How Much Income Before Quitting Your Day Job

I went through a period of unemployment (living at home), and employment when trying to succeed online. I noticed it always gave me more clarity and drive to succeed online when I had a day job, vs being stressed "forcing" my side business to grow sooner than it could naturally.

You can quit your job when you make enough to cover your expenses (and your family if you have responsibilities) but not before. That will just lead to stress, failed relationships and failed business ventures. Options = power, and with a steady job and determination you'll either want it bad enough, or keep it a side job.

Write your goals down, take action every day to reach them, rinse repeat.

Hmmm..

What happens if you ABSOLUTELY LOVE your day job? Do you need to quit then? Even if you're profiting or making way more?

I worked part time for Hostgator for some time before I quit and did IM full time. When I quit I was doing about $3000 a month in 2008.

For me IM is just an insurance if I happen to get fed up with my current job or lose it otherwise.

I´d have to make quite a significant sum of money per month to switch 100% to IM.

Before I could switch, I'd need to have a "income machine" that would produce steady flow of income automated and outsourced. Then my job would only be replicating and scaling it.

I haven't reached it yet, but $2K per month would do it. Even $1K per month would be alright.

Here in India, a comfortable lifestyle for a single guy would only take $200-$400 per month. The rest I would use for savings, family, etc.

I had no guaranteed income other then my band income when I left my engineering job back in May 2012. You will never have the "perfect amount". You just gotta get up and quit your job! You will figure out what it's like to be self-employed once you throw yourself into that world. It's an amazing thing.

Check this blog post out: Life Without a Steady Paycheck.

It's my blog...sorry if it's considered "self-promotion" here, but I feel very strongly about the whole "just do it now!" concept. Enjoy!

It depends where you live. If you are prepared to move to a low cost country such as Nicaragua, thailand etc then you can live well on 2K a month and quit your job.

Cheers

It really depends on what you want or have to do with your money. For example, in my case, it probably won't be a practical option to quit my day job for a very long time unless I end up earning six figures or winning the lottery - and I'm pretty far from that for now.
My advice is to plan ahead carefully even if you're doing pretty well with online marketing for now cause it's not always a stable line of work.

I live in Taiwan and the cost of living is not as expensive as other countries. I could live comfortably with an income of around 1,000$ a month. But, I don't make that from IM yet.

I would gain experience and as much knowledge as possible in the IM Niche first before quitting the job. IM Marketing is a million dollar business if you have a responsive list on both customer and affiliate side. Having complete knowledge on PPC, SEO, web design, outsourcing, sales funnels, squeeze ,capture, and sales pages , product creation (software and Info) etc..... I could go on and on but my point is master the IM Industry and you will never have to work a Job again....

when you make more than your day job

I am currently making enough to quit my job but with Google updates and so on, I think I would wait till I have a few more websites making money to secure my income.

I think it is different for everybody. You should calculate how much you need a month and leave your daytime job when you make that sum for a few month on end and your income looks stable.

There is something very common among us "Warriors"....There is a strong feeling of being secure is by doing what we love the most is actually driving to get super successful in the IM business.

And I really appreciate this aspect of IM business as such...Best of Luck!

However, In my opinion....Country where you are living and guts are the two important factor to take a final decision on quitting one's day job.

Vikash

I would recommend hitting the amount you are currently making at your day job or just under if you see the spike happening. Even with a day job you should be able to put in several hours and getting yourself where you need to be and still have the income from your day job to pay for personal expenses and even some biz expenses

It's all subjective for each individual.

How many expenses, liabilities, etc.

It's more a matter of what you have saved up. Whether you are working full time or not, you should always strive for having 6 months worth of expenses saved up as things can change all the time - both in your personal and or business life.

So whether you take the leap or not, always try and preserve that 6 month cushion. Never leave your eyes off that.

When IM can cover how much I earn from my offline businesses, I'm going in the right direction!

I'd estimate that 99%+ of the people here don't make that much in online sales.

