Quit Your Day Job Question?

If you quit your job based only on a certain amount of money saved up, then you may find that your savings will vanish quickly if your internet ventures are not yet generating sufficient income to replenish your bank account and cover your living expenses at the time of quitting..

Quit your job once you are certain that you are able to "generate" enough income from your online ventures alone in order to cover your living expenses. I.E. Your internet income has exceeded your living expenses every month for 6 to 12 months consistently.

If you are not able to generate the funds you need to live, then your savings obviously are going to dwindle even if you managed to save up 100k, because your business would not be putting in what you are taking out of your bank account.

Short version, my suggestion is that you quit your job once you are out of the "learning how to make a full time income online" phase. Unless you are a risk taker and have no other responsibilities such as a family and other mouths to feed, then I guess it's up to you if you want to take a chance and jump right in and learn as you go after having saved up a years salary or less. That's called gambling though, and we all know what the odds are...

You need healthy income stream rather than an amount.

That income stream needs to be enough to allow you to live, and continue to grow your business. Some people's outgoings are larger than others.

To me it needs to be comfortable, and up until that point, keep the job, and earn double the income until you're really ready.

My List Building efforts surpassed my actual job income about a year ago, but I still stayed at the job because I didn't have the actual courage to quit. Plus it was nice having my job for "supplemental income".

I got laid off due to cutbacks and it was the happiest day of my life.

This is a tough one, and honestly no one can tell you what you need to do. Honestly, it's a major question and we've all faced it. When I quit my job to pursue my career in IM I was in a place where it was a great risk, but on the other hand I knew that if I continued to work the hours I was working I would never be able to put the time into IM that I wanted to, to be able to make a serious income. It worked out well for me, but I wouldn't advise anyone else to do what I did. I had serval variables in my favor and a supportive wife--which helps too.

As far as income stream changing, I don't worry because I always have more than one thing going. IM has changed over the years and will continue to evolve, that is just the way of things, but we have to grow with it. Even though the approach to the business my change, business principles remain the same and can be applied to any business, online or otherwise. Do what you feel is right, and only take calculated, educated risks. Best of luck to you my friend!

enough income every month to cover your living expense and 12 months expenses
in the bank.

Martin's right (above) - it's not an amount you need, it is an income. Work on building your systems until you have them producing income reliably and consistently.

When your income approaches your salary, that's the time. Only you can say what income you need, but when you achieve that figure (which may well be a good deal less than you earn at the day job) that's the time to quit.

I can tell you, it's a great feeling too - good luck

1 year current salary + you should have a positive cashflow equivalent to your monthly salary

The simple equation goes like this. YOu got 24 hrs in a day. 8hrs to sleep, 8 hrs for your day job and then 8 hrs for yourself. The 8 hrs you have for yourself you have to switch it to use much of it to work on your IM until your making enough to replace your day job. Once that happens you can now commit at least 8 hrs per day to your IMing.

My top three picks CPA, affiliate marketing and Listbuilding

My tip for you when you decide to quit your day job is to first establish your emergency fund. I think it would be best if you start saving at least 3 month of your salary just in case you made the wrong decision or it don't work out just as what you have planned for.

I quit back in 2007.

The trick is to live cheap.

I hear so many people say "You're so lucky to work from home", and they have car loans, fancy mobile phones and cable tv.

There's no single answer that fits all cases but I'd ask some questions for you to think about.
1) Have you written a life plan and agreed it with your wife and kids?
2) Have you incorporated your life plan into the goals for your business plan?
3) Do you HAVE a written business plan?

If you have not done a life plan and a business plan then you are not ready to be giving up your job. No matter how much money you have floating around.

A well designed business plan will actually give you answers to your questions because the numbers you use will provide the answers you need in numeric terms.

You may be wondering why I join life plan and business plan. The reason is that your business should have an output and that output is your personal satisfaction. Your business will occupy your time and energy for the rest of your working life. Unless your business design is compatible with your life goals and work style preferences then you will fail.

Understand also that most people will fail and give up.

