Really wanting to dump the 9-5 and start my own thing - who's done it?

Forgot to add

Pros:

-no wife, kids, dependents at all

Callingitquits wrote:

Just like the title says, looking to call it quits with the "normal" 9-5 job and venture off to do my own thing. I'm sure there's been plenty that have done this so looking for experiences or wisdom.

Some quick pros and cons of my situation:

Pros

-very little debt. have some that I'm working aggressively to pay off and that's been my biggest limiter. Once it's gone I can give this a try without much concern.

-zero cost start up for what I want to do

-increased flexibility

-increased happiness (i'd be doing what I love)

Cons

-starting with zero

-won't get rich immediately (money really has no motivating factors for me) but for some this could be a con

- i'm sure there's others but i'm having a hard time finding them right now.

I'm in the process right now. I've done the "start something while working" thing for awhile. I'm making around 1k/month profit now after about 2 years but it is slowly growing. Usually spend about 5-10 hours per week on it but way more at the beginning.

Right now we're paying off the last bit of my wifes student loans then we will prob have one of us quit to spend more time on it. I'd say start it now, get everything ready and if it takes off, then quit. Keep saving and slowly make the leap.

What type of business you are looking into? I would love to do the same.

Will things like insurance be a significant burden? From what I've seen it costs much more to be insured when not enrolled on a company's plan.

Another thing I've tried to figure out is the time commitment. How much time do I want to give to something - even if I love it - that takes time away from things like family, friends, my dog, travelling without work worries, and finding a future Missus.

I'm about to leave my 9-5 after self-funding a video game startup over the past few years. First game is due out in a few weeks, and depending on how successful it is I will probably keep my day job for a while so I can re-invest into the company. My day job pays pretty well, so I figure I'll keep it as long as I'm not too stressed. I have a family to support as well so I'm not really ready to just jump ship.

Insurance is definitely something for the con list, at least until revenue hits a certain point. I figure if I need to bridge the gap between working 40+/week at this job and being able to move fully to the new adventure I can subsidize with something PT that provides benefits.

Your boss did.

The pros and cons list you wrote down is almost exactly where I was when I left the 8-5 world. I did 13 years of a desk job after college, accounting, office management, human resources, etc. The last 5 years I was in that I started going on the road installing software and teaching our clients on how to best use it (long-term healthcare industry). If my company could have kept me on the road 30-35 weeks a year I wouldn't have left. That's where the real money was (for both the company and me). But I was only doing about 12 weeks/year on the road. The other 40+/- weeks I was running the office for a company that was in contraction mode. It was a grind that I needed to get out of for my mental and physical well being.

Had no debt other than a mortgage with a reasonable monthly amount; no car payments, student loans, outstanding credit cards. Had reasonable savings although certainly not a big nest egg to draw off. Don't have a lavish lifestyle. No family to support.

I left with the idea to work on some accounting certifications that would put me in a stronger position in the job market 5 years down the road. I also left on good terms with the arrangement that they would continue to use me for software installations and training. I did that as a subcontractor for the company for about a year which was good for the occasional cash infusion.

Within 6 months of leaving the 8-5 world I got an offer from a local college to do some coaching. The administration knew me going back to when I was an undergrad. They had a sudden opening and needed to get it filled quickly. It didn't pay much but it was something I wanted to do. Within 2 months of accepting that job another coaching position opened up at the same school in another sport I'm trained in and I was offered that as well. And I also got an offer from a race that I had volunteered with for years to come onto the staff part time/part year to help improve areas of the race I was working in as the race was trying to grow.

Fast forward 15 years, the position at the race is now full time. It's desk work but with a lot of field work and both elements are more interesting to me than the accounting/office mgmt I was doing. The pay isn't where I'd be if I had stayed in accounting but it's not something I worry about. I'm still coaching, although back to just one team after 11 years of two teams. I also work a 3rd job mostly to help a buddy out, just front end work at a local bowling alley filling a few shifts a week. That's not a job I need, I just do it to help out somebody who asked.

I had a few lean years in the early 2000's when my savings was dwindling and I had stopped with the subcontract work but never got into what I'd call a danger zone. I still hung out with my old accounting colleagues some and they always told me I looked a lot more relaxed. I sure felt that way!

