From lesson planning to planning photo shoots. From teacher workdays to working with our laptop on the couch. From grading papers to photographing one of the most important days in a couples life. The journey to both of us being full-time photographers was a long one but it was so worth it. There’s nothing like being your own boss but there’s this unrealistic fantasy that is associated with transitioning from working a day job to being a full-time entrepreneur. Many think that it’s as simple as having a “side-hustle” for a few years, making some money, then you quit your day job and voila, instant success. This could not be further from the truth. There is SO much that goes into the process of quitting your day job and lots of careful planning and consideration that must be taken. When we announced that I, Kristy, quit my day job a few months ago we got tons of responses full of love and encouragement. But with those “congratulations” came messages and emails asking how we did it and today we’re sharing the steps we took to quitting my day job and pursuing the dream job.
There are a few things that we have to say right off the bat while sharing this information…
- This is the process we took and this is not the only way to quit. This worked for us but, depending on your situation, it may not be the right way for you.
- If you still work a day job while pushing your business forward it does not mean you are a failure!
- The greatest factor in us being able to pursue our dream of working together full-time on our photography business is God. If we hadn’t trusted in Him and His perfect timing, this would have never happened for us.
With those things covered, we will go ahead and share the process and practical steps we took to quitting my day job! There is no right or wrong way to do this but we hope that us sharing this will help guide someone in the steps they can take to making their dream job a reality!
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*First, we sat down and figured out what timing would be best. In our case, because I was a teacher, I couldn’t just quit in the middle of the school year, so we had to wait for the summer. We figured out what would be the best timing in regards to insurance, paychecks, wedding season, etc. for me to let my boss know I wasn’t coming back the following school year.
* Second, we read the book Quitter by Jon Acuff which completely changed our mindset about quitting my day job. In the book, he gives practical insight on quitting a steady job and taking the risk of becoming a full-time entrepreneur. This book honestly flipped our mindset about quitting and we are so grateful that it was recommended to us!
*Third, we read the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey to be able to organize our finances. After reading this book, we started the process of saving… LOTS and LOTS of saving. We took the advice in Dave’s book and saved enough money to cover all our expenses for 6 months. This was to assure that if we didn’t book any weddings (which thankfully isn’t the case) we would still be able to pay our mortgage and all the bills we needed to.
*Fourth, (after reading all the books) we developed a back-up plan. If I quit my day job and it didn’t go so well, we had a plan in place to make extra money and still be able to have food on the table and a roof over our heads. We understood that pursuing this dream was a risk and we had to have some sort of plan to have peace of mind. In our case, we had online teaching for me and taking on more editing clients for Vic as our practical back up plan.
*Last but the most powerful, we PRAYED! We came into agreement and we sought out what the Lord wanted for us. Time and time again, we have seen that God’s timing is better than our own and we knew that praying was the only way this dream was going to become a reality. We prayed for direction, guidance, and the perfect will of God to happen in our lives and that’s exactly what did happen.
We hope these tips are helpful for you and can shed a little light on the process to quitting your day job. Above all else, we want you to know that no matter where you are in your business you are not alone. We have gone through it, we have been where you are, and we know you can succeed! If you’ve read this blog post and have any other questions, feel free to contact us here. We are happy to help other entrepreneurs pursue their calling and make their dreams a reality!
Anagreat advice, Kristy & Vic! it was a blessing to read it :)