Normal businesses have a first year failure rate of around 70%, for online businesses that figure is MUCH higher - could be as high as 95%. That gives a clue as to how long you should wait...
Don't give up your day job until you have 12 months of income under your belt from your online business. Learn whether you have the aptitude, persistence and flexibility to succeed.
If, after 12 months, you are still earning a living wage from your online work then jack in the job. You will have acquired a good nest egg to enable you to smooth your move into a business and you will have beaten the odds.

I think I am not ready to quit my job yet. I do not know enough to earn money online.
But If I manage someday with these projects, I might. Although, I like stability.

IM is a roller coaster ride for most, myself included. So, yes, even when I am doing really well, I am still nervous about losing my income all of a sudden (it has happened a couple of times before penguin/EMD).

I make most of my money from SEO/adsense/affiliate marketing, but I play around with list building and CPA in the hopes of diversifying my income streams.

If you live in a high cost of living area, the more money you can save before quitting the better. One year of living expenses would be good, but don't forget your business operating expenses (CPA/SEO work etc).

Good luck

Thanks everybody for the great advice! I have a wife with a good income and a baby. My rents about 1300 a month and have car payments, credit cards etc. Like I said I'm making part time income with IM and no where near to quit day job yet. I been putting money on the side (1 year salary) and when I double what I make a week at day job I am going to quit. I don't want to quit and rely on my wife and struggle. I do believe John to live based on your needs. Besides my wife or I have to work at day job because of expensive health insurance! What about everyone else do you have a spouse that works, rent or mortgage etc.? Just asking because its soo expensive and would love to being doing what many people here are doing!

My advice is to not so much worry about how much money you need but how will you continue to make money if you quit your job. If you are making a killing with YouTube is that bc what your doing really works or your just getting lucky?

For example, I know I don't have to worry bc I have studied PPC so well that no matter what I choose to promote I know I can make it successful. Time will always bring change, make sure that you and your business can embrace it

I spent some time thinking at I did have a backup income in freelancing. At any time I was able to do at least half of what I made on my full day job from freelancing spending only few hours a day ( most of the time searching for jobs ).

Don`t quit your job before you are certain that you have enough money to have a confortable life without the job.

Quitting work to pursuit IM is always going to be a big decision and one which starts out by making a few lifestyle decisions and realising your priorities. Work out how much you would need to maintain a lifestyle which appeals to you and go from there. Going down the "wait until your online earnings surpass your salary" route may not be a the best method depending on your situation.

Personally - I want to quit my day job so that I can spend more time at home with my family. I earn almost $100K per year but could comfortably survive on $40K. I have wasted a lot of time chasing online pipe dreams because I had the safety net of my job. Right now I am trying to build an online business in Web / Graphic design. As soon as I get to $40K a year I am going to quit work and work from home on my design business. Yes I will still be working hard and for less money but it is on my terms and I get to see my kids everyday...

Best of luck and I hope you find what you are looking for

How confident in your own ability are you? If you really want to quit your day job what is stopping you? If you are doing a job that you hate and you are getting nowhere, then maybe it is time you just stop. We say all the time that taking action is the key to success. What did you do today to get closer to freeing yourself from that day job of yours? Sometimes you just gotta throw caution to the wind and just go for it.

Today is your day, quit and never look back

I quit my day job when it seemed like I was losing money by keeping it. When I knew without a doubt that every hour I was there was a financial loss then it wasn't the highest and best use of my time.

So my answer for me was: When it didn't make sense to keep that job anymore.

On one hand your job gives you safety because you have a salary, but on the other hand it takes all your energy. I advise you to really work hard whenever you can. You will have to sacrifice any free time you may have.

In the beginning it is better to have the safety of your day job because it takes time to have a profitable business, but later you will need to be able to devote all your time and energy to your online business. Prepare everything with caution and seriousness, and this day will arrive.

I'm making more than a fulltime income (its about 4 1/2 times what I use to make at my last job). However, I'm not building lists, not doing CPA, not doing adsense. I'm doing local lead gen, and a large portion of the leads I generate I give to my brother. He sells the jobs, runs the business, and outsources all the work. But most of his job is just selling the work. Running the business the way its setup is not even close to a full time job. I handle all the online marketing.

I decided to quit my job when I realized a couple years back that I'd make a horrible counselor. I didn't like people enough to consistently tolerate their problems. I also realized that if me and my brother combined our skills, we could make a lot of money. He is a very talented salesman, but has no ability to market or generate calls. So I taught myself how to keep his phone ringing.

