How To Create A Fail-Proof Exit Strategy For Leaving Your 9 to 5
More than ever, many people leave their 9 to 5 jobs to do their hustles or follow their passions. In the past, the carrot of job security was dangled to many workers to make them work until retirement.
But this is not working anymore. Some workers are deciding to take the risk. And it is paying off. But, for this to happen, there are strategies that one should employ.
Below is a failproof exit strategy for leaving your 9 to 5.
1. Don't burn your bridges
Wherever you are going, you will need relationships to thrive. At some point, you may need to use your former employer as a referee. And even if you will not need them to put in a good word for you, it is good to exit your 9 to 5 honorably.
Recently, there have been cases of people on social media leaving their jobs in "style." Some do it in a maligning way, garnering thousands of likes for their audacity. But remember that only mountains do not meet.
As much as it depends on you, even if your employer treated you like scum, depart from your job respectfully. It is not prudent to start your new journey with a sour taste in your mouth ... or someone else's.
2. Have a plan
If you can avoid it, do not exit your regular job like you would a burning house, clueless and totally freaked out. Exit with a solid plan.
If you have a plan, you will have greater chances of success than if you bail out with nothing but hope in your hip pocket. Have a plan that covers the following bases:
Bills: Now that you do not have a regular job and are not assured of a salary, your plan should include how you will pay your utilities. Bills will not wait until your work starts to bear fruit.
Building: You should know everything - or at least a substantial amount - of what goes into your new hustle, whether it is building your business or brand. Do not exit, and then start doing the homework. Homework - and studying - come before a test. And while creating, you will encounter many tests.
Backup plan: What will you do if your building fails to take off? What if your hustle takes more time and money than you had planned? Be realistic. This is not preparing for failure, but you are preparing for any eventuality. It's like carrying your umbrella. When it's raining, it prevents you from getting wet. When it's sunny, it protects you from sunburns. And when you encounter muggers, it can come in handy as a weapon.
3. Have mentors, peers, and a support system
You need a person you can look up to for advice. The advice can either be in business or life or both. If you cannot get someone to mentor and guide you face-to-face, follow the footprints of someone you admire. You can do this through their autobiographies or social media platforms.
During your journey, you will encounter challenges. Your mentor's journey will provide guidance and light during those dark stormy nights. A mentor will also help you stay focused on your goals and give you the energy to move on when you are stuck.
If possible, you should have some peers who are ahead of you in what you're doing. These types of persons are invaluable resources as they can share their experiences and the lessons they learned from them.
Aside from mentors, make sure you have a support system. This can be family or friends that are supportive of your journey and friends who will understand when you cannot show up for dinner dates because you have to work on your hustle.
4. Build on the side
Be strategic. Extremely strategic. Build your boat while still inside the ship. Do not jump out of the ship and into the lake unless you jump inside another boat.
Some people make the catastrophic mistake of leaving their 9 to 5 without figuring out where they are going or what they will do. Even if you are the religious type and say you are moving in faith, you still need to put in some prior building work.
Avoid the "anything" strategy. With that, I mean leaving your 9 to 5 for anything. Do not be vague. Leave for something concrete, something that you have built - or are making - and have the utmost trust in.
Building on the side may take you months or years. It does not just mean making your hustle but also building your networks, savings, and courage. Building on the side may mean that you lose sleep as you work on both your hustle and a full-time job. Sometimes it may cause you to lose friends and sever relationships with loved ones, as they may not understand what you are doing, or they are peeved that you don't spend as much time with them as you used to.
Sometimes, building on the side means you hire people to help you out. In the building on the side phase, you may spend a substantial amount of money on building a boat that will carry you into your future. If you believe in it, invest in it. Fully.
5. Set goals
When setting your goals, consider the following:
Achievable: To give keep your morale and momentum up, start with small goals. Then, as you achieve them, advance to bigger goals. If you begin by biting more than you can chew, you may end up choking yourself and giving up.
Realistic: You may have the bigger picture. Heck, you may even have written yourself a check with eight zeroes and kept it in your wallet to motivate you. That's well and good. But you must be realistic and know the difference between fantasy and reality.
Clarity: You must be crystal clear about the goals you want to achieve. The clearer you are about your goals, the better you can drive toward them. Having goals that are not clear is like piloting an airplane in thick fog without assistance from the control tower or other gadgets in your aircraft; you are only flying on a wing and a prayer. And you cannot afford to do that.
You can set short-term goals for weeks and months and long-term goals for years. Having deadlines will help you stay on track with your plan.
6. Set timelines
It is essential to have a timeline to stay motivated and focused. The timelines apply in two ways; the time to leave your 9 to 5 and the times you have set to achieve specific goals in your new business.
When you set timelines, you will have something to work towards. If you work without any timelines and deadlines, you may end up not doing anything.
Timelines also keep you disciplined. Regarding discipline, you can ask some of your peers to be your accountability partners. They will remind you and keep you in check whenever you are dragging your feet.
In setting the timeline to leave you 9 to 5, consider the following:
Will you have made enough savings to sustain yourself when you are building your hustle?
Will you be in an optimal mind frame to handle the challenges of your new hustle? You may talk with a counselor to help prepare you for the journey.
7. Carpe diem
Seize the day. Seize the moment. When it's time to exit, just exit. Even with the best preparations and plans in the world, you may feel apprehensive and wonder if you are making the biggest mistake in the world. That's a natural feeling.
Some of the most successful people have confessed that they still feel apprehensive when starting a new business. But they have hastened to add that this is a healthy feeling. If you are super-confident or cocky, you may make avoidable blunders. The little butterflies fluttering in your belly keep you alive to what's happening; change.
And the only constant thing in life is change.