Hey everyone! Today I have a great guest post for you by Kelan from TheSavvyCouple.com. Everyone that reads M$M knows that I NEVER advocate for quitting your job the way I did to start an online business or blog. Kelan totally ignored my advice and is now making money as a full-time blogger and digital marketer after leaving his job earlier this year haha. Enjoy! ~M$M
I'll just come out and say it from the start, I am 100% one of the “scary” readers Bobby talks about.
May 2017 I quit my day job to pursue being a full-time entrepreneur. I don't think writing that sentence will ever get old. I remember leaving a comment on one of Bobby's articles saying I was quitting my job to run our site full-time.
I thought it would be fun to scare him a little.
Let's be honest though, becoming a full-time entrepreneur is frightening! It's completely out of the norm to leave a “safe job” and try to earn money on your own.
After a year of running our blog, I have learned a TON about the journey into entrepreneurship.
How my full-time entrepreneurial journey started
My wife Brittany and I started our blogging journey July 25th, 2016 as a part-time side hustle. We did not start taking our site seriously until April when we got an email asking for a “sponsored post.” We asked the company what their budget was for such a thing and they replied they would be willing to pay us $100.
After being completely shocked that someone was willing to pay us to be on our site, we naturally replied saying, “$100 is more than generous, $50 will work this time.”
Yes, this is a true story and so began my full-time entrepreneurial career.
After our blog made our first $50 in April I knew that blogging was something I was going to make happen. A month later I convinced Brittany that our blog NEEDED me full-time to make it work. Luckily Brittany is always in for a good adventure =).
Here are 5 lessons you will learn your first year as an entrepreneur:
1) You only live once
After I graduated college in May of 2012, I had jumped from job to job many times. From Insurance Salesman, Amazon Store Owner, UPS Driver, Jail Deputy, and Office Manager. You name it, I probably tried it.
Every single job felt the same. The beginning was awesome (it was new), the middle got boring, and the end became dreadful. Every single job I had I felt like I was being suffocated.
It wasn't until I realized YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE that I got enough courage to take the jump. This is when I found my true happiness.
In your first year of entrepreneurship, you will learn how exciting life can actually be when you are earning money for yourself and not someone else.
Here's a quote I love: “you either work for an entrepreneur or you become one“.
2) Start with a side hustle
In our first 7-8 months of blogging, we were doing it because we had a passion for personal finance. We enjoyed spending time together creating instead of consuming. We agreed that watching less TV and focusing on our site together was a priority.
We are so glad that we waited so long for me to quit my job and run our site full-time.
Those first 7-8 months there was a huge learning curve. If I had left my job right when we started our blog, I would have gone 7-8 months without making any income. #NotSavvy
It's always a good practice to learn as much as you can about starting a business before jumping in head first without a plan.
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3-4 months after running our blog full-time we are finally starting to see our hard work pay off. Last month we published our very first income report. We are so excited to share our success!
3) Having a financial plan is key
Having a financial plan before starting your own business is a must! The last thing you want to do is worry about money when you are trying to grow your business.
In the first year of blogging, we have spent well over $1,000 on equipment, courses, hosting, software, and monthly subscriptions. The saying “you have to spend money to make money” has a ton of truth in it.
If you want to grow your business quickly, then you need to have the right mindset. Being The Savvy Couple we are always looking for ways to save money and make good decisions. One of our mistakes when starting our blog was being too cheap.
We waited to take certain courses like Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. This was a very bad move as it delayed us taking our blog serious and learning how to monetize it.
Before I quit my job in May, we had a years worth of salary saved. So technically we would be fine without making any money for an entire year. Obviously, that would not happen, but we had it as a backup plan.
4) You will make it happen
The hardest part of becoming a full-time entrepreneur is actually starting. It's scary to “take the leap” and venture out on your own.
One thing I learned is that entrepreneurship is an emotional roller coaster. Each and every day you will question yourself. You will never really know what is the “right” answer.