2012 was the first full year we combined our skills. He made a little over $280,000. I made roughly half of what he made.

Whats really ironic is we talked about doing this for a good 6 years. We basically dreamed about it. But for a long time I was confused about whether or not I should persue counseling. I knew I loved psychology, I just didn't like people as much as I once thought. By the 6th year I felt like both our dreams were dead. Like he would continue to be a great salesman but never have enough work or leads to go on. And I would continue to dream about marketing and learning how to generate leads. But as long as I continued to work my job.. both our dreams would remain just that... dreams.

Well one day I quit, and for the first 3-4 months didn't make a dime generating leads. I was working my ass off and barely producing 1 call a month. But he saw how determined I was and started cutting me commissions from the few jobs he WAS selling, even though most of these leads weren't coming from me.


At first I told myself "I'm not taking the money". He barely had enough work to survive on his own. But I realized if I did, it would motivate me to keep at it.

And that investment he made in me, turned out to be best thing for both of us. It didn't just put pressure on me to make things happen, but it was the fact that he believed in me that much .. that really lit a fire under my ass. I immediately felt like I wouldn't stop no matter what happened.

After month 6, I became really good, and was getting 9-12 calls a week. He was finally staying busy and making sales. The last time I saw him that happy was before the economy went to shit. And now I was making a lot of money just from the commissions I was earning.

Eventually I became so good I started generating leads for things he didn't know anything about (like insulation or roofing). We were finally seeing a surplus of leads, and money flowing in from multiple directions. Commissions from his friends given to him and me (on their sales in their businesses), commissions from my brother given directly to me (on his sales).

My goal now is to dominate my entire local market, for various different local niches, and he has already trained 2 salesman to sell for our company. I have also learned how to automate a large portion of what I'm doing online. And our goal is to continue increasing our incomes, while reducing the amount of time required to do both our jobs. The goal is never to stop working, the goal is to become more efficient so we can keep scaling upwards.

But this has been a HUGE learning experience for the both of us. What I've learned the most, is when you are truely on the same track with another person, and both of you want something really bad, and you combine your efforts... its amazing what you can accomplish.

It sounds cliche I know, but its true.

I just realized one day that I come from a family of salesman and contractors. My dad built homes for 40 years. My uncle did. Then my brother took a different route and decided to sell home improvement work, rather than learn how to do it himself. Then I learned how to market home improvement work.

What I like the most, it wouldn't be easy to compete or even copy what I'm doing. Its not just the ability to market, but the social connections, my brothers skills, the business owners he knows in other industries, etc etc. The trust we all have with each other. I never have to beg for commissions. A lot of times I get paid more than what I think I deserve. But at the same time I'm not so sure what my skills are even worth. I think I'm still getting use to the fact that I'm worth a lot more than what I learned from college. Professors who always said.. "If you bust your ass for 8 years, and become a doctor, you can make 6 figures" lol.

So yes, I am lucky to a degree. The fact remains I could still be dreaming about taking that leap... and I'm not. I'm very glad I did. And I think its really important that people stay true to their passions. Don't do something in life just because it makes you feel safe. Some people say safe is smart, but how smart is it?

-Red

You are in a good position. At least compared to me. I didn't
have the luxury of a job when I started online marketing over
10 years ago. With a family of 6 I had to make it work and so
I did. There was no salary coming in so I had to make sure that
whatever I did produced. You'll be surprised what you can
accomplish when you HAVE TO.

I always thought that is I had money from a job to invest how
much faster I would have achieved my goals but I'm not so
sure about that now. I think that because I would know that
I have something to fall back on then I'll make excuses. But
not everyone can work under such pressure. That's the
way I work best.

When the ships are on fire yo know you have to win the
war because there is no way for retreat.

-Ray Edwards

There is no right or wrong answer as it will totally be dependent on individual. For me personally, I will still continue to work in my job and start my online business part time. I will make sure that I am able to earn at least 2 times my job salary before I quit my job.

John, it seems like your on the right track. You have a good job and making a part-time income with IM. Its always difficult to make your first dime with IM and you surpassed that!

