When To Quit Your Job To Start Your Business
How do you know when to quit your job to start your business and work on it full time?
When it feels right to you!
Conventional wisdom will tell you to quit your job to start your business when:
You have at least three to six months worth of savings or more.
Your side business has more business than you can handle working a full-time job.
Your business is earning enough money to cover your basic monthly expenses.
I don’t want to downplay the financial considerations. From my experience working with hundreds of aspiring solopreneurs over the past decade, the majority of people don’t leave their jobs once their financial targets have been met.
They leave when they feel the time is right for them independent of their financial situation.
I’ve worked with people who have more than a year’s worth of savings. However, they still didn’t feel like the time was right to leave their job.
If you are still concerned about building your financial runway, here are some alternative methods for saving money without a budget on one of our podcasts.
When does it feel right to quit your job to start your business?
Only you will know when it feels right.
I know that’s probably an annoying answer!
You’ll know when you have a strong sense of clarity and confidence to finally commit 100% to your business. You’ll feel it in your gut.
Most people are more comfortable starting their business on the side until it generates enough revenue to justify leaving their job.
For others, they need to go all-in on their business from the start. They need to eliminate the distraction of full-time employment as soon as possible.
Everyone’s circumstances are different. Again, only you will know when it feels right for you to quit your job to start your business.
Here are some common feelings people experience when they know the time is right for them:
#1 Can no longer endure a toxic work environment
Any abuse or hostility you’re experiencing in your current job from your boss, colleagues or clients may be part of the motivation to become your own boss.
Definitely exit your toxic work environment as soon as you’re able! Don’t start your business by looking at it as an escape from your bad work situation. You don’t want to start your business off on the wrong foot!
If your work life is extremely unhealthy, consider getting another job first. Before you commit to working full-time on your business allow yourself to heal emotionally.
#2 Fear of starting your business gets weaker and weaker
Believe it or not, the fear that has been preventing you from starting your business might finally be overcome by the stronger emotion of feeling drained, undervalued or unheard by your employment situation.
Somehow going out on your own will suddenly seem less risky or worth the risk than clinging onto a steady paycheck that is sucking the life out of you!
#3 Financial confidence
You might have a savings goal to expand your emergency fund well beyond three months or set a sales goal you want your business to hit before you even consider leaving your job.
However, your financial goals may not align with your feeling of financial confidence.
For example, you may not be close to realizing your financial goals, but you might have built up your financial confidence to leave sooner because you have gained experience running your business and have cut your personal expenses.
You realize that by leaving your job, you will have an enormous boost of extra attention, energy and time to focus on growing your business faster.
On the other hand, you might hit your financial goals or even exceed them.
Even when you achieve these goals you realize you still don’t have the financial confidence to go all-in on your business. Somehow your business might still feel “untested” or there’s still a nagging doubt you need to resolve.
#4 Stretched too thin
There might come a time when you’re working so much on your side business it almost becomes a full-time job while you still have a full-time job!
If you feel like you are on the verge of burnout, it’s time to reflect on what it will take to let go of your job.
#5 Hiding your true self
You feel like it takes more and more energy to put up your facade at work.
You grow more tired of being someone you know you no longer want to be.
It gets harder and harder to not speak your truth, especially when you know it won’t be appreciated by your colleagues.
That’s the moment you know you’ve started identifying more with your business than your job.
#6 Desire to get laid off
You wish your manager would just lay you off. Somehow you know it’s time to leave your job, but it would be so much easier if someone else made that decision for you.
You fantasize about it with greater frequency. When you hear rumors about layoffs in your company you consider volunteering. The idea of collecting unemployment as you continue to build your business sounds more ideal than staying employed.
#7 No longer in the loop of office gossip
The moment you opt out of the office rumor mill is your first step out the door. You decline invites from your co-workers for lunch or happy hour.
You’re leaving your work tribe to build your new tribe around your business.
#8 Caring less about what your colleagues think
You barely tried to hide the fact that you’re working on your business during office hours. Colleagues think they are looking out for you by telling you about new opportunities for you within the organization, but your response is unenthusiastic.
They may even let you know that people are talking behind your back about your changed attitude and your appearance of slacking off. You listen, but no longer care.
#9 Strong emotional reactions
You get easily triggered in ways you didn’t expect by an off-the-cuff remark by a colleague, by a task your boss asks you to perform or by one of your workplace pet peeves.
You’re caught off guard by your strong reaction, yet not all that surprised. Your sensitivity makes you aware you can no longer take working at your job.
#10 Growing tension in your heart
The tension between the work you feel like you “have to do” versus the work you “want to do” grows to the point you can feel physical tension in your chest.
You feel anxious, easily distracted or exhausted. Your desire for your work freedom can no longer be repressed.
As excited as you may be about quitting your job to start your business, deep down inside you may always need to give yourself time to grieve the loss of your job.
When you make the significant decision to finally work for yourself, you are stepping into a new identity and you’re leaving the old one behind.
Give yourself a moment to reflect and let go.
What are you feeling?
If you’re experiencing three or more of the above feelings, it might be time to do some self-reflection on your exit strategy from your job.
If you need to stick it out a little longer for financial reasons, think of your job as one of your “investors”. It’s providing you with a source of funding, so you can continue to build your business on your terms.
When the funding from your job is getting in the way of generating more revenue from your business, then it’s time to quit your job to start your business!
Need some clarity or accountability? Consider joining one of our Communities of Practice.
