How not to quit your day job
By: Caroline Cherryburn
Tags: Writing, Writers Life, Productivity, Organization, Personal Development

How not to quit your day job

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

The scene is set — it’s December of 2018 and I’m finally leaving my office job to be a full time writer. I have a novel drafted but in need of edits, I have four hundred followers on a completely not writing related Facebook page, and lifetime earnings as a writer of $15CAD from the sale of a single poem. I’ve recently married my boyfriend of seven and a half years, and want to join him in being a full time creative rather than the one who brings in the regular, boring paycheck. There’s money in the bank and I have grand, if somewhat vague, plans.

Sound stupid?

Oh yeah, was I ever stupid.

After two months my old day job asked me to come back for “a few weeks” as a casual to free up time to train new staff. By November 2019 I decided that since I’d been a casual for nine months at that point I may as well talk to my manager about being made permanent part time. Then in January 2020 another staff member resigned and I landed right back into the position I had quit. Then, of course, 2020 happened and I found myself exceptionally grateful to be employed throughout it all.

And that’s okay. Because to be completely honest, I failed hard at being making a living as a creative and it’s a relief to go back to that regular, boring paycheck. Surprisingly I don’t feel too bad about it. In part that’s because my anxious brain is very happy to be going into a place of improved financial security, which was only heightened when the pandemic changed the face of employment this year. Most of all, I’ve taken the lessons I’ve learned to heart and am now slowly working towards building myself up as a writer so that if I quit this job again, it will be for good.

I wanted to write this article to share those those lessons, some obvious, some less so, so I will remember them and maybe someone reading this can avoid making the same mistakes. I have had this drafted for a while but didn’t feel it was appropriate to post earlier this year. Maybe it’s still not the best time but I, at least, am starting to look to the future again and one day, I want to quit my day job again and that time, I want it to be for good.

Starting from zero

Mistake number one is an obvious one but I still made it! And that was quitting my secure job without having viable alternative income streams already in place. I had no platform, no audience, nothing. While I did manage to build this up somewhat in the year I tried to “be a writer” it wasn’t enough. I was diving into the deep end without having even paddled in the waters.

So next time I quit, if I even get to that point, it will be with income streams already working well and consistently for me. It will be a time when my writing income has been limited by the time I have available to invest in it, and when I know I will only be able to improve with more time to devote to it.

Photo by Perfecto Capucine on Unsplash

Spreading yourself too thin

Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls it “popcorn kitten syndrome” on her blog and that’s totally apt. Suddenly there is the time to do everything! But trying to do everything, I’ve found, tends to result in a failure to do much of anything. Something I find that compounds this is that no matter what avenue you’re looking at, there are going to be success stories, and it starts to feel like you have to try this or experiment with that.

But you don’t. Find what works for you and do that — carve your own path to success. Pick a few things and focus your energy there. There will be time later to try new things, so for now, don’t spread yourself too thin.

Not having an exit strategy

You need to know when to quit. And by that I mean — you need to have a specific timeframe and goal to know whether you should keep doing what you’re doing, or if you should go back to the day job. The easiest version of this is tying it to your savings or income — “I need to be making this much per month in six months” or “I’ll start looking for a new job when my savings hits this amount”. However, you can use other metrics instead but for most of us, being able to strike out on our own in a field like writing is dependant on the money.

While this may sound depressing, it’s actually very liberating. Planning for the end allows you to give it your all for the time that you assign yourself and removes any internal debate about whether what you’re doing is good enough. Of course, you can review these benchmarks as you go, but having an exit strategy planned allows you to know what your goals are and where you are going.

Lack of discipline

The simplest — and hardest — area I know I needed to improve is discipline. Along with spreading myself too thin this was my downfall — I simply did not do enough in the time I had. I’m not going to suggest much in this regard, because it’s not my strongest suit, but if you’re going to quit a secure job for a self-driven avenue you need to know how to keep yourself on track. Outside of the 9–5 confines what works best for you could be anything — a rigid schedule, clear daily goals, or the freedom to work when it suits you best.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

It’s hard to reflect on failures, but it is important. I need to work a proper day job while I build myself up as a writer so that if I get to a point that I can quit again, I’ll make it a success.