The answer is:
- When the online income is steady monthly for a year. This is hard.
- When you have built up a 6-12 month emergency fund, to cover expenses for whatever reason.
- And you have the support of family/friends.

Most cannot do this. It's not easy to be self-employed, which is what this is.

You should be doing this for an offline job, too, as that's not guaranteed either!

5 times of my former salary.

If you are not a risk taker type of person then I suggest you to establish first your emergency fund just in case your IM venture fails. Save at least 6 to 7 months of your current salary, when this is establish you could conservatively enter your IM venture without worrying what would happen if it fails.

I didn't quit my day job until I had accomplished the following:

• Had an emergency fund with one year's worth of living expenses set aside.
• Had adequate health and life insurance and other forms of insurance for protection.
• Doubled my net income from my day job.
• Had an automatic funding of my retirement plan (think Roth IRA, SEP IRA, etc.)
• Saw 6 months of consistent earnings
• Met with a financial planner to go over my financial plan as well as set up a financial plan for my business, which included an exit strategy

Even though I was a financial planner I still went out and hired one because I need someone who could be more objective and those extra pair of eyes saved me and made me a ton of money.

Based on what I've seen in this forum and in my past practice, way too many people quit their jobs too early.

It's extremely important to have an emergency fund and to have the proper insurance in case something happens to you. I've seen businesses destroyed because of health problems or other unforseen life events that can happen.

At the very least, I would advise people to consult with a financial planner who has at least 10 years of experience working with small business owners / entrepreneurs.

RoD

I was laid off from my day job while my IM was making half of my salary there.

I lived off both unemployment and IM and now I make 3x as much as my old job.

It all depends what your 'risk threshold' is and the current state of your marketing skills.

While quitting the day job cold turkey might inspire and motivate one person to go out and knock down 10K that first month (it has happened!), it could just as easily drive another to financial ruin and the depths of despair.

You gotta know how you personally react to stress and desperation AND be brutally honest about how strong your business skills are.

For 99.9% of IMers, I think it's best to take the cautious route.

Like Stuart Wilde says, "The Trick to Money is Having Some!"

I think you have to get an income at least equal to that of your daily job first. Then, do not forget that IM has to be treated with maximum of dedication if you want to keep your income stable.

I think you should know better... I mean no one else knows your need better than you. But I wouldn't quit my job unless I make at least twice as much as my salary.

My amount is just enough to cover my household and business expenses and to live comfortably. $4000/month

I quit my day job when I was able to match my weekly and monthly income with online marketing. And it's been an up and down struggle ever since, either feast or famine for periods of time. The freedom is what makes it all worth it. But I say this to you and all other internet marketers here - why limit yourself to a GOOD situation (working from home running an internet or affiliate marketing business) when you can have a GREAT situation - working a full-time job with a guaranteed paycheck AND banking money on the side with your internet and affiliate marketing ventures? In retrospect, this is the one thing I would have done differently. So if you have a full-time job I recommend you always keep that and cling to that. The guaranteed income from that job is invaluable and can be a real lifesaver. Good luck to you.

You can quit your job, when you make at least double what your expenses are on a steady basis (at least 6 months). That way, you can give yourself a safety net just in case of any surprises. But if you can also maintain your online income while only working part time, then the extra money from your day job could really provide a good backup fund.

I really dont mind my day job and feel its actually good to have a purpose for getting up each morning. I watched a few budding IM'ers take time off but slowly lose track, get up later everyday and generally loss focus.

I personally use IM as a side line for now. I hope to build it to a point where it will need little work each day and i can do from a beach when im 60. Google will make the IM experience harder to get money from in future so just be in a comfortable position if your looking out of your full time job.

It depends - if you have a real business or product that is scalable then I'd say you need to bank 3-4 months of day job income before quitting. If you are leveraging an affiliate program or something like that where you are not in control then I'd say you need to bank 12 or more months of salary before quitting your day job.

My set target was getting the same amount of money from the online thing for a couple of months in a row. I only made it one month and then I hit a rough patch. I am glad I did no act impulsively and quit after the first successful month. This thing can have its ups and downs. It's better to have some money saved up just to be sure.

