When Should You Quit Your Day Job?

[kesharn2]

I was thinking about this today and would like some input from you all:

I think a good majority of us still work a "day job" if you want to call it that, and at some point we would like to quit and pursue our home businesses full time, right? I know I do. But the problem is, is I'm not sure at what point to completely drop my career. I feel that I would be holding on to it as a security blanket I guess. I see the money coming in from my home business, but am not willing to completely drop what I do )

I should mention I am an RN and work in the ER so I do enjoy it, but I do have days where I just want to run screaming out of work lol.....

[Shoemaker]

I went the opposite route and started in MLM while I was already a SAHM. I quit my career in marketing when my first son was born in 2010. Sorry I don't have advice but I would love to hear what the others think!

[danasurvey]

I think you should only quit your day job when you are at least making close to that through your at home ventures and you feel confident that it will last.

I've been making money from home now for 7 years and I love it! I was actually kind of forced into it because of company cutbacks. I was laid off. It turned out to be a belssing in disguise though and I've been making money from home ever since.

[freeyourfamily]

I couldn't take my job any more 3 years ago, talked to my wife, came home to work online and to take
care of here sick mom and our daughter. I'm into multiple streams until I feel one will get me where
I want to be. Hang in there!

[Cornelius]

One big consideration is if a person is in a single or two income household. Next to consider is the benefit package and can you replace that with the income from the business. That being said another consideration which I think is real important especially when considering a MLM business is if a person had to could they earn a livable income just from the personal sales of the product or service.

Something people do need to understand when considering leaving a job for a business is one day at some point their long term savings may have to sustain them for 20-30 years. With a job it's basically the retirement plan they have at the job but with MLM the lifestyle can come from the personal savings plus a residual stream of income. It's a very serious consideration.

As for those who do actually like their job and the why is helping people in a profession such as nursing stay as long as you are still driven by the why. To fully understand what I'm talking about if possible get a book by Joseph Jordan
"Living A Life Of Significance". It's more guided toward the life Insurance producer but you can get the general idea. It's a very good read to show why the why can be more of a driving force than just money and why a why can sustain a person in the long term. When a person knows the why especially if it's a mission to help people retirement isn't a real consideration.

So when to go full-time? Find the why and the question is answered.

[81charduck]

As Cornelius said, I think it depends on what other family income you have. If you are single and your home biz income will be your entire income, I definitely would wait until I built my biz up enough to provide me with the same income as my j-o-b. If there is other income in the family, and you think you could survive on that income, stick with your job until you no longer want to do so.

[FreeElectricity]

All great advice here. I would only add that you may want to think of various scenarios that could happen after you quit. If for some reason your company was to go under or if you're doing a party plan business and you can't do parties any more because of an illness or injury - what's your backup plan? Remember you won't have unemployment or disability to fall back on.

As freeyourfamily mentioned, multiple streams of income is always good so that you have more than one income to depend on and don't end up with zero should one go down. Also finding streams that are more residual based, rather than sales based is good. For instance in my main business, whether I every do anything else again in my business or not I will continue to earn an income that will not only NOT get smaller, but will actually grow bigger! You may want to consider something similar you can depend on.

The good news for you of course is that you're in a very demanding profession and it would likely not be difficult for you to jump back in the world of working again.

Theresa

[Cornelius]

One more thing is to have a good amount of income saved for the slow times. 6-12 months of income sounds like a good amount to have for emergencies. Yet most important to have a true commitment to the business. I mean like job or to some extent more than a job.

I say this because in MLM people quit, People promise the world and People stop working so there has to be a huge commitment to be constantly recruiting or as they say bringing in new blood.

When considering going full-time first off there has to be a mindset of working the business as a business because the buck stops with the person in the mirror. That's a big shift form the mindset of a job and running a business.

[healthysolutions]

If the income is the same that you made with your regular job or more!! I say the same because some people can manage with what they make currently. They just took the steps to work from themselves and not someone else.

[kailo]

After building a large following, that's when you can slowly work your way out of having a day job. With a mass following, you can do anything online and still make good money