Before you quit your job...

Think about it this way, what if your regular job could serve as a propellant or motivation or a stepping stone to accomplishing everything else that you plan to accomplish?

I get it, having a job suck. Wait, No, it doesn't, I think us thinking it does is what suck.

If you're like me, you hate having to answer to people, you hate rules, you dislike routine, you don't dislike bosses, really, you're just not a fan of people micro-managing you - or people, at all. And speaking of bosses, you think and believe you deserve to be one - not that I believe anyone deserves anything, really, unless they're willing to work hard for it.

While you daydream every day, about having your own business, setting your own hours, and traveling to exotic destinations - you binge hours and hours of youtube videos just like this one, watching gurus tell you to quit your day job, you find that it's really not that straightforward, not that you can't just walk to your boss and tell him to fuck off, that's easy, what's not easy is what comes after.

Like anyone, you have bills, you need to feed yourself, and if you have one, your family. Do you plan to do this with your pending paychecks? Maybe you're that financially savvy guy or girl, you have 4-5 months of expenses saved up. Fine! now you have to think about what comes after.

Believe me, when I say I'm all for following your dreams and going ham on your side hustle, let's be honest, it looks like that's what I'm doing right now, creating content for youtube after working 12 hours at a job that I'm not super passionate about.

However, where I've seen most young people fail, including myself is thinking that we can put in work for a few weeks or months and see an instant result. As millennials, it's almost like we live in our own bubble, a fantasy world that doesn't exist, we seek instant gratification in all things - building a business or growing our side hustle included.

And this bubble, this instant gratification is the foundation upon which all of our plans are built.

I digress. So, you quit your job without a plan, or maybe you think you had a plan, and you put all of this pressure on your 'dream', on your business that hasn't even gotten off the ground yet.

2 weeks in, you implement a few of your strategies, no result, one month in, no result, you're running out of funds, you start to panic, what that does to you is that you start to doubt the validity or the strength of your ideas or plan, you start to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks. Then, you go into self-destruct mode.

Then you start thinking you've failed - again.

You haven't failed. What you've failed at is realizing that building any business or side hustle from the ground up takes time, it's a process, and YOU CANNOT SKIP 'PROCESS'.

Now, let me try to tie it together for you.

Before you quit your job, ask yourself:

What is your goal:

what are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to implement a business idea, focus more on a side hustle, or just spend more time doing things that really make you happy - this could be an interest or a hobby.

By asking yourself these questions, you may realize that maybe you don't need to quit your job to do this, maybe all you need is to take more control of your time. (speaking of taking control of your time, I recommend a book by Jake Knapp, and Mike Zeratsky - Make time. I'll leave the link in the description).

By cutting back on certain things - for example, bingeing 3 30-minute episodes of Schitt's Creek, you spend more time writing content for your blog, planning out your next youtube video, etcetera.

Another important question to ask is:

Do I Have enough money saved in case things don't start to happen in my business immediately?

If you hope to start making money in your business, know that there's no guarantee and the one thing you don't want to do is put unnecessary pressure on yourself and your growing venture. Doing that is the surest path to failure.

Before you quit your job, set the right expectations. What do I mean? if things don't start to pop off in a few weeks or months, are you willing to keep going?

Well, you know that saying that 'every boxer has a plan until they get punched in the face'?

And finally, if all goes to shit, are you ready to take the loss and try again? By that, I mean: put your ego aside, dust off your CV, and start applying to jobs

Every business or idea needs some form of capital to get off the ground, or to simply keep going. For example, I've wanted to start a Youtube channel for the longest time, but I kept trying to do it the 'small' way as experts suggest - use your phone, take advantage of your window light, speak directly into your mic, while all of these are valid suggestions, the truth is...having any form of growth on youtube is hard and while more emphasis should be placed on the quality of content, the presentation goes a long way.

The same thing applies to anything you're trying to build, outside of your regular job. You need a constant cash flow, to take the pressure off yourself and focus on actually building, creating.

Aside from needing cash flow, that job you hate needs to serve as a constant reminder of why you need to get away from it. Let it serve as motivation, let it light a fire under your ass. Remember that the moment you get comfortable, your passion begins to wear off.

I guess, the whole point of this article is this: before you take the leap, set the right foundation, and the right expectations. Know when it's right, and if you need more time, that's totally fine.

Everything I've said here was inspired by my lived experiences and I hope it helps you in making the right decision.

I'll leave you with this...and it's from one of my favorite bible verses... it doesn't matter if you're religious or not, it applies, trusts me.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.