About to GIVE MY NOTICE @ my job..LIFE STORY

**WARNING: THIS IS LONG BUT PLEASE READ!**

I've thought about this for a long time and right now seems like the best and perfect time in my life to take my destiny into my own hands and go full throttle with my IM business. I've spent the last 2 yrs learning web design and internet marketing and just haven't had the time to take this where I want to go because of my JOB and other things that have come up in life.

A little background on me...
I've wanted to own my own business and be my own boss since as far back as I can remember. I was raised by a single mother and we never had much money growing up. This made me realize that I needed to do something different with my life...different from what the normal herd does. I thought the answer to this was college. So I got a degree in Architectural Design and have been working as an architectural designer for about 5 yrs now.

I thought this is what I wanted to do with my life. People where proud of me for going to college and always recognized me on my drive and will to succeed at anything. However, about 3 yrs into this career I thought "what the hell am I doing here? Am I really going to spend the next 50 yrs of my life working for someone else in a god damn cubicle??? I dont even like architecture...heck I got into this because I was an artist and liked computers lol"

No way. About this time in my life my grandfather gave me the book "The Secret". I read it and it was a whole new thought process and way of life introduced to me in that book. It was not that book and the major over hyped promises it talked about that changed my life but it was the knowledge and books that that book led me to was what changed my life forever.

I soon began reading every book, website and video on "positive thinking" and "achieving goals" that I could get my hands on. In about 6 months my entire mindset and idea of life had taken a 180 degree turn and I seriously became a new person. I started doing things that I always wanted to do but never had the balls to do. It all began when I started selling things on ebay and making some extra money. I was addicted to selling things online! I soon became known as "the guy who sells things online" from my friends and family.

I kept my day job as a designer and worked on my business ideas at night. People thought I was off the wall crazy with all my ideas. My family and my girlfriend didnt know what to think of me. I had a nice JOB and was making good money..more than anyone in my family ever had. Why would I want to lose all that and start a business? That isnt possible (lol)

Eventually, I made a blind attempt at starting my own freelance business doing architectural design. I knew NOTHING about marketing or web design and expected my customers to just magically find me without me doing any advertising. What was advertising? I made an UGLY website and somehow got ONE client and realized this is not what I wanted to do. But I had NO clue what I wanted to do.

So I spent some more time thinking and decided that I liked cars...heck lets start an auto detailing business! So I did. I spent about a month learning Dreamweaver and built my own website from scratch for my detailing biz during the winter. I bought supplies and was well on my way. When spring came I got my first client and did my first detail job and came to another realization...I HATE doing this! I dont want to scrub chocolate bars and vaccum mud out of other people's cars for $100. lol

But what did I want to do? I liked selling things online..but could I really make a fulltime income from it? I soon became exposed to internet marketing and was well on my way to discover what I really was supposed to do. During the day hours of my JOB I listened to youtube videos and training courses on IM thru my headphones while working on projects at the company I worked for. I stuffed all that knowledge into my head and learned so much more than I ever learned getting a college degree in arch design.

To make a very long story short...I lost alot of things on my journey to where I am now and I will be damned if I dont take this head on and do something with everything I've learned over the past 2 yrs. I've spent countless hrs in front of the computer at night until 3:30 in the morning on a work night building websites that I never had time to promote because of my JOB, I drove my gf of 9 yrs completely crazy until she left me a few months ago (dont worry...It was actually a good thing because she never believed in me and couldnt understand what I doing but thats another story....), I missed get togethers with friends and never went to parties or anything becasue I was working on something but I wasnt quite sure. All I knew is that I was learning something valuable and I wasnt stopping for anything.

So here I am about to turn 25 yrs old in a few weeks. I have my own house and mortgage payment and I require 2,000 per month to live moderately....that includes all my bills. Which means that I have 4 months to start making $500 per week at a min.

They have been laying people off at my job and my hrs have been cut down to 32. I am a wage earning employee and I CANNOT live on that income so I have to do something no matter what. There is no sign in the near future that things will pick up at the company I work for and I dont expect nor want my hrs back.

I have enough money in the bank to live for 4 months without making a dime.

I am about to sell my truck and motorcycle and buy a cheaper car and bank the rest of the cash.

I have all the time in the world to take this IM thing head on and make it into a real business.

I have a new women who understands my dreams and what I am doing.

I have talked to the only person I trust in this world (my mother) and told her that I am seriously thinking about leaving my job and making this business work. She tells me to go for it. She regrets not taking chances and doing what she wanted to do in life.

I am thinking about giving my boss a notice that I will be taking a 2 month leave of absense without pay instead of quitting for good. Why? Just so I have a safety net and dont burn all my bridges. Or maybe that would be better? lol

At the 2 month point I will be half way thru my savings and will have a pretty good idea and outlook on the future and I will see where this is going to go. If I feel that I can go on I will then give my notice and resign from my position as an arch designer.

What are your thoughts?

...thanks for reading and if you've been in my position before and made it thru I would REALLY love to hear your thoughts and and stories. I am not one to give up and I intend to keep you all updated on my progress.