The 3 Questions That Will Help You Quit The 9 to 5 You Hate

Ready to quit your day job?  Huh? Ready to throw in the towel?

Ok…let’s assess this “quit your day job” situation. Everyone has the same reasons for wanting to screw their 9-5…right?

1. Bad working environment.
2. Craptastic pay.
3. Not passionate about what you are doing.
4. You just don’t feel like you are making a difference.
5. All of the above.

Yep.  I recognize them because I went through them.  Entrepreneurs are special people. We are goal driven. We are passionate. And sometimes we can be incredibly decisive.

These wonderful traits help us to become successful in our fields. But they can sometimes induce a quick band aid situation that only gets worse.

What do I mean? How often have you turned off your alarm, just to lay in bed for 5 minutes wishing you didn’t have to drag yourself to your personal hamster wheel of hell? I’m guessing around….5 days a week? (w00t weekends!).

If you’re in this boat, then you’re most likely walking the precarious line of quitting in the next few years (months).  But before you hand in that notice…let’s get a few of your ducks in a row.

I’m going to give you three questions.  The rule of the game is to be able to answer those three questions before you can quit your day job. Think about this like the Monopoly board game.  It MIGHT be long as hell, but if you finish and if you win…you TOTALLY have reason a to show off to your friends.  (Seriously? I think I’ve finished that game ONCE in my life.)

OK…here goes! (I recommend that you put these in a PDF on your desktop and set an alarm to revisit them once a month!)

1. Have you set daily, weekly, monthly goals and how many of those goals have you achieved?

I know it’s a harsh way to start…but goals are one of the vertebrae to the backbone of your business! They keep you accountable, focused and on the track to an end result.  If you have a habit of setting and forgetting these bad boys, I recommend giving yourself a hard fast rule.  You need to have completed (or at least tried your damnedest) to accomplish a HUGE goal a month for 6 months in a row. Do this by setting one large goal a month (big product launch, get a certain # of subscribers, make a certain $ amount in sales…etc).  At the end of each day, jot a quick assessment in a journal about how you’ve succeeded. In addition, at the end of the month, HONESTLY assess how hard you worked to achieve your goal.  If you achieve it…congratulations!  On to next month!

2. How much do you need to survive?  How much do you make in your current position?  How much do you need to make a month (day, week) in your business to sustain yourself at bare minimum?

I know.  That was like FOUR questions.  Never said I wasn’t a cheater. 0_0  Of course, no income will get you in the hot seat in a hot second.  Sure, you see those rare Office Space like instances.  (Lay off the Stapler…). But these are drastic.  The gnomads who can quit their job with no prep time, are the nomads who are looking to strike off into the night with no place to put down roots.

More power to you…but I like home.  And to have a home…you have to be able to pay the bills.

3. What is your outlook on your current situation?

This is a deceptively important question.  Starting a business is like waging a war.  You have to be cunning, intuitive, and brave in any situation you find yourself. So, let’s play pretend.  The scenario: You’ve learned from the entrepreneurial Gods that you won’t be able to quit your job and strike out on your own for another 3 years. According to their wibbly wobbly, timey wimey rules, you have to work at this Satan’s pit for the next three years…no getting another job, no moving in with the rents.

How will you handle it? Will you just bide your time and putz through the days…surfing facebook and LOLCats for 8 hours?  Or will you embrace this as a rare learning opportunity?

There IS a certain parallel, you know.  You work for a business…you want to START a business.

Business…

Go into your daily battle like soldier.  Learn what you can from where you are and begin developing your plan for your own business launch!  What systems are working for your current corporation?  What systems aren’t?  Having a 9-5 is painful, but it can be one of the best educations a young entrepreneur can get.