Hey Boss, guess what? I QUIT!!!!

The overall course of action, for me, took about 2 years once I decided and COMMITTED to learning how to get it done. Probably could have been quicker but I went through periods where I didn't take consistent action.

Once I really "pulled the trigger" and committed to moving forward, I had about 6 months of just working like crazy at night (many sleepless nights) and then I was able to start firing bosses. I had a few of them at the time.

FANTASTIC question!

It's one of those things that people dream about ... quitting their job and going out on their own ... but when it comes down to the time of actually DOING it people DO get paralyzed with fear! I KNOW ... I'VE BEEN THERE!

It took me about 3 years of H-A-R-D work to start to notice that my "part time income" started to match my job income.

It was then that I had the decision to make, and it was hard ... well ... actually it wasn't. :-) because the company I worked for was getting more and more awful by the day.

I walked in and said, that today was my last day and where do I pick up my final check. I walked out the door and went home scared to death!

WHEN I STARTED WORKING FOR MYSELF I NOTICED SOMETHING INTERESTING

I ended up spending a lot less money than I did when I was working! Because I was home. I didn't have to spend a much money on my car for gas ... oil changes ... maintenance. I didn't spend as much on clothes for work. I didn't spend as much on "lunch out with the guys". And other things.

Bottom line? Working at home SAVED me a LOT of money that I was spending working for someone else! The only thing that went up was my energy bill (electric) because since I was HOME all day I used more electricity and heat / air conditioning!

In my case, my "entrepreneurial income" was pretty much the same as my job income ... but I SPENT LESS! So in a way ... I got a RAISE when I quit my job!

BUT ...

When tax time came around too (for us in the USA), I was able to save even MORE money due to the tax benefits of having a home business - (talk to your accountant for your situation).

AND ...

Thanks to the fact that I didn't need to do any shopping when the rest of the working world did (food shopping at 1 PM is a lot nicer than 6 PM when everyone else is getting home from work) - this allowed me to even save more money since I had TIME to plan my shopping and not deal with "rushing through the stores" with the rest of the crowds.

So ... in the long run I actually KEPT more money as a self employed entrepreneur even when the actual income in was about the SAME as my job income!

I know that this may not directly answer your question, but I wanted to let you know of my experience of the 'hidden savings' that you can get when you start working for yourself and quit that job. You can then calculate that into your "quit your job" equation!

I am 23 years old, got started with internet marketing last year, but did not take it seriously till June when I graduated from college.

I worked at a national accounting firm for 3 months, then went fulltime online and have not looked back.

Be smart and do not waste time switching from one idea to another and you will be making a part time income within a couple of months. There is no reason why you should cannot be making a full time income by the end of 2009 ( I would even say that if you are a fast tracker, by the end of September)

I've started out in IM for over a month, and i absolutely don't think IM is some get rich quick methods or early retirement plans or guaranteed money methods.
I'm sure all of us know its really much more than what everyone is saying it to be. I feel that this belief of the get rich quick scheme is due to the many offers and products out there (probably including WSOs) which are protraying the best case scenario in order to entice people to buy.

Other than the myth of IM being a mythical "Golden cash generator", its does require ALOT of hard and focus work. Well, at least if you are starting out like me. There's alot of existing competition which can be quite demoralising and stressful. So my word to myself is to think ahead, plan and action, review, think, plan and action, review, how to do get the upper hand in the competition, plan action.
And constantly researching for greener gold mines.

Back to the topic, im Hoping myself to fire my boss in 1 years time. Which by the time i should be able to comfortably bring in more than what my boss is paying me, and have a very good clear and confident IM career plan for the next 5 years. Economy is bad, think before leaping.

Last tots: you need to at least have a bit of passion in marketing or the internet and have strong beliefs that you can actually make money with IM, in order to successfully survive this IM journey. Its damn easy to give up halfway.

After going through so many day jobs and quitting my final one back in Feb '07, I decided to go all in and start a profitable web business...WITH NO EXTRA SOURCE OF INCOME .

Did it work out? Well, I'm sitting here typing on my own computer using my own internet connection...