The biggest thing is believing in yourself. Have as much grit as possible and know that no matter what nothing is going to stop you. Fight each and every day for your dream to become a reality.
Within a week of quitting my job, I landed a remote digital marketing job on Upwork. It was such a blessing to find a flexible part-time job that was closely related to blogging.
Once you make the leap, have faith that YOU WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN. Because let's be honest, you don't really have any other option.
5) Burnout can and will happen
Last but not least – burnout can and will happen when you become an entrepreneur!
I remember listening to a podcast Bobby was in that he mentioned his first day after quitting his band director job that he had an anxiety attack. I had something very similar happen to me.
The first day I was finally working for myself I was sitting at my computer at 6 am (I thought this was a rule for entrepreneurs) and I felt completely lost. I remember saying to myself “what the heck were you thinking”.
I was scared, nervous, and super motivated all at the same time.
That first day I worked somewhere around 15-16 hours straight. It was probably the most unproductive day I have had yet.
The lesson I learned is burnout can and will happen. It happened to me my first day working for myself.
Pace yourself and know that each day is another opportunity to crush your goals.
Final thoughts on entrepreneurship
You live once! Life is too short and precious to not be following your dreams.
Becoming an entrepreneur is an incredible journey. It's one that will test you every day. It's an emotional roller coaster that is unavoidable. Having a solid plan and learning from others will make your journey extremely enjoyable.
Remember “you either work for an entrepreneur or you become one.” Enjoy the ride!
Questions for you:
What business have you dreamed of starting?
What is holding you back from going after your dreams?
Thanks for sharing your story Kelan! I was so pumped when you posted your income report, and I’m happy to see your move pay some dividends; even if it’s been a lot of work and scary at times.
I’d love to take the leap sometime in 2018, but I’m not ready for it yet. Once we move into our house we need to get through some of our minimum expenses that are must haves (like gutters and blinds), and then save up not only a beefier emergency fund, but also an ‘opportunity fund’ which will essentially be our buffer.
Kristin’s going to be looking for a new job soon and with that up in the air as well it’s too early to make any decisions on the future for me, as well.
I’m on a contract until March anyway, and we’ll reassess when that time rolls around. Sometime in January or early February I should know if they’re extending my contract. If they are, I’ll likely stay (I have a ton of flexibility and enjoy who I work with). If they aren’t, then I’ll really need to consider what my options are for blogging and writing full-time.
Good news is that we’ve got a lot of time before that rolls around!
Yeah man – do it when YOU feel ready! Online businesses can be slow to generate revenue, so it’s super important to get everything settled before attempting it full-time (in my opinion). I think having a fat savings account definitely helps too!
That’s awesome you are considering it Dave. Just keep grinding at it until you can make the move financially. It was a huge burden off my shoulders that we had such a buffer to work with.
Thanks for following along with our journey. Always love your insight in our comment section.
Totally understand the burnout! But so glad you, and I, took the leap of faith! Things always work out in the end!
That is very true! Best decision I have ever made (besides finding an incredible wife).
Man, that takes guts quitting her job so soon. I commend you for your bravery!
Did you ever think about negotiating your severance? When I quit my job in 2012, I negotiated surrounds I finally finished paying off in 2017. This gave me a lot of courage to leave to do my own thing otherwise, I’m not sure if I would’ve left.
Does your partner work? If so, it’s a good feeling to know that even if all else fails, your partner can take care of you. There are several early retirement Blogger’s today with working spouses, so it works!
GL on your journey!
Sam
Yes, Brittany works full-time as a 4th-grade teacher. She has the pension and health care that we need =).
She is in one of the highest paying school districts around us and loves her job. So I don’t think she would ever want to leave early.
Works out really well she can work on it full-time with me over the summer. We had a blast working together this summer (sorta).
Life is good! Best decision I have ever made.
Great story and thanks for sharing. I don’t think this is the right move for most people. However if they are really dedicated and continue to learn from their mistakes it is possible to make a good living by quitting your job and becoming an entrepreneur.
For me, it really was not an option. I tried over 6 different jobs out of college and began to hate each one.