Life is short. When you have responsibilities, i.e. family, you need to do what you have to do to take care of them. When you don't have that element to worry about there's a lot of personal value in finding a way to make what you want to do your source of income.

I run my own consulting business. I am just a one-man operation.

I did it for two main reasons:

1) Wanted more flexibility with my day as my children were getting involved in lots of things and my wife was considering at the time going back to work (she now has done that).

2) The company I worked for at the time was having some serious financial issues. They did a big layoff, and those of us who remained had to take a 10% pay cut.

I didn't have a yearning need to be my own boss like many who start their own businesses. I never minded having a boss as I am pretty much unrattleable and just did my job to the best of my ability no matter the ability of the boss.

You are in a good spot with no children or dependents. Still, unless you are forced to do so, if there is any way you can start this business while still keeping your current job, do that. Once it gets going, then quit the other job.

I did some side consulting for about 6 months before I decided I could do it full time. It was slightly different from the work I was doing for the other company, so not a compete issue. I had two small clients, and once I got a third that was pretty big, I quit the job and became a full-time consultant. Currently, I have as much work as I want. I could aggressively seek more clients, but I do not need or want that right now. I am on one project for a company that will last 8 more years. Crazy. I only want to work 2 more years past that.

Before I went solo, I was about 90% of the way to opening a dog kennel business, but at the last minute I decided against it. Would have been very interesting and fun I think, but it would have been to much work initially for me, and I was trying to work less at the time, not more.

Good luck!

Good luck to you.

Yes, I did. There are many Pros to doing "your own thing", much more than cons for me. Going to work is a much different mind set when you know that you are the one who directly benefits from all that you do. But - the one thing you should be prepared for is the reality of working far more hours than you have ever worked before - if you want to be successful. I was already used to working long hours, but, nothing compared to being on my own. That being said, again, it's different because you are putting in those hours for yourself, but be prepared for days that will make a 9-5 workweek seem like a holiday.

The reality is that success comes from hard work - no different than running success. You need to put in the miles (hours), no way around it.

I've been working at the same day job since I graduated college 8 years ago when I was 22 (mechanical engineer).

I have found the work to become increasingly boring. It also frustrates me to feel like I am stuck inside all day in a somewhat rigid schedule. I am tired of fighting the same traffic as everybody else, standing in the same lines for the grocery store at night, running in the dark after work in the winter, not able to take a spontaneous day trip somewhere during the week when there aren't crowds.

I'm also frustrated by the feeling that in my career, this sort of schedule is the only option. The majority of the jobs for my degree/career are 9-5 type of hours.

I want to have kids some day and my wife wants to work after we have kids. I'm a firm believer in maximizing kids' time with their parents, so I want to someday get into something more flexible in schedule so that one of us is available the majority of any given day, hopefully only needing grandparents to take up the extra 5 to 10 hours per week.

So I'm starting a side business. In my case, I didn't want to quit my job yet, I want to milk some more money out of this career, so that later I can hopefully be secure without needing this job. I found a partner who is the opposite to me: He is in a non career job and wants to start a job he can be proud of, but he lacks the money to start a business. We have worked out an agreement where I seed the business and he does the majority of the first 6 months of work. This business is only costing about 30k to start up and should have annual profits of about 100k. he is only currently making about 30k per year, so he's happy to be making an expected 50k per year, and I'm happy to be setting up a scalable business, so I can quit my job and move to that full time later if it proves itself out.

You might consider something like that. Also, you say you're "almost" debt free. You might consider if it is worth waiting until you are actually debt free and have some capital built up to float you if you don't make money right away with your business.

Callingitquits wrote:

Just like the title says, looking to call it quits with the "normal" 9-5 job and venture off to do my own thing. I'm sure there's been plenty that have done this so looking for experiences or wisdom.

Some quick pros and cons of my situation:

Pros

-very little debt. have some that I'm working aggressively to pay off and that's been my biggest limiter. Once it's gone I can give this a try without much concern.

-zero cost start up for what I want to do

-increased flexibility

-increased happiness (i'd be doing what I love)

.

Same here. Involuntarily retired.... thanks Mr. Interweb. I'm looking for a new gig run by me but your parameters aren't realistic. All those that seem legit require sizeable investment of time/money with no immediate giant payday and are unlikely to be "doing what you love."