I found my niche pretty early and stuck with it.

I quit when I made my first sale. It was only 35 bucks, but it gave me hope. it's been over a year now and I am loving every minute of it.

You really should take your time firing your boss.

I been full time for over 3 years and...

I'd wait until I was making the same money as I was from my job + 30 to cover benefits for at least 12 months in a row before I would even think about quitting.

Test yourself and if you can create the kind of income you want on demand - you're ready to leave.

Hope This Helps!!

TL

Sometimes I miss my job...

I was a second year electrical apprentice AND an electronic technician -- always had a fascination with anything electrical. I got onto web programming and noticed a similarity in programming languages to digital electronics. This is what drew me to developing websites. Back in the early to mid '90's there were only 30-40K using the Internet -- I figured as its popularity grew, there would be a lot of people wanting to advertise online....

But when I quit my job, I wasn't working in either of these electrical fields. In my early years before my electrical/electronic training I had extensive experience in the operation of feed manufacturing plants. So when I had moved to a new city and couldn't find a job in the areas where I was trained, I fell back on experience and took a job as a feed technician.

I held the record of being the most productive and was voted in as shop steward. Management hated me, but I knew more about running the place then they did. The company's customers would call the office when I was on shift and ask to speak to me -- I understood their concerns.... I listened to them...

I was the only worker they had that could run the entire plant by myself. Even though management didn't like me, I had their respect, and obviously the respect of my co-workers since they voted me in as shop steward.

But you know.... that's life! You take the cards you're dealt and you make the most of it. Even if you think the job is somewhat beneath you. If the job is really beneath your abilities, then there shouldn't be any problem being the top dog in these given circumstances. <i>Always be the best you can be.</i>

I miss sitting in my office behind a computer (much like what you have on front of you right now) controlling two 200-hp machines that I could fine-tune to crank out 20 ton an hour each. It was a *RUSH*!! I knew just how to adjust those machines so I could get optimal performance from them.... and I fought tooth and nail with management to set new standards for shift work, how feed was produced and customer relations -- and won. LOL... of course, it wasn't just me that won -- -everyone won.

Two years previously I had laser surgery to fix my sinuses. It was a temporary fix. If any of you have had the operation you know, that it leaves your sinus cavities in very rough shape -- so that dirt that you breathe in can hide in those rough ridges and deveolp into an infection.

When I quit my job, I was only able to work four out of five shifts -- but it didn't matter because I was already earning, online, 3X what my employer was paying me. Everyone there knew it -- I had the nicest vehicle, the nicest house, etc...

You know what? If I lost all of my clients tomorrow and could only get a job shoveling pig barns, I would be the best shoveler you ever saw -- 'cause I don't want to take 2nd place at anything I do.

Regards,
Steve MacLellan

Wow, its amazing how many different paths people take in life to get to the same destination. I also commend you guys who just quit everything and pursued this business fulltime.

Steve,
Great story, I can definately agree with what you are saying. I enjoy my job, i get to blow stuff up (military man) but the time spent away from my children has caused me to start setting up for my second career AGAIN (long story).

So far my ive just been reading alot and in '09 im going to implement alot of what i learned. Ive learned alot from this forum and a couple of others. The real source of knowledge is all underlying information that you have to piece together. Alot of threads have nuggets of valuable information, you just have to pull things from everyone to develop your angle and plan. But i think that i should be able to escape the "rat race" within the year. Ive set up my goals for the year and Paul myers workbook really made me think about all that i want to accomplish in 2009-beyond. Something as small as just wrting down your goals can be so impowering.

Thanks for posting. Im enjoying hearing everyone's timeline of getting out of the "rat race" and being able to FIRE YOUR BOSSES! LOL

Hey,

Not sure if this has been said already. But you say 8months to 1 year to learn the game but i think you can make that happen a lot sooner if you just have some money to spend.

I would recommend you getting a coach/mentor someone who is established either on this forum or in the IM world there are plenty out there. You can get a full one for a month for probably from 100-300 dollars per month ranging from full email access to 1 on 1 taking via phone or instant messaging.

