I want to start out by saying there is nothing wrong with working a 9-5 or a traditional corporate job. In fact, I LOVED my corporate job and have many fond memories of the company I worked for. A corporate job provides stability, insurance, a 401k, raises, the ability to expense things, etc. I am all for climbing the corporate ladder. There’s endless benefits to having a corporate job and I wanted to make that known as I’m not promoting the toxic “quit your job, life is too short” bit. This is merely a breakdown of my experience quitting my 9-5 and how I’ve been able to work for myself.
How to Quit Your 9-5 to Work for Yourself
My Story
With that said, I’ll start with a little background for you. It’s the evening of March 7, 2020 and I just received an email from our Office Coordinator that we will be working from home until further notice. I was excited to be receiving a WFH day on a Friday but what I didn’t realize was how serious the pandemic was or that it would be the last day I would ever step foot in an office.
Weeks and months went by with my boyfriend and I working from home in our tiny Northern California apartment, not really knowing what the future holds. As for my job, that changed drastically. I was an Events Specialist for Boston Consulting Group and with the nature of events, everything for the year was canceled. I had a really hard time with the adjustment and was more homesick than usual.
I knew it was time to make my way back home to the east coast. It had been almost 4 years since moving from New York to California and I was ready to have my friends and family regularly back in my life again. That’s when I applied for a Social Media Specialist position at BCG in the Boston office. Since my boyfriend Jamie is from Massachusetts, we decided to make the move to New England and start a new chapter in our lives.
As a reputable employee of BCG, I was almost certain I would be hired for this new role with a pay increase and would be on my happy way to Boston working in a city I always wanted to spend more time in. Only, I didn’t get the role. After 4 interviews and weeks of waiting, I was told they went with a candidate who had more experience in corporate social media and advertising. Honestly, I didn’t blame them because I was only just brushing the surface of corporate social media and mostly had experience with my personal account. That didn’t stop me from crying hysterically because I was told no from a company I loved.
Regardless, I still had my current role even though it was remote and was told I could continue working for them when I moved back home. This is the best case scenario, right? So I thought, until they decided to give select employees options. For those of us whose role had changed, we had the option to stay in our roles and/or take on new tasks and responsibilities OR start a new journey. Meaning, take a severance package and leave the company. I’ve always been a bit of a risk taker, so with some thought and talking to loved ones, I made the decision to leave.
It was a difficult one and it was even harder knowing that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to all my co-workers who I worked with for years since I was moving during the pandemic. But, it was one of the best decisions I’ve made and I don’t have an ounce of regret. Since quitting my 9-5 I’ve worked with dozens of small businesses, hotels, tourism boards, and brands, and have traveled more than I ever have in my life. I may have thrived as a corporate baddie, but I’m truly living as a freelance girly.
If you’re interested and craving the lifestyle of working for yourself, I have a few tips and takeaways for you.
Evaluate why you want to work for yourself
This is the most important step. In a world full of somewhat problematic phrases like “quit your job” and “life is too short,” you want to make sure that quitting your 9-5 job is for the right reasons. Are you craving entrepreneurship or are you just unhappy in your current role? Are you a creative and innovative person or do you prefer structure and resources? Are you adaptable and quick on your feet or do you not like change and prefer routine? Are you okay with varying months of income or do you prefer a steady paycheck? These, among many other questions, are what you should be asking yourself. Because there would be nothing scarier than quitting your job for the wrong reasons.
Determine what you want long-term
I find the most efficient way to find out if quitting your 9-5 job is right for you, is to determine what you want out of life long-term. Since entrepreneurship and freelancing take time to become lucrative (in most cases), you really have to have your future self in mind. This means determining what you want your life to look like in 2, 5, 10, 20 years, etc.
For me, time, flexibility, and uncapped income are at the top of my list. Being able to gain time back, choose my own schedule, and make as much money as possible, has always been a priority. This has been the case for me since I quit my job but after 4 years, I’m just now achieving these 3 in the capacity I wanted and still have a long way to go. That’s why entrepreneurship is so hard. There is no instant gratification and absolutely no promises. Just long hours, hustling, pivoting, finding balance, and climbing (for years) to get there. I have had terrible months and I have had months where I doubled my income that I used to make in a month at my old job. A trusted and admired BCG partner told me when I was leaving the company, “the highs will be high and the lows will be low.” He was right.
Consider your financial situation and goals
You simply cannot quit your 9-5 without financial stability and then some. If you’re ready to go all in, whether you have a side hustle, a business, or want to take your current skills with you to freelance, you must have a cushion of savings to get you through the beginning. I’ve read that 6 months of living expenses should be saved, but I would argue a year’s worth of living expenses. There is nothing worse than feeling financially strapped, especially when taking a risk.
Because of my savings, severance package, and dual-income with my partner, the decision came a lot easier. Make sure your financial decision is a smart one.
