Is it time to quit your job for a better one?
Many people may be wondering whether it is time to change jobs, stay on, freelance, or start their own business. For some, they may have received their year-end financial bonus and its time to say goodbye to the job and quit their job that they hated but hanged on just because of this additional money.
This article by James Altucher in LinkedIn may be giving us compelling reasons as to why we should quit your jobs now in favour of doing freelancing. Really powerful.
The key takeaway for me is that we need time and flexibility to create multiple streams of income. We cannot rely on just one income source.
Multiple streams of income provide us with the diversity of income sources. It gives us the ability to future-proof our income.
There is income security.
There is income continuity.
The idea is that when one income source gets cut off, voluntarily or involuntarily, we have other sources to rely on.
When we have only one source of income and it gets cut off, then we will not have any income whatsoever to keep us going until we restore that primary income stream. This is when we lost our job and may take some time to find another job.
In today’s volatile workplaces and with automation, there is no guarantee that your job will be around in the future. This uncertainty is vital to drive action to future-proof your job now.
Complacency kills jobs.
The problem is this.
As we get older, it will take longer for us to find another job.
Hence, as we move up the corporate ladder, we need to think about future-proofing ourselves more than any other time.
Freelancing can be tempting
The argument for us to freelance and build multiple sources of income is very compelling.
It is logical that an employee or an entrepreneur will only be concentrating on building and earning one income source. There will not be enough time and flexibility to work on multiple sources of income unless you are a freelancer that does multiple things at once.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the personality to be a freelancer.
But the concept of building multiple sources of income is key to future-proofing and securing your income.
So, what do you do?
To me, it is not an either-or.
My ideal situation is to work in a job and freelance part-time. The strategy is to grow the sources of your income over time.
Finding the right strategies will be important.
Once I reach an income level that can sustain my lifestyle and have at least 3 to 4 income sources, it is time to evaluate my situation again.
As freelancing is projected to grow substantially, the temptation or call to leave jobs for freelancing will get louder and louder for some people.
It can be appealing to freelance for various reasons.
You hate your job.
You can’t stand your manager.
You just want time flexibility.
But in reality, freelancing is difficult
Please don’t leave your job without proper due diligence and consideration.
Here is the real story of Tejaswi. I have got this person’s permission to publish his story in its entirety.
I went broke after quitting my job to pursue freelancing.
I thought freelancing wasn’t tough. I just quit in a haste. I was feeling empowered as I gave myself permission to do what I want with my life.
Reality hit me hard. I was broke in a couple of months. I signed up on various freelancing portals. Didn’t get any projects in any medium.
I hit rock bottom in a few months. Mildly depressed was planning to run away from home or to assemble desktop PC s for a living. I stopped believing in myself.
I found the right inspiration from a good guy and slowly dragged myself back to active work and as luck would have it I started getting projects.
What changed was I started believing in myself, started to focus on the specific set of skills and put myself out there for the world to see. Guess some people noticed me.
Then I decided to share this story and be of any help to any struggling freelancers.
What I would suggest a person in this phase of transition is to avoid all the mistakes I committed.
Have a focused plan and prepare accordingly.
Once you start getting projects, shift gears. Sell more. Once you get more and more projects and your day job feels like an inhibitor to your freelancing business, quit.
But beware, you need to be committed to the cause else it feels easy to fall back to your day job as a backup.
I usually discourage freelancing to those who are not serious or those who want to get into freelancing just to earn a little extra money.
I say, if you need more money and want to have the stability of a job, then get a better job. Do not make freelancing an excuse for your shortcomings. You will lose more than you could think.
You will succeed if there’s no Plan B.
For me, the key takeaways from this real story are these:
(1) Believe in yourself and know your true WHY when you decide to freelance, either part-time or full-time.
(2) Have a well-considered strategy and plan in place if you really want to transition from an employee into a freelancer (or if you just want to develop multiple streams of income). People do not plan to fail; they just fail to plan.
(3) Surround yourself with the right people who can help and guide you through the journey.
(4) Always invest in yourself first. Acquire the right knowledge and skill.
(5) Where possible, freelance on the side first while you still have a job. This is your ideal position.
Monetising your skills to create multiple streams of income
Let’s assume that you want to be a professional freelance writer. You can build multiple streams of income just by using one skill set of writing.
There will be ample opportunities for you to monetise your skills and experience. Repackaging or re-purposing your content in different formats and form will be the name of the game.
A professional freelance writer could be earning money from at least seven different income streams:
(1) Online courses.
(2) Paid posts/articles, say on Medium.
(3) Coaching packages.
(4) Affiliate links, say with Amazon.
(5) 3rd party affiliate links say with email and online course providers.
(6) eBook of book sales.
(7) Speaking engagements.
When you think outside-the-box, there will be unlimited ways for you to monetise your writing skills. But it will take effort and time based on well-considered strategies and plan to create multiple streams of income.
The bottom line is this – you can make money in ways just by repurposing your skills for the different medium.
Money from one source is good to start with. This could be a salary or wages from your job.
But it’s never enough to future-proof your income. Create more sustainable income sources to secure your income.
Do plan for multiple streams of income now so that you can put in place the necessary foundations early. Always plan and execute with the end goal in mind.
Now that you know your goal and how your end game looks like, it’s time to drill down on the mechanics to transition freelance, whether part-time or full-time.
Believe in yourself and know your true WHY
What’s your key purpose in doing freelancing? Why do you want to earn more money?
You need to believe in yourself to create multiple streams of income. Freelancing will be the vehicle for you to do it.
Your WHY or reason will give you the required motivation, commitment, and perseverance when things get difficult or when you just want to give up altogether.
When your “why” is not strong enough, you will not achieve your goals. There’s no drive to succeed with a weak “why”.
Here’s the thing.
Everything you do in life and at work should bring you closer to your goals. Where possible, it should even bring you closer to your vocation or calling, if you have one.
Money should not be the main motivator for leaving your job or building different income streams. It will not be sustainable as you focus just on money.
It’s just the wrong focus.
Only when you are passionately satisfying someone else’s expectations and needs that it would create a long term and sustainable business and income stream.