The right time is when you have a plan and believe in yourself.

When I quit my job I also told my wife to quit her job too. That was my motivation.

It's up to you when you want to quit and do the risk. It is a risk but
fulfilling when you crafted your road. Plan ahead before doing so.

Ross

I didn't quit my job, my job quit me and moved to Philly.

I wasn't really ready to quit because I hadn't reached my income goals with my online business. Basically I wanted to be earning 150% of my job's salary+benefits online consistently for 6-12 months, have at least 3 months salary in savings and have all debt except my house paid off. I was about 80% of the way there when the layoff hit.

My goal was to have good financial security before considering quitting. Someone who's younger, single and early in their career might have more flexibility in this area and could quit a job easier with less back-up.

I worked for as long as I could keep scaling my business part time. Once I got to a point where I couldnt scale it in my spare time (and it had been 4 months of making as much part time as I was full time) I took the plunge. At that point I had 4 months of living expenses in the bank and what I calculated to be 4 months of cash to buy media if I needed it.

quit your job when your making about 3 times what you did at your real 9 to 5 job! On a continuos basis and like everyone said plan ahead and save!

I don't think I will quit my job anytime soon. The earning money online is not stable. If I need more man hours, I will recruit few people to help me out.

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When I could bank 5 months of my job cheque without touching it was the time to quit my job.

I chose 5 months worth two years ago when I was mapping out my life plan. Having 36K behind me seemed a good figure.

I'll quit my job when I earn more online. I need to earn a bit more online then I think as my job pays well LOL

Steve M

Thanks for the entries. I would love to hear from
those marketers who have already their jobs...
and are enjoying a certain degree of success online.

how did you do that last time? =)

Thanks,
John

For me it was to have about 6 months living expenses in the bank and making as much money than I could have done after that next promotion to the next level at the company
Best of luck

I am not sure when it is the right time to quit job. when I hate the boss, I want to leave the work. I like to do job by myself. I will be very happy when I meet with a good boss. To me, a good boss is the most important. Find a good job is a chance sometimes. I have a friend, who do not have the job for a year, when suddeny he found it for very high salary. good lucky.

First time I went on my own - I just jumped to the waters. I did a lot for the next 3 years including off line free lance kind of jobs.

Second time I jumped in - I had basic revenue coming in already with regular clients.

Don't be afraid - the worst that can happen is that you will have to look for another job in a few months, but the knowledge that you gain while you try out is indeed priceless. There is always the possibility of success.

Good Luck

You shouldn't quit till you know what you are doing and you have a backup plan.

That decision shouldnt be based entirely on the financial issue. In my opinion, the psychology thing is more important: are you confident in yourself? do you have the motivation? what about the mind set? Those are the real questions you should be addressing before taking the step, regardless of whether you make 1x, 2x or 100x what you make in your day job.

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Then answer to this is very specific to each person. If you are young, like late teens, or early 20s and still living "at home", you can probably afford to take the risk of quitting your job without any real downside. No kids, no wife, no risk. Just do it and be 100% committed.

If you are older and have savings, then it's potentially just as "safe" because you have a nest egg to rely on. In fact if you have enough savings then the IM job is not even required (but very few people are at this level).

If you have a family, and your job has been your sole means of supporting them, then it seems to me that quitting the job feels much riskier. But if you KNOW you can do it, it's the best move you can make. You need to be 100% certain and believe in yourself. If you are not at that point, don't make the move yet.

I head this analogy many years ago...and I think it still holds true today...

When you make 2x the income in your own business as what you make at your job..and you do it working less then half the time...then it's time to quit the job and focus on your own business!

Some people really love jobs. They value them so much that they use whether or not someone has a job to assess a person's value. Personally, I don't. Jobs are venues of psychological abuse and petty power struggles. Better to avoid them by any legal means possible.

When you are making more online than you are in your job and you know that you are in a secure position..

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When you know that you have a method that will earn you more per hour working on your own business, than on your employers, you are ready to quit.