If i were you i would put lets say 1000 dollars to the side for Im spend it on Coaching and then what ever you coach says you should buy spend you money on if you like the results you are seeing continue.

If i could start from the begging this is the road i would take!

Eric

I started working online about the same time that I began my last office job. I quit the office job after 1yr 3 months. Now I am getting bored of sitting at home all day. Most people can't wait to quit their job, I'll admit I was like that too. Then you realize how much you miss socializing with everyone face to face, plus at least where I was working we always made the work day fun. Time to find another job I guess...

Find a mentor and just concentrate on working him and him alone.
Make sure he knows what is doing and has prove to show that he is making money and learn form him.
Just keep your focus.

It took me 7 months. I thought it would have taken much longer, but unfortunate circumstances caused me to quite, while at the same time, my internet business started to generate the same income as my full-time job. Now, each month my income grows higher and higher.

It took me about a year and a half to finally get the hang of the IM game. It would have been quicker if I had gotten round to "specializing" sooner. Once I found the sweet spot, it was smooth sailing from there.

If you're serious about making a full time living online, I would suggest you quickly narrow down and focus on just 1 thing: be it copywriting, creating ebooks, article marketing, list marketing etc. The sooner you specialize, the faster you'll begin to make real money, rather than just pocket change. Good Luck!

Liz

Nice!!! I can't agree with you more.

My advice to anyone starting out it research keywords.
Get on the google adwords tool and find keywords with a decent search traffic and low competition.
It might take a while but it is well worth it.
That will cut you 'fire the boss' time down drastically

Still a work in progress for me after about a year...darn good thing hubby is an engineer with 32 years experience. We would not eat well if we had to live off my online income. But, I have learned a tremendous amount and just know that genuine success is lurking. I have several streams of income building gradually, and one new program in pre-launch that I was lucky enough to get in on at conception time. I'll keep you posted on how things turn out. Maybe I can answer your question with 'about a year' in another month!
Susan

1 year for messing around
1 year for learning stuff
And then a matter of weeks when the stuff I learned was actually applied into a real business.
Since I' m 18, I had no job to quit, but if I had one, I' d almost be able to quit. And of course, progressing fast...
But if you cut out the screwing around part and apply what you know right after you' ve learned it, a year I believe is enough.

Chris

Not quite there yet but thats because I am replacing a really good fulltime income.

Not going to compromise my goal to equal or beat it before I tell my boss ... Song Long ... Farewell ... see what I have got planned here

I'm still in progress of replacing my job income but i expect it to be maybe a year.

• Have it all set up before you tell your boss to take a hike.
• It's very lonely to be by yourself, and you loose the good and bad feedback from having other people around.
• Make sure you have enough money for 1 year of current living expenses,
• Clear it all up and make sure that you have no debt (this includes the current month's credit card debt) before you take the plunge.
• Pay down as much as you can in advance on those student loans
• make sure that that emergency cushion also includes benefits. Some of the things that you are taking for granted cost your current employer a lot of money, and they will cost you even more when you try to replace them
• get a good look at the big picture for the next two years before you jump off into the unknown. Plan on how you're going to plan for it now. This includes paying for any tuition, new cars, mortgage balloons, kid's braces, promised vacation trips, weddings or christenings you're hosting.
• Can you afford the proper daycare --don't expect to be productive if your 'office' is only open when you have free moments.
• How far are you from retirement? Got a game plan?
• Have a savings plan in place.

Buy a pair of fuzzy slippers and go for it!

Not there yet but still working on it full time now. When I get there will let you know.

I know the people who are quitting college must be pissed that this wasnt part of the curriculum.

Congrats on taking the leap forward. If i were you id also read "the guide to investing" by robert kiyosaki.

when i fire my boss i plan on reinvesting whatever i earn into real estate and possibly B&M's. I personally dont think you can go at this fulltime unless you reinvest what you have already earned. Im not an expert but sooner or later this platform will get flooded and the affiliate game will be congested. Unless your creating killer products or your on the Guru speaking circut.

Thanks for all the replies. I get inspired by other peoples success. The younger guys really inspire me for taking those leaps forward.

Much success to everyone.