At my last job (office manager) I studied to become a NYS certified home inspector.
So either way I had a backup plan if our site did not pan out. But I was going to be working for myself one way or another lol.
I started reading this book called “Overlap” and I really identified with that approach over quitting full-time work cold turkey. I’m a risk-averse gal, and I like to be able to prove my pursuits will be profitable before I, y’know, pursue them too heavily. It’s a challenge to do two things at once, but I do like the stability.
Honestly – I think that’s the smarter way to go. Both Kelan and I had a year’s salary saved up, which is a really tough thing to do for most people. There are probably pleeeeenty of great entrepreneurs didn’t take the leap of faith route.
Totally agree with Bobby.
Having the financial backing to up and quit was the only way it was possible.
Nice post man been following your site as well — great stuff. Keep it up – so glad I made the leap in May, life has never been better and just getting started.
My brother and I recently took the step of purchasing our domain and hosting for our newly launched website, and I would absolutely love to be able to grow it into a business.
What’s really keeping me from pursuing my dreams, as you asked, is that I’m not 100% sure where to start. We’re blogging, and starting with creating content that we think has great value for our readers for free, but not sure how to monetize down the road.
Our blog is all about simplicity and plenty (thus, simplenty), so I’m not convinced that a lot of affiliate marketing and things like that are totally in harmony with what we’re doing. That’s my biggest unknown at this point. Other than that, we’re totally working on making it become a reality.
Congrats, Savvy Couple, on your move to full time! That’s incredibly exciting. Good stuff!
Awesome work! I really applaud your efforts and have been suffering from a bit of burnout myself over the summer. I think I’m ready to dive back in with the mindset of making my site profitable again. We should talk. 🙂
Mrs. Mad Money Monster
I’m impressed that you stuck with it for months, as just a side project. It takes a lot of commitement to stick with something when no rewards are being recieved. I’m on my 3rd attempt right now, after “getting to busy” the first three times.
Keep up the good work!
Love this! I recently started a personal finance blog as well, so I love reading how other people’s passion became a great full-time job. I mainly started my blog because I kept getting asked to teach a class about money and millennials at our church, so the goal of my blog is more informative than it becoming my side hustle. However, when I read blogs like this, it gets me excited for what could come out of my passion!
I like having my blog as a side hustle right now. Reading these stories are inspiring though and I like to see how different people approach entrepreneurship. With my blog being a side hustle, I’m able to experiment with it more and see what I like and don’t like. I’m not sure if or when I would pursue my blog full-time, but it’s nice to think about as I continue to work on the site every week.
I made that leap 10 years ago, and have been a much bigger part of my kids lives as a result. (i also made more $) The web has changed, and now I need to evolve. This isn’t easy (and now I have gray hairs) but it’s been quite a trip. Trying to avoid “burning out,” and stressing out, but a decade not working for The Man is pretty good… not sure if i could go back at this point.
“Every single job felt the same. The beginning was awesome (it was new), the middle got boring, and the end became dreadful”
Completely agree with this statement. I know exactly what that feels like.
Quitting a secure job to become an entrepreneur is scary but staying in a job you hate and wasting your life is way scarier. Having a financial plan in place helps a lot.
Great article!
I’m in the military so quitting isn’t really an option, but being able to live off of the income from my site is 100% where I’m hoping to be by the time I can retire. I definitely fantasize about picking up the phone and saying “this is my two-week notice” though 🙂
Thanks for sharing Kelan, now I know what to expect once I can finally take the leap!
Way to go Kelan!
I became a SAHM a few months ago, and decided I now finally had enough time to start a blog. Enough time. With a newborn. SMH. Once I paid for hosting, I couldn’t quit, so I’m pushing along. I’m in my first month blogging, and I have already made my money back in items and experiences. And now I get to invest more. 😉
It really helps to have my husband supporting me on this journey, though. There’s no way I could do it without him constantly telling me, and showing me, he believes in me.
Here’s to actually making some money one day…soon, I hope. 🙂