Put together a business plan
I wish this was something I did before diving into the freelance world. When I quit my job, I dove into my blog and online influence but knew I had to make steady income while I was still building. Because of my social media, marketing and customer service skills, I knew I could help small businesses make a difference online so I balanced my personal business while also helping others. I did this all wrong lol I should have been applying to jobs, networking more, and promoting my services but instead I took jobs that came to me instead of finding them.
Ideally, whatever business, skill or service you’ll be offering, it should be more set in stone before quitting your job. That’s the absolute smartest way to go about it.
Acknowledge what you’re good at and what you’re not good at
The possibilities are endless when it comes to freelancing. There’s hundreds of ways to make money online or freelancing including copywriting, graphic design, website building, social media management, affiliate marketing, sales, photography, consulting, etc. While there are always people hiring for these roles, it’s so important to lean into the skills you are best at and can maintain overtime. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.
Don’t chase perfectionism
Entrepreneurship is…messy. If you chase the perfect business plan, perfect brand, perfect aesthetic, you’ll obsess over the wrong details and get burnt out quickly. Instead, focus on the main ingredients that sets you apart from others, why people should hire you, and make sure every interaction with potential employers is a positive one.
Use social media to promote your services
Not everyone agrees, but as a social media influencer, having a social presence is a must, regardless of your niche or industry. Social media is the way consumers interact with services and products in the most modern form and it is only going to get bigger from here. There isn’t a set number of platforms you need to be on but I suggest choosing the platforms where your audience and demographic hangout and try to be on as many that are sustainable for your life and schedule.
When it comes to choosing what content to put out there, it’s best to stick to 3-5 main topics that you’ll cover for your audience so they know what to expect from you. There are many other factors to consider like branding, colors, content buckets, consistency, analytics, and more, but that’s for another blog post perhaps.
Get on the right platforms to find work
This is KEY for being successful as a freelancer. Depending on your expertise, you’ll want to explore several platforms and get your name, experience, and offerings out there. While there are so many platforms to consider, networking online or in your local community is the best place to start. I’ve been offered some of my best opportunities by networking and building relationships in the New England and blogger community. The age old saying “It’s about who you know” really rings true in any generation. Put yourself out there and meet whoever there is to meet. You never know where the relationship will take you.
A few platforms I highly recommend for finding jobs:
- Facebook groups
- Aquent
- FlexJobs
- Fiverr
- UpWork
- SimplyHired
Focus on multiple streams of income
This is the best advice for anyone, whether corporate or freelance. Having multiple streams of income not only provides stability and cushion but allows you to fall back on different outlets when one isn’t doing as well or falls through. This is especially helpful in the freelance world when jobs and projects aren’t always guaranteed long-term.
Here are some examples of multiple streams of income:
- Influencer/Blogger
- Brand Design
- Website Development
- Social Media Management
- Email Marketing Management
- Content Creation
- Affiliate Marketing
- eBay Store
- Amazon Seller
- Poshmark Lister
These are just some of the industries I have experience with, but there are hundreds of more ways to make some extra cash.
Don’t take on more than you can handle
When you run your own business and schedule, it can be hard to say no, especially when you have a few tight months. I’ve been there and have done what I needed to, but it severely led to burnout and resentment to myself because I took on way too much. My suggestion is to decide how many hours you want to work a week and build your schedule around that.
Charge more, work less
In order to prevent burnout and actually sustain a life that is healthy and meaningful, you’ll need to figure out how to charge more for your services and work less. This is the beauty of freelance work because you ultimately choose how much or how little you want to make. Of course, this relies on many factors and will sometimes take years to build a portfolio and reputation in your industry, but the payoff is worth it in the end. ALWAYS know that you are worthy of sustainable income. This is especially important for women to remember because finance conversations weren’t a top priority for most of us growing up.
The best example I can give is my own business. All influencers and bloggers start somewhere and are in it for different reasons but a heavy correlation to my success is based on the amount of followers I have on social media. I made it a goal to build an audience so I could work with brands, hotels, and tourism boards and get paid to do it. This is extremely difficult to achieve, I won’t sugarcoat it. I’ve been doing it for 4 years and it’s just now becoming lucrative. However, because I did SO much work for free, traveled, invested, and stayed consistent, I worked my way up to a dedicated, loyal, and niched audience that I can now monetize and continue to provide the valuable content they want.
Make your business a lifestyle
This sounds so toxic lol But what I mean is that if you really want this lifestyle, it needs to be a part of you. For a while, you will need to hustle hard and put in the work to achieve your goals. The reason why most people don’t work for themselves, or put themselves out there, or try to build an audience online, is because of the amount of work it actually takes to get there with very little in return. Being an entrepreneur, a freelancer, an influencer, etc. is not about short-term gratification. It’s about the long term. And I can tell you with every ounce of my soul that it’s worth it.
Is it worth it for you?
