Recently my online business has started making enough money to enable me to leave my job and strike out entirely on my own. I have had to work hard to be able to get to this point, but I attribute my ability to leave my job to the 3 things below (they’re things you can do too):
1. Low overhead lifestyle. My wife and I have managed to reduce our expenses to the barest of minimums. We’ve managed to reduce our rent and utilities to zero. Our insurance, petrol and groceries are our largest expenses now and they come in under a grand. It doesn’t take much sales from our business in order to cover those bare necessities. Now we are just looking for products that are base hits instead of home runs. Look to reduce by following the 1 time downside (ie moving) with ongoing upsides (1/2 to 1/4 the cost in rent). Avoid doing things with the opposite costs. Avoid clipping coupons because they incur an ongoing downside with a once off upside.
2. Make time. I’ve been spending extra time working on the business leading up to this point. It meant giving up TV and sleeping in. If you can’t squeeze a few more hours out of your day by eliminating low priority items (such as TV and lie ins), you will never succeed. It gave me time to learn the skills I need and set up a basic level of income before going completely on my own.
3. Having a backup plan. Having a backup plan reduces the fear of being out on your own. My backup plan is to go back into IT and contract. I can make enough to cover our yearly expenses (if the business has 0 income - worst case scenario) in 3-4 months of contracting. Then I have a window to give the business my full attention again. The company I just left has made it very clear that I am welcome back at any time and they are in a unique position where they are going to be growing even if the economy goes to pot. Figure out a way to make ends meet if your initial plans don’t work out and put it on the shelf to help hold the fear at bay.
Those are the 3 things I did in order to build my skills and reduce my fears to the point where I confidently struck out on my own. They are really easy to do but they may be emotionally difficult, especially if you are addicted to TV or really tied to a certain area. If striking out on your own is your number 1 priority, doing the 3 things above will speed you on your way.
“Visit my blog and learn the art & science of putting your internet business on complete autopilot.” -Steven Lohrenz. Here is the URL: Internet Business Automation
- Steven Lohrenz
Highlights 
March 6th, 2008 