The mass exodus from corporate America is REAL. The numbers show that this is a crazy time in America and people are leaving their corporate jobs more often than before. (My husband included!) If that’s you and you want to quit your job but don’t have any money to do it right now… then I’m going to tell you exactly what you need to do!
Want to quit your job but don't have any money? DO THIS!
Want to watch the video version of this post? I’ve got you covered!
Want to quit your job but don't have any money? DO THIS!
So you want to quit your job but you don't have any money and you don't know how in the world you'd do it?!? I've got you covered! We're in the middle of a m…
Like I said, my husband is leaving his corporate job at the end of September. And there was definitely a time in his life where he expected to stay at that job for 30 years and then retire. But he started thinking about other things he wanted to do and realized that wasn’t the best plan for him.
This is happening to a lot of people right now! We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has made us all realize that life is short. And I think a lot of people are seeing that they aren’t respected and taken care of in their corporate positions.
If you’re in that boat too – either because you hate your job and want to quit, or because you have a passion you want to pursue full-time, THIS is the place for you!
It can feel scary to quit and not have a guaranteed income. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of do’s and don'ts for when you want to quit your job but don’t have any money. Because there’s bills you have to pay!
DON’T: Quit without a plan
When I quit my corporate job, I did it without a plan. And it put our family in a pretty crappy position. I was living in a two-income household, so I had someone to help with the bills. We re-arranged things and made it work.
But I do NOT recommend quitting your job without a plan. You need some savings and a plan in place to make sure you can quit without disrupting your lifestyle.
We have had a plan about my husband quitting his job for years at this point. We understand what has to happen for him to quit, and we’ve been putting the pieces in place for a while now so that we were able to make it happen.
If you’re in a dual-incomehousehold – have a conversation about it
Maybe your partner doesn’t want to quit their full-time job, but you do. Have a conversation with them about your finances. See what you can cut, remove, or rearrange in your budget to make it work until you start bringing in income again.
However, I totally understand that not everybody lives in a dual-income household. And even if you do, it’s very possible you still can’t afford to live off of one income. When I quit my job, we genuinely couldn’t afford it – and we ran up credit cards like crazy as a result. There were times I was putting groceries and health insurance payments on a credit card.
I don’t regret that, because it got me to where I am now. But I wouldn’t recommend it if you have another option.
DO: Start a Business
This is the number one thing that needs to happen if you want to quit your job but don’t have any money. You’ve got to start a business so that you can start making money!
Now, you may need to side hustle that business while you’re in corporate for a while until it makes enough money to sustain you. OR you may be in a position where you can quit and then quickly ramp up a business.
My husband, for example, is waiting until he quits to start his business. He has the authority, experience, and connections to make it happen,, but literally isn’t allowed to do it while he’s still working for his company.
If you aren’t in that position, you may need to start your business as a side hustle for a year or two years to get to where you feel comfortable quitting.
DO: Set an income goal for your side hustle to know when to quit
If you do need to work your business in addition to your corporate job, then you should set an income goal to know when you’re going to quit. That way, you have a finite way to measure when you’re ready to leave your corporate job. And you’ll have the security of knowing that you have enough money to get by without it!
Maybe you currently make $4,000 per month. It might be that you can’t possibly make $4,000 per month from your side hustle while still working a full-time job because you don’t have enough time to commit to it. So you might pick $2,000 or $3,000 as your number when you would put in your notice at your job.
DO: Explore your business options!
In 2021, there are SO MANY businesses that you can start. And you can start most of them for $0 (or very little money). Don’t limit yourself to one idea because you can start a business for no money with tons of ideas!
DON’T: Assume you don’t have any skills
People always assume that they don’t have any skills to bring to a business outside of their corporate job.
I can almost PROMISE you that you can use the skills you currently have from your corporate job to make a full-time (plus) income on your own.
When you’re starting a business because you want to quit your job but don’t have any money, focus on what skills and accolades you have from corporate. Trying to learn something new or invest in a new skill will take much longer to get off the ground.
My first coaching client back in 2016 had just left corporate and couldn’t figure out what business to start. She felt like she didn’t have any skills that would translate into a business. But she had a ton of experience in HR, and hadn’t realized that small businesses and entrepreneurs who don’t need an entire HR department still need help with HR! So she started marketing human resource packages to small businesses and did a fantastic job with it.
If you have experience in admin work and customer service, you can easily turn your skills into a Virtual Assistant business that you contract out.
You can also start out by learning a skill that isn’t too difficult to start out with. Investing in a camera to start out at photography or learning graphic design skills are doable in a shorter period of time! There are tons of classes and FREE posts on the Internet about how to learn those skills.
Business Ideas for different skill sets:
- Virtual Assistant
- Travel Agent
- Graphic Designer
- Video Editing
- Photography
- Copywriting
- Customer Service
DO: Try out a new work-from-home job
Maybe you aren’t sure that you want to quit corporate entirely, but you really want to work from home. Then try out a different job in a work-from home position! There are tons of entrepreneurs like myself who hire remote positions.
DO: Try out websites like UpWork and Fiverr to find jobs
If you’re thinking, “But how do I get people to hire me?!” Websites like Fiverr and Upwork are a great place to start. You can list your services there and people can find and hire you pretty easily!
DON’T: Write off passive income entirely (DO use it in conjunction!)
I know you’ve heard me say that passive income takes a while to build up. And it does, absolutely! But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start incorporating passive income into your business.
If you just use passive income as your business, it could take years to build up. But if you have a blog and start sharing affiliate links to Amazon or links to your favorite resources for your job, then you can start making additional money passively. And that’s never a bad thing!
But if you do this alone, then you need to be prepared to either give this a lot of time to build while you’re still at your corporate job and to not make any money in the interim.
As a pep talk from someone who HAS done this – YOU CAN DO IT! It is possible. You can build the life you love. I believe in you.