I remember taking a chance last year giving up my high paying job that I couldn't stand and still to this day I don't make what I made at my past job. I do have a wife who works full-time and carries the health insurance (which is important) and many internet marketers I know doing this full-time do not have.

Anyways, what I did was save up 6 months of salary and I made a consistent amount of money every week and it was just increasing over time

So take your time and you and only you can decide when it is time to leave the 9-5?

Good Luck!

P.S. Don't put your eggs all in one basket...deversify!

It depends on your goals. I value the stability, insurance, and low-stresses of having a stable stream of income (day job). But also enjoy the creativity and upside (income) of having an online business. I never really hated my job so it wasn't a stress to me.

I think if I went full-time, I don't think I'd enjoy it as much because it would become the new job.

I'm in the military and I'm due to separate in November. I'm saving about $1500-2000 dollars a month so by the time I get out I'll have about 6 months of savings that will cover my expenses and then a little extra. I know I need to get out of the military so that's not really an option for me anymore but with my experience (I work in IT) I know I could easily find a job if need be. The military isn't like a regular day job and honestly had I been working in a civilian IT job I'd probably stay in it until I was very comfortable with my IM business. The military lifestyle is rough and I just got married in January so I don't want to ruin my marriage not to mention all the other downsides of being in the military.

So what's my plan? Ideally I want to replace my income by the end of this July but if I haven't done that by the time November comes around then I'll need to find a job to cover my expenses for the time being. Considering I really really don't want to work for anyone else, it gives me the drive to really push this forward. I just started making money a week or so ago using adsense (which isn't much) but it's nice to see some positives. I'm just now building a store and have other ways to make bigger money online so I know this will work eventually. I think I'm making good progress.

*edit* So everyone in here keeps saying "safety" in regards to a job. Not to be negative, but I hate when people say that. I'm in the military so I should have the best "job security" yet we've been told countless times "you might not get paid this month" because of stupidity of those "in charge". Just within the last few months we had our tuition assistance (a benefit the military touts) taken away then re-instated after many people complained. We are so broke we can't even afford to get training we need or even the right tools to do our job.

Now obviously my experience is much different than others, but a job is nothing more than working for someone else who owns a business. Why not be the owner? This is easier said than done, but for me it just sounds crazy when people say "secure" when referring to jobs when someone who doesn't even know you can fire you and put you out on the street with nothing. I'm done with my rant now, just wanted to share my views.

Do you get nervous that your income could stop all of a sudden because
you get fired from your job?

It's really not that big a deal is it?

You can get fired and lose your job and you find another job.

If you go full time with your internet marketing business then if things stop working
for you as well as they have you can adapt and use other strategies.

Years ago many internet marketers found that a very fast way to make good
money is to use the skills you already have to help brick and mortar businesses
make more sales and profits.

It's quite easy to get paid $500 to $2,000 upfront by a business and that can
keep you afloat or become your primary income.


Or if things get slow you could go get another job.

If you're serious you'll find a way to survive.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

Other posters have already responded to your question with some great answers OP.

Is it safe to rely on your dayjob when you can be fired at anytime?

Is it smart to work hard 24/7 to build somebody elses business?

Wouldn't you say that time you've spent making other people rich could be used to make yourself rich?

These are the important questions every serious entrepreneur should ask themselves anytime they consider quitting and going back to their dayjob.

I honestly believe that Internet Marketing is more secure than most of the jobs out there once you have the right education and confidence. Also when it comes to money, you can make ton load of money repetitively without putting in much work once you have a grip on how to market. Also being able to work from anywhere in the world is a perk that comes with Internet Marketing. This is why I quit my Job and started Internet Marketing.

JohnPeter1983
You first have to stop thinking about your day job as income. Once you get serious and are committed to building your own home based business, your current 'job' is a revenue stream that will continue to pay the day-to-day running costs of your fledgling business and service your current personal expenses. If you continue to think of your job as an income, your mindset is wrong, you are your own boss now and the day job is just a financial vehicle until your business can stand alone. This can take months or years, but you do have to get your mind right. You are working for yourself now, not another boss. When you are asked to work late or weekends or offered a promotion, ask yourself - is this worth it, does this additional income (overtime) / promotion serve me in my progress, will this distract me or leave less time for me to build my business. You will know in your gut the answer to those questions...