15 Reasons You Must Quit Your Day Job for a Personal Business

There are times when it makes perfect sense to quit your day job for a personal business. Although quitting your day job requires careful consideration, it might become very necessary under the circumstances outlined in this guide. This content covers 15 reasons why quitting your 8-5 job might be the best thing to happen to you.

All things considered, quitting your salaried employment has positive and negative sides; meaning there are good and bad reasons for quitting your job. This is the more reason you must consider your position and options critically before turning in your resignation letter. You must also consider the best way to resign from your job without offending anyone, and how to get support while transiting to another job – this time, your own job.

Quitting a job where you are well-paid and climbing the executive ladder is not easy, but retaining your job is not all about salary and allowances. In fact, most people fear quitting their jobs because of financial considerations; they fear being without any income and leaving their family hanging. But this guide goes beyond salary as the reason for quitting; it considers other factors as they tie into the prospect of a personal business.

^{Major Reasons To Quit Your Job In Favour Of A Personal Business}

1. You Want To Be Your Own Boss

If you do not feel fulfilled with your current employment, you might consider leaving. This is more important if you feel you can achieve your life purpose as an employer of labour rather. Many people aspiring for public offices in government are already wealthy, but they think they can make the greatest impacts as politicians, so they vie for public office. So if you want to call the shots in all you do, then it is best to exit your current job and set up your own company.

2. You Have Major Life Changes

If you recently experienced major life changes, then it may be best to consider career changes as well. You may have to leave your current employment if it cannot accommodate newer changes in your life. If you have a newborn baby added to the family, working 8-5 may become a big challenge. If you are relocating to another city or state, keeping your job may become impossible. So the best thing to keep you going may be your own personal business.

3. You Fear Your Current Employment May Collapse

If you have reasons to believe that you may be fired from your current job, then you may as well take the cue and bow out. If it is obvious to you and other employees that your place of employment may soon collapse or be liquidated, then you may have no choice but to leave sooner. With all indications that your job could leave you at any time, you must harness your skills to launch your own business.

4. You Want to Acquire More Education

If you feel an overwhelming need to further your education in order to advance your career, then it might be enough reason to resign from your current job. If it is not possible to combine your job and new education, it is high time you considered starting your own personal business. A private enterprise will give you more freedom to acquire more education while earning an income on your own terms.

5. You or a Family Member Suffers From an Illness

If you suddenly become the major caretaker for a terminally ill family member, or you become seriously ill and unable to hold down an official job, you may need to establish your own business. Ill-health in yourself or a loved one forces you to reevaluate your employment status and to often settle for a private job that enables you to earn money while taking care of your health.

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6. You Do Not Feel Connected With Your Current Job

If you always feel lost in your workplace or out of place working alongside others in an establishment, then it may be an indication that you are not connecting with your job. In fact, millions of people report they are not fully connected or mentally engaged with their jobs, and this is a sign that they are not doing a job they really love. If this describes you, you must quit that day job for the job you love – and nothing stops you from setting up the job you want yourself.

7. You Work In a Toxic Work Environment

Millions of people around the world work in a toxic work environment. The prevailing work culture may not align with their personal values and goals, or their colleagues and superiors may be difficult to work with. Two things make a workplace toxic: a terrible work culture and terrible job colleagues/bosses. If a workplace affects your physical or mental health, then you must leave if you are not in a position to effect the desired changes.

8. You Want to Create Socio-Economic Impacts In Your Community

You may feel the strong need to quit your day job if you are not making any significant impacts in your community. It is doubtful that a salaried worker can make considerable socio-economic impacts where they reside. If this is a major concern to you, you may consider exiting your current job to set up a private business that will enable you to give back to your community.

9. You Are Determined to Work In a New Industry

If you must change careers or work in a new industry, it might be necessary to resign from your current employment to set up your own business. Leaving your banking job makes perfect sense if you want to venture into the IT industry, and resigning your insurance job is admirable if you think you can achieve more in the music industry. If you must explore personal business avenues different from your current employment, then you won’t have a choice but to quit your day job.

