I’m going behind the scenes of my journey and particularly my startup journey today!
In this episode, I’m explaining why I had to quit my job and jump straight into my business full-time, and if I would do it again… the answer might surprise you!
Read on or watch below…
This is going to be a great episode for you if you’ve got a job, and you’re still not sure whether to quit or build your biz on the side first…
IMPORTANT: I acknowledge that my experience occurs through a lens of privilege. This privilege includes being a straight, cis-gendered, white, university-educated female, who was already working on a six-figure salary before I started my business. I don’t take that privilege lightly. I know that a lot of people don’t have those advantages and don’t have the safety nets that I did when I started my business.
When I first started my business…
Let me give you some background of what happened when I first started my business.
I earned a handsome six-figure salary, working in a management consulting firm. I was doing more and more CEO coaching and leadership coaching as part of my role, which I loved, but I wasn’t really happy with my job. In the work environment, I felt misunderstood and bullied by management, so I wasn’t exactly loving it.
I was starting to get curious about the possibility of having my own business, even though I’d been very resistant to having my own business for a long time. There were definitely some family of origin stories around what it meant to start a business.
I had a high need for financial security, safety and someone else telling me what to do and paying me for it.
A lot of that needed to be unravelled before I even considered starting a business.
Once I started considering starting a business, I felt like it got momentum really quickly. It was hard for me to slow that train down.
A couple of key things happened:
- The work that I was doing in management consulting was with oil and gas companies and large government organisations. I felt a lot of disconnect from helping rich companies get richer, and there was so much spending wastage in government. (Not exactly exciting work that had me jumping out of bed each day, that’s for sure!)
- I faced some issues of workplace bullying. I didn’t love the way that I was being treated in the organisation, and I was actively seeking something else because it was impacting my wellbeing quite significantly.
There’s a book that I read (The 4-Hour Workweek) and one strategy in that book that I thought would fit me well was to ask to go part-time. I knew I could still achieve a lot for my organisation with fewer hours, but it would also give me the chance to do more of the work that I loved (mostly coaching) in my own business.
BUT when I asked my boss if I could go part-time, she said not for at least 2-3 years.
At a crossroad around business start-up and being my own boss
I felt like I was at an impasse. I needed to either find another job that was part-time, or just jump straight into full-time business.
When I had a chat with my partner David, he asked if I thought I could get back to my salary, and I said yes. He asked how long, and I said 1-2 years.
We agreed that I’d quit, start my business, and if in two years I hadn’t started earning six figures again, I would go back to working in consulting.
And I quit!
Not only that, we had a European holiday planned and booked already, so I quit, we went to Europe for almost a month, and then I came back.
The next day, I sat at my desk ready to start my business.
Would I do it again?
And the answer is actually no, I wouldn’t quit my job to start a business this time around.
Here’s why not:
- I know how to get really clear on my strategy really quickly now. I know how to grow my business really fast with strategies that don’t take a lot of time. This is actually what I teach a lot of my clients. Because of what I now know about how to grow a business, how to grow an audience, and how to make money quickly in my business, I wouldn’t need to quit my job in order to be able to get started.
- I would use the first few months of building my business to prove that I had a sound value proposition and start building an audience. This would give me extra income without needing to invest a lot of time, and once I had solid income from my business, I could quit my job.
- I have experience now in hiring assistants, and I would know how to very quickly up-skill and scale up the work that someone else could do to support me in my business.
Even though I felt like I had to when I first started, would I do it again? No. But that’s simply because I wouldn’t need to.
Is this the right move for you?
Here are four core questions that I would ask anyone who is considering this leap:
- What is the risk and the opportunity cost of going and quitting your job to go straight into business?
- What is the risk and opportunity cost of not quitting, and building on the side instead?
- Do you have a backup plan? What is it?
- How confident are you in your strategy?
If you want help with fast-tracking your business start-up and going full-time sooner, come and check out my FREE training, Fast-Track Your Startup.
Questions? Comments? Lightbulb moments? Want to make YOUR declaration of when you’ll quit? Come and post in our Facebook group and share using #podcastaha and the episode number (187). I look forward to continuing the conversation!
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
