How to Decide to Quit Your Day Job

Quitting your day job can be one of the most rewarding decisions of your career, but it can also be one of the scariest. With some planning and belt-tightening, it can go relatively smoothly.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Career Counseling
• Calendars
• Business Plan Software
• Personal Financial Software

1. Decide what you will do to earn a living if you quit your day job.

2. Do you have another job to go to, or will you be starting a business from scratch?

3. Determine how long you can go without work with the money you have available. Make a budget from your expenses from the past six months to see exactly where your money is spent, and see whether you can cut back on any expenditures until your cash flow returns.

4. Consider your emotional needs. Do you have a strong bond to the work you do and the people you work with, or are you the adventurous type who is excited by change and the unknown? Is your identity tied into your current job?

5. Ask yourself whether you have people who are counting on you and your current job to take care of them. Family responsibilities often keep people from making radical changes in their work life.

6. Investigate the benefits you will lose by quitting your day job, including medical and retirement. Research some alternatives, including COBRAs and mutual funds.

7. Quit your day job and discover the world that is waiting out there for you.

Tips & Warnings

• Unless you are independently wealthy, you will need to have some other means of sustaining yourself after you quit your job.
• Quitting a job can be very stressful; many people do not deal with uncertainty well. Determine what you can and cannot put up with.
• Contact a therapist or a career counselor for guidance during this period of uncertainty.
• The financial constraints that most of us live within require that we have a certain amount of security in our work. Make sure you can financially handle quitting before you quit.

on 8/8/2006 What is more important to you?
Money and benefits, or happiness and fulfillment? We all know that money cannot buy happiness, but, if you have enough of it, it can buy you benefits. Therefore, the quest here is for fulfillment. Ask yourself this question: does what I do now fulfill me? If it does not, true happiness will not be as present in your life as it could be were you to be in a position where you wake up each day looking forward to what you get to do versus what you have to do. It's all a matter of attitude and perspective.

on 11/22/2005 Knowing the difference between holding on and letting go is highly applicable. As long as it makes you happy, then go ahead and take the plunge or hang on for dear life. Just remember that life is too short to be stressed-out and happiness is relative. The world is a large place with unlimited possibilities.

on 11/22/2005 That's what I just did. It was not hard at all. They were about to lay everyone off within a few months. I had already started a business in November of 2003. So I decided instead of putting all my talents into this company, why not do it for myself? Just make sure before you do it, that you have a secondary income coming in, like from your spouse. That was the only way I was able to make that choice.

on 11/22/2005 Before quitting your day job, try signing up with one or more temp agencies part-time. This will allow you to have some income while leaving you time to pursue your dream.

on 11/22/2005 Unless assured of quick cash flow from your solo efforts, save 3-6 months of current salary. Impossible? Save at least a month's worth of money.