Top 5 Remarkable Signs to Quit a Job and Start Own Business
Most recently, an article on predictions for the next five years for the IT sector was published on our website (if you missed it, I advise you to read the link, since I will periodically refer to it today). So, there, a lot of attention was paid to the rapid development of small business. While reading it, I thought it would be nice to write an article where I would sort out clear signs for you, as a specialist, that it's time to leave work and start your own business.
Before I begin, I would like to state two things. First, I am not encouraging you to quit your job. Everyone has their own financial situation, and quitting just because of an article on the Internet is a very bad idea. Second, I will be narrating from my experience, from how I quit my job and started my own business. This is my story that I want to share.
Independence
I started my startup just 3 years ago. I have a very young business. I really enjoyed doing web development and I wanted to directly provide my services to people and small businesses in the development of landing pages and portfolio sites (this was my niche), and not work for a web studio.
How I Started My Startup
After all, in fact, both there and there I would be doing the same thing - developing landing pages, but the big difference is that when starting my own business, I myself choose who to work with, I myself choose the price and time that I am ready to devote to order. After working in a web studio for about two years, I realized that I didn’t need them and I could do just fine on my own. This realization, in my opinion, is an important sign that it is time for you to start your own business.
Independence is brought up in different ways and at different times. Many experienced professionals with 20 years of experience are not ready to go on an independent and independent voyage, and this is their choice. Starting their business, they are afraid of instability and I understand them, I went through it myself. And many dream of this independence, but due to circumstances, stability is more important for them.
A small conclusion on this point is very simple - if you feel that you are able to do a business that you can independently, then feel free to start your entrepreneurial activity.
Money
A very important point. When I first started my business, I was with nothing. I was lucky that I had a place to live, otherwise everything would have ended badly. When I started my business, I was 22 years old, I did not have a family and other circumstances that would make me think about stability more than about personal well-being. That's why I started my independent career.
Now in IT there are huge salaries compared to other professions, but your personal business in the future will give you even more money to live on. I repeat, in the future. I didn’t want to touch on the numbers, but for an example it’s still worth saying. My first month of my independent activity brought me $62.
Do not rush to close the article. I was just starting out, I had my first significant spending on software, domains, hosting, SEO optimization utilities and so on. In this sense, I am generally glad that in the first month I did not go into debt, but even earned money for lunch at Wendy's (Why is it so expensive for you? Your food does not cost that much money).
So, only six months later, I reached an income equal to my monthly salary in a web studio, and I consider myself very lucky, because I already had some clients with whom I worked at a previous place. But I got independence and a flexible work schedule - I work where I want and when I want, and I began to work less, about 4 hours a day.
Money is something that will not come immediately, but as you do not give up and continue on the path you have chosen. In the long run of this path, your income will be much higher than wages, and if you want more, start your own business.
Burnout
This is my personal sign that gave me a signal that it was time to start my own business and leave work. It is important to remember here that burnout is not related to the fact that you are tired of what you are doing, but who you are doing it with and on what terms. I will explain with my example. Two months before the dismissal, I realized that I could no longer work for someone and was able to run my own personal business. I had a professional burnout - I did not know if I could continue to do the same even if I quit, and whether it was worth doing it at all.
Burnout Meme
I thought about options - what else can I do, what can I do well and be useful. I took a chance and decided to focus on web development, on what I once burned out from. And you know what? This is completely different. It is impossible to mind your own business and burn out. I can't imagine how this can be allowed, especially if you are the only one in the team, like me. Since I'm the only one doing all the administrative, development, support, and customer communications, my tasks are so varied that burnout is out of the question.
When I worked in a web studio, I only developed new sites and that's it. Every day, every week, that's where the burnout came from. But doing completely different unrelated things, I discovered web development from a new side, I again had a fire in my eyes, like at 19 when I just started doing it, and this fire has not died down until now. Independence, responsibility and the feeling that everything is in your hands eliminates burnout. Believe me.
Self-realization
Another very important point for me. When I was a developer in a web studio, my career options were very limited. Suppose now I am a junior developer, then middle, senior and possibly lead in 7–10 years. It didn't suit me. I was not satisfied that your area of responsibility is regulated only by work experience. Nobody cares about what you know and can do, but the number that symbolizes your professionalism is important. It rages so much that it shakes.
I wanted more, not to sit and do the same thing in the hope of becoming a Team Leader, but to engage in a variety of activities - managerial, be a developer, client manager, and so on. And the most important thing here is that the client will never ask about your work experience. The client needs a finished project, beautiful and working, he does not care who made it - a three-year-old child or a Stanford professor. The result is important and for this I started my own business. I want to show the result and get rewarded for it.
Name
This is more of a personal point, but maybe I'm not the only one who thinks so. I always wanted to be mentioned, to be quoted, invited to podcasts and webinars with cool specialists and startup founders. Spoiler - so far they haven’t called me anywhere, but I’m going to this. I've always wanted publicity. Not popularity, but publicity.
Sitting in the closet of a web studio, this was almost impossible. Only if you break the world record for building a landing page from scratch and get into a three-second newscast. Then something might work. I wanted to surround myself with other entrepreneurs, to be in this circle where everyone started their startup sitting on a bench in a shopping center, because the electricity was turned off at home for non-payment (personal story, sorry).
I wanted to discuss how my startup is going, what I do, how I look for clients, and so on with others like me. And it doesn't matter what I do. Even if my startup was to grow square cabbage, I would still be happy to be in the circle of entrepreneurs and talk to them about square cabbage.
Conclusion
At first, I wanted to write a more professional article, but I came up with a more personal story, which I think is even better. I would really like my words to inspire someone to great deeds. I hope that will happen. The universal signal that it’s time for you to leave work and start your own business is the desire to work, work hard at first and forget about sleep for a month, or maybe two. This will push someone away, but believe me, no matter what business you start, if you don’t notice how time goes by, then it’s definitely yours and you can’t leave it.