One of the biggest questions you’ll start asking yourself and those around you when you get the entrepreneurial bug is when do you decide when to quit your job? Most people want to quit right away but never do because they are scared of not having a paycheck every two weeks to fall back on. Others will want to quit right away and forget about the bills that begin to pile up quickly.
The thing you have to realize is that there is no right time to actually quit your day job to pursue your passion in life but instead of making the decision to quit or not to quit – why don’t you use it to get your business off the ground?
“I Don’t Have Enough Time” Myth – DEBUNKED
The average mindset that most people have is that they don’t have enough time to juggle a day job plus spend time working on their business. Well let me debunk this right away for you.
- Full time jobs average 40-hours per week.
- There are 24 hours in every day.
- Which equates to 168 hours per week.
This leaves you with a total of 128 hours per week to work on your business. Now let’s say that you sleep an average of 8 hours per day. 128 – 56 = 72 hours to spend on your business.
Even with all of the time you spend at work plus the time you are sleeping, you still have a total of 72 hours to utilize to get your business off the ground. It’s never a matter of not having enough time to achieve the goals you want to achieve; it’s a matter of priorities and wanting to actually see your goals achieved.
How You Can Utilize Your Day Job For Success
There’s a lot of questions that you’ll have to ask yourself before you get started in any business, but what’s the main reason most people start a business anyway? The answer to that question is freedom. Financial freedom to live the life they desire without having to answer to anyone else controlling their schedule. Freedom to spend time with their family, to travel when they want to, and to do the things they’ve always wanted to do.
The secret is that it isn’t going to happen overnight. You won’t wake up and instantly be a successful owner of any business – you’ll wake up being the same person and doing the same thing that you did the night before.
With that in agreement, let’s break down the benefits of sticking it out with your current job before you just jump in the ocean without knowing how to swim.
1. Finances
The biggest reason people fail in their business isn’t the fact that they don’t have any money but that they didn’t act quickly enough that the money simply ran out. Keeping your day job while pursuing your goals in your business allow you to spend money on important masterminds, business seminars, books, audio programs, and marketing your business.
If you have a business, it’s better to spend $300 per month on Facebook advertising in your local community not only gives you a better chance to be seen by your peers, but also gives you an opportunity to interact with them before they contact you for your services or go into your store.
Another thing to realize is that you will need people on your team to help you out because you can’t do this alone. Hiring a coach will help you figure out exactly what you need to do and will give you the tools necessary to succeed in your business. Whether that’s a one on one coaching situation or joining a group-coaching program – coaches will help you find clarity, provide a sense of direction, & help you simplify your actions to achieve more in less time.
The last reason why keeping your job while building your business is so you can continue to provide for your family (&/or yourself) so you don’t rack up an insane amount of debt. If I would have realized that I wouldn’t make money in my first couple business ventures because I wasn’t in the right mindset or surrounded around the right people, I wouldn’t have quit my day job at the time.
Instead, I continuously charged everything (bills, groceries, outings, etc) to my credit cards that eventually run out. Yes, credit cards aren’t just free money, eventually the balance does hit a ceiling and you are expected to pay it back… Monopoly money doesn’t count either.
Now I was in a worse situation sitting on no way to pay my bills or to eat AND I was going to lose my phone. If I would have kept my phone, I would have been able to slowly pay for marketing materials to get my business out there.
2. Mindset
The next thing that you have to realize is that starting your business requires a different mindset – a completely different mindset. Someone that is good in a managerial position might not be good at running their own business because they are used to doing the right thing instead of experimenting on growing the business they work for.
The same goes for someone in an entry-level position. Just because they are at the bottom of the barrel doesn’t mean that they can’t create and run a multi-million dollar corporation. It all boils down to the mindset and if you aren’t sure you are ready to make the leap – then you know you should do your research and spend some money on courses that will help you get into the right mindset.
There are some very fantastic books out there that will help you during this transition period and your employer will begin to notice the changes in yourself.
3. Time Management
I’ve always said there isn’t such a thing as a balance in life. Everyone is searching for a balance between work, life, & love and I wholeheartedly believe that there is absolutely no such thing as balance. Continuing to work your day job while you are building a business will help you with your time management skills.
You will learn how to juggle constantly busy schedules, figure out when your most productive periods of time are, how to still have time with your friends or your loved ones, and find time in between for some “alone” time with yourself.
This is where a lot of people enter into a state of overwhelm and never achieve anything they wanted to achieve because when someone is overwhelmed, they aren’t productive. They will sit on their hands or continue to do something that isn’t productive because their brain is trying to process what to do next.
The best thing that you can do for time management is to schedule everything out every single day. Most people have a set work schedule so you’ll be able to know when you have to leave for work and how long you’ll be there. Then you’ll be able to learn where you can find more time (whether that’s waking up earlier than usual or staying up later) in between all of your other activities.
When Is the Right Time To Leave Your Job?
Like I said before, there is no black & white answer on when you can actually leave your day job that gets you by until you start seeing success in your business. But once you start to become the person you need to become to achieve your goals in your business, then you’ll be able to break free of your employer. Until then, just stick it out so you can continue financing your goals without going into massive amounts of debt.
Once you stop having the voice in the back of your mind that you shouldn’t leave your job, that’s when you should leave.
Just remember; doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.
Andrew Carlson is a public speaker & an executive coach to restauranteurs and small business owners in LA. He provides clarity, direction, and results by helping them implement the systems necessary to succeed.
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