If you have money coming in from your own business without any work, except sending an email a week, or collect clickbank and adsense payment from websites you already made, there is no need to quit your job before you hate it.

If your time is better spent on your own biz, you should be spending your time on your own biz.

I pretty much took the opposite route than what everyone here is suggesting. I don't have any regrets, but now looking back, it was probably pretty stupid what I did.

I was working 40 hours a week at a decent job. Good pay, benefits, fun, etc. I was not making as much money online as I was in my "real" job. But one day I realized that my job was getting in the way of me living my dream. I was 24 years old and already sick of having a boss. So I quit.

Yes, I took a pay cut and lost my benefits. I sold a bunch of things on Craigslist to pay the bills. I was broke. But that only lasted about 2 months. Because I went all out and refused to fail. I was basically motivated by fear. If i failed, I'd be living on the streets. But I worked really hard and now I work from home and make more money than I did at my old job.

With that said, that's just my story. I don't recommend it. I was 24 (25 now), no kids depending on me, etc. I guess the moral of the story is: work hard, refuse to fail, and you'll quit that job in no time.

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Every person's situation is different and there can be no absolute right or wrong answer to this. I think your actual living expenses is much more important marker than your actual salery. Put it this way, a person may be making $20000 a month in salary after taxes, but only spends $2000. Conversely, there are others who spend more than they make with their salary.

What I suggest is that you carry out "stress tests" before you decide e.g. what is the minimum level of income you can live with and what if it goes below that for a long time.

I quit 4 years ago. I did quite well for the first year but this year is quite bad. In fact, I had to dig into my savisng each month to the tune of $1-2000 each month. But I am no worried sick yet because I still have good savings and assets.

Derek

I suppose everyone has a different situation. I was fortunate enough to be made redundant and that kind of made it easier for me to bite the bullet and go for my online business dream!

Since I have I have never looked back and couldn't imagine working for someone else ever again.

My advice would be is that if you are still in full-time employment and can't afford to leave at the moment. Then work on your business in your free time and start putting some money aside in a savings account that will allow you to leave your job with some money in the bank when the time is right!

My dollar and 2 cents for you

Regards.

Great thread!

So many different opinions and perspectives. I don't think there is one absolute right answer for everyone.

A common theme I noticed is that many people say you need to be making as much (if not more) money on your business as you do in your job, before quitting. This sounds good in theory but I think it masks some of the real education that takes place when you really make the leap.

As someone who took a near-reckless approach to quitting a job, I can say with a great deal of confidence that there are SOO many unseen variables that there is never really a PERFECT time to quit.

I thought I had things all lined up:
- A business
- A marketing plan
- A few clients and opportunities to sell more
- A year worth of salary saved up

Then I quit my high paying job and went full time. I should also mention that I have a home, bills and, at the time, a 6 month old son. Before I knew it, my money was gone (poor investments and inexperienced business decisions). I was struggling to find clients and I had no clear direction of what to do next.

So what happened? In a nutshell, I simply figured it out. Step by step. When a person's back is against the wall and they are forced to fight to make it to a new day. It is a couple years later now and I am doing much better in business. I have partnered with some brilliant entrepreneurs and we have done some big deals together. I still have a lot of work to reach my ultimate goal but I knew this was going to be a 5-10 year project going in.

Should you have a plan? Yes
Should you save up money and prove your side business works? Yes
However, you will have to reach a point mentally where you just believe in yourself. To *know* that you will figure it out regardless of what situation you are faced with.

It is your opportunity to stare fear in the face and win. Nothing is more empowering and self-satisfying.

I would have to be making a little bit more than my full-time job which Iam not quite there yet but hope to be in about 1 year. I dont think I would quit completely just work part time out of the house and work my business full time. I would miss the the socializing too much.

