Dreaming of quitting your day job?
I got a superb question from a new member of our Facebook group the other day (by the way, if you haven’t joined our Facebook group yet, do so here!).
She asked, “How do I replace my day job with the new business that I’m starting right now?” This is a brilliant question to set us up as we move into 2025, and I get asked it all the time.
I know that so many of you are working day jobs while growing side businesses that you hope will one day become your primary income stream.
I like to say that having a day job is like having a business loan – it’s money that allows you to start your business with some degree of peace.
When I first started my company, I needed to have a day job in order to support myself in New York City and still grow my business. Fundamentally, my business wasn’t growing fast enough for me to live on just the business alone.
If that’s you right now, there’s no shame in that game. Here are three things to keep in mind as you work to expand your side business.
Number one: remember to give your side business sacred space in your calendar.
When I was first building my business, I set aside sacred time every week to work on it.
I worked on my business Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 7 to 10 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday mornings from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. If anyone asked me to do anything during those nights, or if there were brunch plans during the weekend, I said No.
And you might ask me, “Well, Monica, doesn’t that mean that you didn’t have much of a social life?” And honestly, you’d be right. During the time that I was working a full-time day job and growing my business, I didn’t have much personal time at all.
But the sacrifice was well worth it – because after about six months of really giving my business that sacred time, I was able to transition to part-time work, and then eventually to only working on my business.
So go ahead and carve out that sacred time in your schedule for your business.
This could look like three nights a week and one weekend day, it could be three weekdays at your day job and two weekdays focusing on your business – whatever works for you. Just make sure that you create a sacred schedule and that you stick to it.
Number two: remember that, if you’ve got a day job and you’re growing your business, you have less time than other entrepreneurs, so you’ve got to focus on what’s most important to the growth of your business – having sales conversations.
Everything you do in your business should be leading to the generation of sales conversations.
You want to make sure that you’re doing things like speaking events, sponsorships, videos, livestreams, and interviews so that you’re getting yourself in front of your ideal clients and generating as many sales conversations as you possibly can.
Don’t get stuck on little administrative tasks like spending three months on your website or trying to get your email inbox to zero – because you simply don’t have time for that stuff.
Focus on the thing that’s going to move your needle the fastest.
Number three: if you’ve got a day job and you’re trying to build your business, make sure that you get the support that you need.
You may want to hire a virtual assistant and/or a personal assistant sooner than somebody who’s working on their business full-time.
You simply don’t have the time to get lost in learning how to do newsletters, edit videos, and set up your website. Your job is to focus on getting sales conversations and getting clients in the hours that you are working on your business.
If hiring a personal assistant sounds way too expensive or totally out of your ballpark, I get it – you might want to check out this blog, where I discuss why it’s well worth the investment.
So there you have it – the three most important things to keep in mind as you work to cultivate a business that may one day replace your day job.
Follow these steps, and you’ll be generating a full-time income and handing in your notice at your day job sooner than you think.
If you’re looking for more support around refining your business plans, I invite you to join us live at our next Breakthrough Planner Day on December 21st.
On Planner Days, we come together virtually to walk through how to make the most out of my Breakthrough Planner and plan our next 90 days.