I quit my studies (never had a "real" job) when I started to earn 5 figures a month from poker... a friend quite his job after he was making around 2k a month ( then the poker boom ended and we are now involved in internet marketing for quite a while ).

It´s pure personal preference, one mans monthly living can be another mans daily spendings. Also if you life in India it will take less as if you would life in lets say the US...

When I quit I was doing about $3000 Net on 5/8 job, and about $5000 from my online affairs. I was tired like hell from driving 1.5 hours to and another 1.5 hours back every day thru traffic jams and quit.

It depends on your life commitments, but if you are making enough to live on from your business, then you can quit your day job.

My target is to replace my current income plus have an emergency fund of 6 months saved up before I'm prepared to take the leap of faith.

Well, you need to be consistently earning enough to live on (which for me, living in the UK, would be about $1,500 a month at the absolute minimum), or at least have a realistic plan for how to get there before your savings run out.

Someone I know makes 60k a month through his online business but makes 7k a month. I just hope that we understand that money isn't everything for some people.

I LOVE my job, and I'm sure that when I make more I'd still want to stay at my job. Now of course, if my business sky rockets to a million dollar company then that's where I have to decide since time is precious.

I completely agree with GGpaul. Make sure you are comfortable leaving your job and don't make it all about the money! But after that then here's my take;
I'm currently staying in hotels every night at 19 with no help from parents buying food and gas etc. My personal number was pretty much add up all of your bills each month. Whether hypothetical bills (ones that you dream of having) or the ones you have at the moment, take the time and figure them out. Make sure that your income is residual and that it can be multiplied. Make sure that you can essentially keep making more then you even quit with. It's really your personal number and not a number that other's can tell you. Mine is at the moment enough for car insurance, gas, food for two (my girlfriend and I), hotel stays, 20% of my online earnings for reinvestment, and other extremities. Yours probably wouldn't include the hotels but may include your house etc. So just take your time and think. Do NOT make any rash decisions. This is your life and you're future. Make sure that you're sure!

make sure you are consitstently making enough to cover all of your monthly expenses every month...then you can quit

I need to make double my current gross income before I can quit my day job

Reason... I will need to fund 100% of my retirement and my insurance

al

Any amount that is stable and you can live off of.

I'd say don't quit your day job until you make enough to cover your bills and provide for your family completely with the online job. I'd also save up a few months worth of living expenses just in case the income from the online job fluctuates.

I was lucky enough to be forced to quit my day job (my child has RSV) but if not, I would have waited until I made enough to cover all of my bills. You never want to enter this business in desperation. It clouds your thinking and your ability to focus on the right kinds of business models.

I would say if you can pay your bills and have some money left over, it would be good.

I went from $0 a week to $500 a week and now $10k a month by making a little bit of money and then putting profits back into PPC to build a list. Things just snowballed from there.

But you need to be able to pay bills, and have some money in the kitty before making a big decision to leave your job. Esepcially in this economy. After obamacare is implemented the US is screwed, BIG TIME!

i make well over 6 figures from my job, so i'd have to make over 6 figures before even thinking about quitting. even if i did make 6 figures from ecommerce/IM, i would probably just reduce my current job to part-time hours. that steady check is nice, but also having health insurance, 401k matching, and other little benefits are things to also consider.

what i DON'T have, that i seek to gain with ecommerce/IM is flexiblity. i have to drive to work, clock in and clock out, and each day i'm there, i am just trading time (well, and my skills) for money. with online, you can work anytime and ANYWHERE in the world (that has internet connection).

I quited the job after my online business can support me all the living cost!

I think you can't quit your job under $2000/month income level.

I would give up my job for at least 600 $. I think that would be enough for me in the present.

I would like to consistently be making around 3k a month before I quit my day job. I have a baby on the way so I'm really trying to stay focused.

Of course it all depends on your salary and country you are living in. I quit my job earning about 1000$. However I left it knowing that I will be getting those 1000$ at least 6 more months.