Okay, so I wasn't completely without a plan, but according to all the books and articles that suggest not quitting a steady job without income already coming in, six months worth in savings, etc...I might as well not have had one.
When I turned in my resignation I did not have six months in savings. More like three. When I decided to leave, I had no work lined up. All I had was faith and a semi-plan of what I was going to do. Write.
Before I quit, people advised me to go part-time or work on my business part-time and leave the day job once I had money coming in. It all makes perfect sense, but I knew that if I didn't do it right then, I'd never do it.
It's so much easier doing the day job thing. I got complacent. I didn't use all my off-time hours working on my business. I just couldn't focus like that. For me, quitting cold turkey was the only way. It was the only way I was going to get busy and focused and actually do the work.
And that's exactly what I did. The very next day after my last day of work, I reached out to people in the community I wanted to work with. I queried magazines. I scoured freelance job boards. I put more into this blog.
I do some things for free, like blog for a literary organization knowing that it puts me in touch with novelists and poets. I do some editing, wedding writing, and help a tutoring company with admin. It's so much better than doing the same thing over and over again, day in and day out.
Money trickles in and I take it month by month. My plan is to keep doing what I'm doing, constantly writing, constantly connecting and searching, and I know things will flow.
When I turned in my resignation I did not have six months in savings. More like three. When I decided to leave, I had no work lined up. All I had was faith and a semi-plan of what I was going to do. Write.
Before I quit, people advised me to go part-time or work on my business part-time and leave the day job once I had money coming in. It all makes perfect sense, but I knew that if I didn't do it right then, I'd never do it.
It's so much easier doing the day job thing. I got complacent. I didn't use all my off-time hours working on my business. I just couldn't focus like that. For me, quitting cold turkey was the only way. It was the only way I was going to get busy and focused and actually do the work.
And that's exactly what I did. The very next day after my last day of work, I reached out to people in the community I wanted to work with. I queried magazines. I scoured freelance job boards. I put more into this blog.
I do some things for free, like blog for a literary organization knowing that it puts me in touch with novelists and poets. I do some editing, wedding writing, and help a tutoring company with admin. It's so much better than doing the same thing over and over again, day in and day out.
Money trickles in and I take it month by month. My plan is to keep doing what I'm doing, constantly writing, constantly connecting and searching, and I know things will flow.
