I work a “normal” full-time job, in fact, I have a really good job and work for a really good company. But what most people don’t know, I am working on something that will provide me with the opportunity to quit my job while earning side income and take control of not only my schedule but my income and financial future.
My goal is to spend time with family and friends when I want to, work from anywhere, work when I want to work, and have a secure financial future. I want to be in control.
Let me take you through the steps that I am taking to make this a reality for me. Maybe it can be a reality for you also.
Why would someone want to leave a safe and secure job?
Now you may be thinking, why would a rationally minded person want to leave a safe and secure job earning a great income to start their own risky business. It may sound a little crazy but let me walk you through my rationale.
I have recently agreed with my employer that I will work in the office three days per week and work from home two days per week. Let me walk you through my day under these two scenarios.
Keep in mind, I am actively working on a side hustle to make my goal my reality. What is my side hustle? (hint – you’re currently reading one element of my plan but keep reading to find out more)
Scenario One – Work in the Office
- My day starts at 4 AM, each and every day
- Wake up, make Bulletproof coffee, listen to Brain.fm relaxing music for 15 minutes and catch up on sport and youtube
- By 5 AM, caffeine is kicking in and I am ready to work on my side hustle
- Spend about 60 minutes working on my side hustle
- Go into the sauna or get some exercise for 30-45 minutes
- Shave and shower and get ready to leave my home by 7:15 AM
- Drive 5 mins to park my car, walk 5 mins to the train station, wait for the train, sit on the train for 50 minutes, walk to subway platform, squeeze into subway, travel subway for 20 minutes, walk five minutes to the office and finally get to my desk, 90 minutes later (on the best day)
- Spend the day working, I try to take a lunch break (more to get outside and get fresh air)
- Leave the office a little after 5:20 pm to reverse my morning journey and ensure I get a seat on my train home. On the best day, I get home at 7 PM
- I try not to eat in the evening as I always want to be sleeping by 9 PM. I always want a minimum of 7 hours of sleep
Scenario Two – Work from Home
- Wake up at 4 AM
- Make Bulletproof coffee, listen to Brain.fm relaxing music for 15 minutes and catch up on some sport and youtube
- By 5 AM, caffeine is kicking in and I am ready to work on my side hustle
- Work on my side hustle until 7:30 AM
- Go into my sauna or getting some exercise for 30-45 minutes
- Turn on the work computer between 8:30 and 8:45 AM and begin working
- Eat lunch and grab a 30 minutes Brain.fm recharge session
- Work the afternoon and depending on my workload finish up about 6 PM
- I usually grab food around 5 PM (this allows my body to process what I eat for four hours before I go to bed)
- Depending on how I feel I may work on my side hustle, record a youtube video or relax and catch up with friends
- 9 PM sleeping
Today I live alone, but when I have family and friends staying with me, I spend little to no time with them in scenario one and I am able to spend a lot of time in scenario two. Scenario two provides me with more control and flexibility for my life.
Having read through my two scenarios, which is more appealing to you?
In the two scenarios above I left out my constant connection to work via email. I see that part of life and I expect whatever I am doing in the future, this will be a constant.
How my schedule will change when I quit my job?
- Wake up when my body wants to
- Make Bulletproof coffee, listen to Brain.fm relaxing music for 15 minutes and catch up on some sport and youtube
- Exercise and sit in my sauna
- Work when I want to
- Eat and spend time with friends and family
- Go to bed when tired
Obviously, this is my hope and may not reflect reality. But, this is my goal and what I want to achieve.
What is the driving motivation to Quit my Job?
There are two driving motivations to quit my job. Control over Time and Finances.
I know that I will always work – it’s in my DNA, but having the control to manage my time and schedule so “I” can prioritize family, life, friends and my financial objectives.
I spend so much time and energy working for someone else, whose priority is not me or even the person who is managing me. I am at the mercy of someone else to manage my income and benefits no matter how well I perform. To get a little extra, I have to provide my employer with a large benefit to their bottom line. If I work for myself, I will have the opportunity to reap all the rewards my time and energy reap and have the freedom to spend time as I want to spend time.
I could continue working on my job and side hustle, but the job will always control how much time I have to work on my side hustle and the time I spend with my family. I will never have control until I quit my job.
How much more could I do if I was working on my side hustle full time?
I am fortunate in that I have a such a burning desire to work on things I love. When I get focused on doing what I want to do, I can’t stop. Today, my job gets 80% of that time and energy. If I was able to focus 100% of my time and energy into doing what I want, I have no doubt how much content I could create and the benefit I could pass to others. I know I could replace my income and get the control I desire.
When I work, I work, and when I’m not, I’m not.
What do I lose when I give up my job?
Job Security – does job security really exist? I have seen many people lose their jobs because someone decided they didn’t fit, wanted to change the team structure, or their job was no longer needed. I am sure if you look around your company and think back a couple of years you will see this to be true at yours too. How many people have left your organization voluntarily? For a variety of reasons, I know I will no longer be needed to do my job at some point in the future.
