can scale really well because the people in this market are bad at what they do and it's hard to find someone that does the job right. I've made a lot of mistakes, but none big enough to put the company in the ground.

Fast forward 5 months later and the business is very successful. I'm by no means fastlane, but I'm working my way towards how I've always wanted to live my life (I don't want to ever stop working, I just love the fullfillment/feeling of purpose you get when you are running your own business saving people money and making their lives easier).

Hopefully my story was useful to you as motivation to do what you've always wanted to do.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I joined this forum a long time ago. But it took a couple years of hanging out here, and quite a few years prior to arriving here, before I stopped being a wantrepreneur.

I took the plunge and quit my day job and started my business at about the same time. Sink or swim. It was quite liberating.

My day job was one that would have paid North of 100k/yr within 1-2 more years. The job itself had a lot of enjoyable moments, and I do miss it from time to time. But I've never regretted the decision to jump.

I've had a lot of ups and downs in the years since. But things are growing strong. And with our projections for this year, we'll overtake some of our largest competitors.

We're in a very capital intensive business, but have never had to take on any investors. My wife and I are sole owners. And we became self-made millionaires at 28.

From the book, I have a number in mind that I'm trying to hit. It's 8 figures. While we won't have that net worth for probably a few more years, if we hit our projections this year, we will have an asset that produces the same income as my number would at a 5% return.

If we hit that goal this year, I'll write a more in depth storey about my journey for the benefit of those here.

I've now worked for myself since 2010, when I was 24 years old.

Wow, congrats man. I've featured your post to randomize on the front page. Awesome sauce!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Happens often.

Heck, I just got this via Twitter DM not more than 24 hours ago...

 

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[Jake]

I left a job that paid me way too much to ride around in helicopters and dodge mortars..not a forever job but a well paying one if I took different contracts with the company.

I'm no thoroughbred but my revenue is approaching my old salary now.

 

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[Equilibrium]

I took advice from the fast-lane forums and quit working for a successful call-center that bleeds its agents worse than the people from Maze Runner: Scorch Trials.

I was making a steady paycheck, and had 1k in the bank. not MUCH.. but a good start to a low life with a steady +300 every two weeks.
It SUCKED.

I walked out, and starting my company is terrifying, unnerving..and I have never felt so ALIVE.
now I'm nowhere to the point of making a million. Right now I'm trying to attract a venture capitalist.
but trust me. It's a much more enjoyable experience wondering what the heck I'm going to do for next weeks food, while flying on a airplane to a unknown city, and speaking to hundreds of business owners, meeting people from shark tank, and trying to find the right deal.

than it EVER was to take phone calls as a cog in a slowly churning machine of people spending their days sighing and getting fat off of vending machine snacks.

 

[OldFaithful]

I don't know if my story qualifies for this thread, but I'll share it and see what the feedback might say.

Once upon a time, I had a job that I really enjoyed. I did interesting work with interesting technology, working at a place that was actually pleasant to work at. I wasn't paid all that well though and eventually realized that I'd never have the lifestyle I want in my chosen career field. However, I also saw several opportunities that my employer didn't want to pursue and thought that I'd love to fill the needs of those customers. That could serve as the path to get me where I wanted to be, but it also meant I'd have to quit this job I liked.

I don't know if you believe in providence or God or not, but as soon as I decided to leave my old career behind, I got a call from a company close to home...completely out of the blue. Now this is particularly important because the job I enjoyed entailed over an hour commute each way, which left me too tired to spend much time working on anything. This new opportunity was just a couple minutes from home, and although I knew nothing about it, I took the job. I basically got the same pay with almost 3 hours to utilize each day, and I was saving considerably on commuting costs. (I've been using that savings to bootstrap my project.) I've also been using the extra time to work on my project each day...as well as I can, which you will understand if you're a family man like myself.

I now consider myself a fast lane business owner, since that's my primary focus. I just happen to still have a 9 to 5 job to keep food on the table until my new business can take over. It will take time, and the road ahead is unknown, but at least I'm moving in the right direction!

 

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[SparksCW]

OK well this happened yesterday so I guess I've just quit a well paying slow lane job to go fast lane. Something I had wanted to do for years but never actually done it until I read TMFL, joined the forum and realised that this is the life I want to lead, successful or not.

Hopefully my story will be as successful as the original posters!

Sink or swim!

 

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[AndrewNC]

So what's your story?!

Quit my job in June 2014 when I was about to get a promotion that would lead to six figures.

Instead of the extra responsibility and hours, I spent two years driving from city to city, traveling across the country. This one is from Seattle to the East Coast in Fall 2015

Three weeks after I quit my job.

 

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[Rincewind]

I quit my job as a software engineer five years ago. Since that date I work as a freelancer as much as I have to and use most of my time working on my own business. I sold my first SaaS company last year (no big money), but it wasn't fulfilling the fastlane criteria.

While I can't use 100% of my time for my own work, I get paid a very good hourly rate for learning all the stuff I need to learn for my clients projects.

My wife is officially employed still, but currently she is in parental leave (is this the correct wording?). When our son starts with Kindergarten in October, she will join "our" company, since she's a software developer, too.

Not completely fastlane yet, but as close as we could get until now...

 

[MJ DeMarco]

@Vick!!

 

[thiccsucc]

I wouldn't consider it "good" pay but I was on $55k before quitting my 9-5 banking job to open my own cleaning biz (family has lots of exp in this field so it was a no brainer to start off with). Working 18 hours a week I was already making more than the 9-5 on a weekly basis. Started this biz July this year but have slowed down toward the end of the year, I intend to automate the biz in 2017 and move on to a bigger project(s).

