Today I’m going to write about a question that I get asked often.
How did you make the decision to quit your day job?
I get asked this question from other mothers who are finding it tough to be in their 9 to 5 jobs, juggling being a mother or they are thinking to go full time as a freelancer or business owner.
It was a tough decision for me. I had wanted to quit my day job since the day I gave birth to my first son and I finally took the step 4 years later. Yep, 4 years of ruminating, considering it, but never really doing anything about it. I kind of felt trapped in a job and life that I didn’t really want. I wanted to just be at home with my kids and perhaps start a business some day.
There came a point after our second child was born that sending our two kids to daycare just didn’t make sense financially. I was paying more than a third of my salary to daycare which included overtime fees too (they charged for every half hour after 6pm and we were always going home late). I guess this was the tipping point for me. I could finally give a good excuse to my husband for resigning. I had also thought about taking a freelance job contract and I finally applied and got the job. Everything kind of fell into place.
Before I applied for the freelancing contract, I did a “business case” that I could present to my husband to get his approval and also to get myself prepared for living on a lower monthly income.
In this post I’m going to help you build a “business case” for yourself to help you decide on whether quitting your day job is the right thing to do.
(This applies if you know that your income is going to be lower than the income of your day job. I mean, if your personal business is generating more income than your day job, this wouldn’t be something you’d be torn over, right??)
#1 Open up an Excel spreadsheet to look at your current financial situation.
Figure out how much you are currently spending per month as a full-time employee. This would be your cost of transportation (fuel, commuter train ticket prices, etc), food (how much you usually spend for food), daycare costs and whatever else that you need to pay for because of your job. Add up all your costs and from your income, minus those costs. You’ll come up with how much you actually save in a month.
#2 Figure out how much you would be spending after you quit your day job.
Do another column of how much you would spend a month working at home or on your business full time. Your transportation costs would likely be lower, also food costs would be lower too as you may choose to cook your own food. You may also save a lot on daycare as you opt to send your children for only half a day or take care of them at home yourself. Add the costs up, put in your expected income (from being self-employed) , minus the costs from your income. You’ll see how much you have for savings in a month.
#3 Make a comparison between the two.
Now if your costs are higher than your income from being self-employed, then you’ll need to figure out how much more you need to work/sell products to ensure that the costs are lower. You’ll also need to ask yourself whether you’re okay with the amount of savings you make each month when compared to the savings you make from working a full-time job.
These are all things you’ll need to consider before you transition from being a full-time employee to a full-time freelancer or business owner. You may choose to wait and continue your business as a side hustle during weekends as you work full-time during the weekdays. This way you can make sure that you’ll have a higher income and eventually quit once the income is higher than that of your day job.
Or you may choose to quit even though you’re not making enough yet. Some people are better at working in a situation where they need the external motivation to push them to work harder.
Whatever the situation you’re in, make sure to talk it out with your spouse and get their approval. At the end of the day, you’re both in it together to support your family. You wouldn’t want problems from not having enough money to create friction between you. Make a decision that’s best for the health of your family, your marriage and yourself.
Now share with me you stories. Are you considering to quit your day job? What is preventing you from doing so? Is it finances? Fear of not being able to generate enough income? Or you’re afraid you might get overwhelmed from taking care of your children all day without any outside help?
Share with me in the comments below.