10. You Want to Multi-task For Fulfillment

You work as a cashier in a bank – but you are a naturally gifted singer and actor. Although the banking job pays very well, you do not feel fulfilled because music and acting beckon hard. Since you can hardly combine another job with banking, you choose to leave so you can multi-task with music and acting. Music and acting are like personal businesses that give you a sense of purpose and freedom, more than what banking can do for you.

11. You Want a Greater Work-life Balance

Work-life balance is most possible with a job of your own. Many people suffer burnout because they expend all their energies and time into their jobs, hardly having time for family or vacations. So if you feel you are having burnout and need greater work-life balance, you might reassess your options and launch your own business. With your own job, you enjoy better physical and mental health than you do in paid employment.

12. You Find it Hard to Take Feedback

If you are always at odds with your employer or superiors due to your inability to accept feedback, then you must start your own business. Some people are not toxic or rude, but their nature does not just accept correction or criticism. So if you find it hard getting along with your boss because of his constant criticisms or reviews, you might do better with your own job where you are your own boss.

13. You Want to Earn Money While Travelling

If you are a globe-trotter at heart with an overwhelming urge to take the next ship sailing out, then it is better you resign from your day job. Today, thousands of people earn a living by travelling from one city and country to another. These people travel the world with a videographer and they share their experiences in all the countries they travel to. You may choose to work as a freelancer reviewing hotels, attractive sites, and city life for magazines and travel websites.

15. You Can Earn More Without Paid Employment

If you are double sure that you are underpaid, and have an overwhelming assurance that you can earn more on your own, then you may consider leaving your current employment. Although remuneration should not necessarily be the reason you leave your job, it may become an issue if it affects your family situation. And you must of course exit your salaried employment if you think you can earn more as a freelancer or business owner.

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16. You Bring in All the Businesses

If you leverage your industry connections and personal skills to bring in all the business for your employer, you may as well consider setting up your own company. It is possible for a single individual to bring in 90% of the sales a business enjoys, and it is possible for a single marketing executive to facilitate 85% of a company’s sales figures. If this is you, you may choose to exit and set up a similar business where you are the CEO.

What to Do Before You Quit Your Job For A Personal Business

Before submitting your resignation letter and launching your private business, you must ensure certain things are readily in place. Below are some of them:

• Get all the training and resources before you leave

Before you resign from your current employment, ensure to acquire all the helpful training and personal resources that will help you in your subsequent jobs. Official trainings are designed to equip and sharpen your productivity, and they would be helpful when you launch your personal business.

• Fund your startup with remuneration from your day job

This is as clear as daylight. Launching a new business after leaving your paid employment is much harder if you never anticipated it during your employment. So it is advisable that you envision your departure from your current employment two years before you exit, and use your remuneration to fund the takeoff and operation of the side business.

• Set up an operations fund

Going back to the advice that you must start your exit plan two or more years before you resign from your current employment, you must have an operations fund for your startup set up long before you leave. For context, you must have enough funds to cover at least nine months of business operations for your startup before you think of resigning from your current job.

• Run your startup before you resign

Launch and run your startup for as long as possible before you leave your current employment. Before doing this, ensure that you are not violating any employment agreement; since some contracts stipulate that you cannot run a side-hustle during your employment. If this is not the case, ensure that your startup is functional for several months with profitable turnover before you exit. The emergency fund you keep aside will keep you from financial worries when your startup launches.

• Talk to a lawyer before exiting

It is important to discuss with a competent lawyer before resigning from your current job. A lawyer will negotiate exit plans and even severance pay from your employer before you finally leave. If you are quitting your job before your contract expires, a lawyer will help to navigate the muddy waters in case your employer wants to throw the law books at you. A lawyer will ensure you leave under amicable terms, secure severance payment where possible, and cover you if litigation ever results.

• Do not slam the door when you leave

When you finally leave your current job to run your private business, ensure you leave amicably. Do not slam the door behind you since you may still need colleagues and even bosses after you leave. You may need reference letters, industry contacts, or even need to refer others to work in the same company. So ensure you follow all disengagement procedures before leaving and leave the door open in case you or any loved ones would want to work at the company again.

Conclusion

After you quit your job and launch your personal business, ensure you dedicate all your time and efforts to growing your new business. Hire competent hands to scale the business and ensure you adhere to all government regulations for your type of business. You are now your own boss, so go ahead and do what you know how to do best.