Quitting Your Job – Timing Is Everything

Quitting your job to start an online business or any business is a big step. I didn’t as it happens but I was laid off. In some ways I was lucky as that the decision was made for me. I’d seen it coming so had started building an online business before the axe fell. I would definitely recommend that if possible, you do the same before quitting your job.

But however the chips fall I wanted to share some tips on quitting your job in order to grow your business. There will come a time when you need to do it so lets look at how to prepare yourself for the inevitable.

Overcoming The Fear Of Quitting Your Job

Fear is the enemy here: Fear of failure being the big one. The obvious way to combat that fear is to build your business before quitting your job. It’ll take longer and will be tiring but many people do it that way until they’ve replaced a good chunk of their income. At that point you know it’s a goer and that quitting your job is the only way you’ll be able to scale up.

With an online business its quicker simply because you can get a lot done in a few spare hours.

Peer and societal pressure is another issue when it comes to quitting your job to pursue something more entrepreneurial. It just goes against the grain of “the norm” – all those years of programming to fit in.

But turn that on it’s head for a moment: Imagine that (as soon may be the case) being an entrepreneur was the norm. Then the idea of exchanging your time for money in the workforce would fill you with fear. So much of this journey is about changing your mindset.

 Identify The Pros And Cons

Here’s an exercise you can try from Tim Ferriss’s “The 4-Hour Work Week” that challenges these fears.

Grab a sheet of paper and a pen and divide it in two.

Write “Quit My Job” on one half and “Stay With My Job” on the other.

Now take a few minutes and do a little brain dump on each section based around what’s the worst that can happen if I do this. Write them down and then rank them from 1-10, I being no big deal and 10 being seriously bad.

Here’s a few you might come up with:

Quitting Your Job.

You might not like being an entrepreneur after all

You might not make any money

You might blow some of your savings if the business fails

Where would those be on your pain scale? Different for everyone but say 6 since no-one died, you haven’t gone bankrupt, lost the house or gone to jail. You are simply back at the drawing board. At least you tried. If that means looking for a job you’ll probably find employers are quite impressed by that.

Staying with your job.

You could be made redundant (happened to me twice)

You could be stuck there being unhappy till you retire on 40% of your final pay

You may never get the freedom, flexibility and fulfilment you yearn for

You’ll never earn more than the company you work for decides you are worth

This is grinding, long term unhappiness and for me at least would rank at least an 8 on the pain scale. I’d much rather fail and start again!

It’s a good exercise since a lot of our fears are unfounded and vague. Getting them out of your head and onto paper is a powerful way of changing the filter you view things through.

Levelling The Playing Field

In a an age where technology has made so many changes to our “Norm” and has created so many opportunities quitting your job is a very real option. The Internet has completely levelled the playing field as far as starting a business is concerned. You can do it in your spare time around a job to start with, you don’t need masses of capital to start and you don’t need special premises or equipment.

If the idea of quitting your job to start a lifestyle online business floats your boat here’s an ideal taster. Click on the link below to register for a free online business start-up training package from two of the most respected and successful internet marketing business schools in the world.