Lots of shady stuff out there that's tempting,

I left a big company at age 46 to start my own business - it has been a great experience. I've always wanted to have my own business and was able to transition very easily.

I did have a spouse making good money to tide us over in the income valley, so without that it would have been a struggle.

but if you can do it without taking on debt, and you have a real shot at something, go to it man.

First 9-5 isn't that bad. But who works 9-5 anymore? 9-5 is luxury.

Now you work 8-5 with a forced unpaid lunch break on salary. You need to get up at 7am to get ready and get home around 5:45.

You are actually spending 7:00-5:45 a day work related.

I'd love to do what the OP plans, but starting your own thing ain't easy. Otherwise everyone would do it. Who wants to put up with work politics? No one!

Debt free is one thing, but you got to bring in money to pay the rent and especially for groceries.

it ain't easy wrote:

I'd love to do what the OP plans, but starting your own thing ain't easy. Otherwise everyone would do it. Who wants to put up with work politics? No one!

Debt free is one thing, but you got to bring in money to pay the rent and especially for groceries.

You save up money and live off that for a while.

not necessarily hard wrote:

it ain't easy wrote:

I'd love to do what the OP plans, but starting your own thing ain't easy. Otherwise everyone would do it. Who wants to put up with work politics? No one!

Debt free is one thing, but you got to bring in money to pay the rent and especially for groceries.

You save up money and live off that for a while.

That's ok for OP, but with family already, not so EZ. Exponentially harder. And how long do you give yourself before heading back to the 7-5 routine? If your business fails, and most do, what then? With a family, the clock is ticking creating enormous pressure on everyone.

I have no personal experience but my impression is that most folks who start their own thing underestimate how many hours they will have to work (especially at the beginning).

it ain't easy wrote:

not necessarily hard wrote:

You save up money and live off that for a while.

That's ok for OP, but with family already, not so EZ. Exponentially harder. And how long do you give yourself before heading back to the 7-5 routine? If your business fails, and most do, what then? With a family, the clock is ticking creating enormous pressure on everyone.

Not saying it's easy on anyone. But it's not that hard to save up a surplus of expenses to last you a few months to a year and then go back if it doesn't work out.

TryingToMakeIt wrote:

I'm about to leave my 9-5 after self-funding a video game startup over the past few years. First game is due out in a few weeks, and depending on how successful it is I will probably keep my day job for a while so I can re-invest into the company. My day job pays pretty well, so I figure I'll keep it as long as I'm not too stressed. I have a family to support as well so I'm not really ready to just jump ship.

The right way to get your own thing going...

Don't quit your day job unless you somehow, very unlikely, strike it rich.

The company I was working for went out of business near the end of 2012.

I piddled around with business ideas for some time before deciding to do one with a business partner. The business partner instantly scaled our/my sights from 'solid income replacement' to something much bigger. We got involved in mostly tech businesses despite our backgrounds being non-technical. We invested money in bad developer after bad developer until we decided to learn how to code ourselves.

After a few years of coding, we were able to take that experience and combine it with business experience which was sort of our saving grace.

Long story short, we made basically negative money in 2012, 2013, and 2014 due to either investing in products, or paying freelancers. However, we learned how to code and manage projects very well.

We probably made 30k revenue in 2015. So really nothing worth bragging about. During these years, we both suffered financial setbacks and personal setbacks such bad credit scores, broken long-term romantic relationships due to our inability to carry the relationship financially (and more). We could support ourselves, but our significant others didn't make much money on their own.

In any case, in 2016, we made 20k in January; we receive calls at least semi-weekly about building software ranging from 15k-40k and that's just on the development side. Combined with a few product launches that have taken forever, we could easily top 1M in revenue (or more, really) by the end of the year. We'll spend at a decent rate to grow resources though.

The real difference:

In year's past, we were focused on building product and learning and never supplemented our income by building software for others. Now that we've sort of opened that side as a business line, we've been able re-invest that money into products, as well as bring on both independent contractors and salaried employees. Having resources is what makes things push forward, faster..

All in all, life has sucked for 4 years but now, things look bright. I wouldn't do it the same way I did it, but you can become financially independent just by will if you're reasonably smart.