 

[SmittyMcdougal]

I quit my job as a business account executive (6 figures)back in february to start a small business. I havent launched just yet as the field ill be working in requires loads of equipment that i just finished sourcing yesterday. I plan to launch in august.

 

[GMJimmy]

Very inspiring thread,

I have a good paying job, £100k+ and I only work 3 days a week. I love what I do, no stress, no overhours, etc. So it is just not bad enough to make me quit at the moment. And I have huge responsibilities, I have six children so I am not taking any risks that would put their security in danger.

However I'm somewhere halfway towards fastlane. My wife has not worked in the past 8 years. I am making some side businesses, nowhere near my salary yet, but it would be enough to provide a very modest lifestyle in case I quit or lost my job.

About a year ago I have started some online businesses, selling downloadable digital materials. I have sales, but that business is not that excites me too much anymore. I keep it going but I am thinking of scaling and outsourcing most of the activities.

A lot more exciting side income for me is real estates. I am more or less involved in RE since I was about 16 (I'm 35 now), via my stepfather and I still enjoy it, so I take it as a sign. In the past few years I could afford investing more in RE business than before (I used to be dead broke). Also, my salary makes it possible to invest about 1500 pounds monthly, which I am spending mostly on purchases, repairs and refurbishing. I am doing both flipping and long time renting, depending on the opportunity. The good thing with RE is that you are moving larger sums of money at once, instead of dealing with 1-digit sales. I have 6 RE at the moment, 4 of which are fully paid, one has a mortgage ending in 2 years, and another one I am paying monthly to the owner, ending in 3 years. I am buying another plot of land right next to a lake, and I will build a camping site and children's recreation centre there.

Also, I have found a good product (health&beauty), and I have a meeting with the manufacturer soon. I plan to get exclusivity for a few western european countries, then I could plan a robust strategy to grow, instead of being just one distributor amond many others. I have experience in this.

So I still have my job because of the benefits that I can invest that money in my side businesses, and that all other incomes can stay within those businesses instead of buying bread. But I am planning to move to a consultant role that would give me a lot more freedom and money (talking about 10-20k per week), I think I will be ready in a few years, as I need to have a solid track record to have enough clients.

Thank you for the thread!

 

[Jon L]

I got fired 2 years ago...does that count?

 

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[SteveO]

Wow, that is powerful! That really clicked with me.

I make too much money in my normal job, so I am adjusting that to "when I make half as much passively than what I make now" is when I quit. There are layoffs going on right now and I actually want to try and volunteer for one if I can. If I can be packaged off with a pro-rated bonus for what I have worked for the year, and 3-5 months salary, I will do that.

I don't know how to volunteer to be packaged off when they are laying people off, but if anyone has advice in this please let me know!!!

Another way to look at it is to quit when your income meets your needs to live. We sold our beach house and moved to Arizona to give us the freedom.

I waited for a while and talked to superiors to try and get a package to leave. Didn't get one though. They began offering them shortly after I quit. Oh well. Did not need it anyway.

 

[JustAskBenWhy]

So - saw a FB Ad by @Justin Gesso for his book. There was a link to take a quiz - I did. According to Justin's quiz, I am a shitty entrepreneur, should quit RE, should quit IM, should not even think about sundicating apartments, and should instead go get a job...!

Well, crap -- I thought to myself.
Justin, as always, it's all your damn fault...LOL

 

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[Torobaro]

I was a tax lawyer a big law firm and quit my job after 3 years. In my third year I read more than 20 books like TGR, Anthony Robbins...and took the plunge, once I did it I´ve never looked back

 

[GPM]

The FREEDOM DATE is the date where your passive income exceeds your regular income

Wow, that is powerful! That really clicked with me.

I make too much money in my normal job, so I am adjusting that to "when I make half as much passively than what I make now" is when I quit. There are layoffs going on right now and I actually want to try and volunteer for one if I can. If I can be packaged off with a pro-rated bonus for what I have worked for the year, and 3-5 months salary, I will do that.

I don't know how to volunteer to be packaged off when they are laying people off, but if anyone has advice in this please let me know!!!

 

[Bearcorp]

I quit my slowlane career in September to go full time in my fastlane business, I'm not a big contributor here, mainly because the information more experienced members add surpasses what I can contribute, a big thanks to MJ, reading his book and being a member of this forum made me believe it was possible.

 

[MrYoshi]

I had an awesome business development role at a huge tech company and it was the definition of a comfy slow lane job. I did very well there but realized how miserable I was after 7 months. I was making around 80k, which is pretty good for a 24-year-old out of college. I also read the Millionaire Fastlane and realized that it's now or never to jump into this. I actually plan on creating a progress thread this weekend to go over everything.

 

[Philip Marlowe]

It's tough to leave a solid, consistent, and secure job...especially if you have a family to support.

Truth. I have yet to leave my six-figure slowlane job, but I'm on the path. And that's not because I dislike it (the exact opposite - great people/boss), but rather because it's fragile and my job is ultimately dependent on a handful of variables outside of my control, which is unacceptable.

Sorry I can't tell my story (yet), but I do know what it's like to have a well-paying job that supports the family while yearning for something more.

And I should add that one of the challenges in telling anybody is that you look a bit spoiled in your first world problem. In other words, I have an amazing job that I love that pays me insanely well....and yet I want something more. Hard to find anyone who can relate except here.

 

[jon.a]

@Vigilante ??