I think you can quit your job at any giving time if you are looking for security you can save 3 o 5 months of you income. If you feel like what you are doing is going work if you do it full time. I think all depends in what you do in short and long term

Hey John,

Here is my story. Hope it gives answer to you

When I was starting my career with online jobs, I had begin my career as online data entry operator, later I have got some web research projects and working for a client for long time. Later on, I hve got some more projects and got about $250 in my pocket per month via online. (I put about 2 hours per day for this).

Sometimes later, I had got ideas about IM and get some oders for link building, then, I got some strong profits and planned to put my full time and QUIT my job. Now, I am doing lots of SEO and SERP & link building projects which help me to get good profit.....

Hope my experience helps you

Its obviously a risk to quit your job, so make sure you can afford to live for at least 3 months first of all.

I quit my job with 3 months wages in savings and worked like crazy for four months to stay ahead. Now, over two years later, leaving my job was the best thing I ever did but, be warned, hard work lies ahead.

John Burton

T

You must remember that the first month you go full-time, you lose a big proportion of your income e.g. if your online income = offline income, then you lose half your income and potentially other benefits. Therefore there is great pressure to cut costs, including work that is normally outsourced.

I quit my job when I had enough cash for 6 months of living expenses + 2 months of media buys and the ability to earn as much as I did at my job.

The income potential with online marketing is so huge - early this year I made as much as I would make in a whole year @ my job in less than 10 days.

You should quit your job when you feel that you have a good handle on internet marketing and you also have a couple of months of savings available just in case it doesn't work out for any reason

From a smart financial planning standpoint the answer would be..... IT DEPENDS.

You'd want at least 6 months worth of living and business expenses saved up (though 12 months is what I used to recommend to my clients). Your business should have steady or growing revenues for at least six months. I cringe when I see people quit their jobs after only a month or two of X amount of dollars. Give it at least 3 to 6 months to make sure you have a sustainable business.

Think about your benefits. Research health coverage costs before you quit your job. Also ask yourself the following questions seriously:

1. What would happen to you or your family if you became incapaciated? What would happen if you died? What would happen to your business?

In other words, are you adequately insured? A vast majority of business owners are underinsured. The mentality "it won't or can't happen to me" runs rampant.

What about your retirement fund? Sometimes its better to stay at job if you're close to becoming vested in your companies 401k ro some other type of retirement plan.

I think most people quit their jobs way too soon because they tend to focus only on income and revenue and not the entire financial planning picture.

My two coffee beans,

RoD

Given my spontaneous nature, at the beginning of this year I resigned from my job with only a few months worth of savings, no website, no hosting, and no idea how I was going to make ends meet. I simply knew that staying aboard with my current job as an educator in a corrupt district was not where I saw myself years down the road.

Fortunately, I do have a background in web design and copywriting, so I figured those were two avenues I could fall back on...and that I did.

Here I am 9 months later and I have the freedom of working when, where, and how I want, and for more than I made as a teacher.

I'm not going to say that the in between stage was easy, because it wasn't, but I'd much rather take the leap and go for it than be stuck wondering "what if?!"

This is a similar question I posed a day or two here.

Basically I have a small income coming from online sources which has diminished over the last few months as I have not had time to put much work into it lately. I am working two jobs as well (one full time Internet marketing job).

I would say I have an advanced knowledge of Internet marketing and I could reasonably and easily setup an online marketing agency with minimal fuss doing basic things from, low-level SEO, to online viral marketing campaigns. I am thinking about leaving my job and dedicating my time to working on my own project. If necessary, I could move back to the family home (I am only 22, so not too unusual) and just go for it.

I am at a point where I believe in myself and hard work will pay off to a point where it will get me a full time living that I can use to move out of the family home after a few months. Then next year, look to pull in the big bucks.

A lot of people are saying wait till you are making x amount or have so much saved, but really, I am not happy in my job, feel I'd like to do it my own way and I have got nothing to lose really. I am thinking that maybe I should just take the plunge?

Who knows? Sure I will keep you all up-to-date with what I do, whether you like it or not.