Other Benefits – I am fortunate that my current employer provides comprehensive benefits – 401K matching, health care, dental, vision, life insurance, travel, and bonus and equity plans. It worries me to think of giving these benefits up. But as I think through each benefit which benefit do I need to replace.
- Replacing health, dental and vision plans feels scary, especially when providing for a family but there are really good options available today and I expect there will be more in the next couple of years. The replacement will be more expensive than my current corporate plan, but if you track how much you pay through your corporate plan, you’ll see, they’re not getting any cheaper.
- 401K matching – I need to replace this with additional income. Utilizing a lot of the smart automated investing platforms, I can access a much larger variety of investment opportunities that I currently can’t with my employer 401K scheme. Also, if I create passive income sites, will I need the same retirement balance?
- Equity – I want to grow the value of the side business. When the time is right, I will have the opportunity to sell the platform.
- Travel – as I will be working from anywhere in the world, I won’t need a travel benefit
What is a realistic timeline to Quit my Job?
I am working on a 3-year plan. That is 3 years to replace my current income. Giving myself 3 years takes away so much pressure on growing revenue in the first 12-18 months. I don’t expect to be making money in the first 18 months (but I know I will). I then plan to grow income rapidly between 18 and 36 months to validate if quitting my job is a possibility.
How much money do I need to earn to know if quitting my job is possible?
I know how much income I need to replace each month because I budget everything meticulously. So, I know what I can eliminate when I quit my job but I also know what the additional expense is needed to replace the benefits I will lose when I quit my job. I know replacing the health benefits will be more than I pay today thought my company plans.
Knowing my timeline also provides me with the opportunity to earn side hustle money that I can put aside to build up an emergency fund once I do quit my job.
What is my Side Hustle?
I am creating an industry online go-to resource.
In essence, I am creating a number of websites. This is not internet marketing in the strictest sense of the words, but I guess an element of what I am creating fits into that description. It all starts with a flagship website – an authoritative website that provides real value to anyone in the industry it serves. A site that has integrity, the trust of the industry and is at the service for the industry. Then, I am creating affiliate passive income sites on topics related to the flagship site.
My Websites: Open Sourced Workplace; Lhasa Also Owner; this site plus a few others.
The flagship site’s purpose is to be a go-to resource for the industry. I plan to provide so much valuable content for 18 months and have no expectations that the site will generate income. The site will generate income, but it’s not my expectation. (I am trying to manage my stress and expectations.)
The Affiliates sites will be launched every two months. I plan to write a number of articles like this one and hire a team of writers to supplement my content. I don’t expect the affiliated sites to generate income for 18 months either.
I want to spend 18 months focusing on creating the most usable content possible. I want anyone who reads my content, to know they are reading the best information available, is educated on the topic they are searching for, and trust they don’t need another resource.
Finding the Time to work on my Side Hustle
As you’ve seen above, I am currently working many hours per week on my side hustle. There are additional ways I find time to work on my side hustle.
Work in and around my work schedule
- Before work,
- Commuting to work,
- lunchtime,
- After work
- Weekends
How much time do you spend watching Friends reruns? I do, but that’s to allow me to switch off after working a long day. But really, think to yourself, how much time do you spend watching junk TV that provides no value. I have eliminated all junk TV. I watch my sport each weekend but rarely do I watch other TV myself. I will watch movies and programs my family want to watch, but that’s family time.
How much time do you spend on social media? Smartphones can tell you how much time you’ve spent on social media each week. I have taken that time back and I now spend very little time on social media….. unless it’s adding value to my business.
Track how you spend your time for a week – I did this once and I couldn’t get over how much time I waisted over doing little things that I don’t need to be doing or could automate. Eliminating little things that don’t add value and scheduling things that do, have made me so much more productive.
Parkinsons Law – a task will take as long as the time you give yourself to do it – If a task is given 2 hours or two weeks to complete, the task will take 2 hours or two weeks. I was spending so much time trying to make things look pretty, strategizing over what I needed to do, and giving myself the time to do this. Once I started scheduling and making myself complete tasks in short periods, I was able to do so and became so much more productive.
Pareto principle – also known as the 80/20 rule. The rule suggests that 20 percent of activities will account for 80 percent of your results. Further, 80 percent of activities add 20 percent of your results. Writing and publishing content for the next 18 months is the only way to get results. I now spend 80 percent of my time creating and publishing content.
80 Percent complete is okay – We always strive to get everything 100 percent perfect. While I want to give everyone the best content available, I also know that the difference between 80 percent and 100 percent in value to a reader. The time to get something to 100 percent and the value a reader will benefit, is not worth the time investment.
There is never a day that I can be doing anything better for my business than creating and publishing content.
While this article is titled “The Right Way to Quit Your Job”, you can see it’s a roadmap. But. it’s well thought out and planned roadmap. I hope it is useful to you and something you can replicate.