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Today’s talking point:

In today's episode, I’m answering the question I get asked most often: how do I quit my day job? I’ll take you through seven key steps to help you transition from nine to five life to full-time boss vibes.

It’s one of the questions I get asked most often: ‘Holly, how do I quit my job?’

I think the reason I get asked this most frequently is that there are so many Busy to Boss Academy students who have either cut down their hours or they've quit it completely. So in this episode, I’ll share a seven-step plan to help you do it.

I know this feeling only too well, because before turning my business into my one and only job I worked for a company that I really enjoyed. I enjoyed the people and I enjoyed the job. But it was really long hours and I experienced a lot of bullying in the workplace. Actually, in all the jobs I've had previously I experienced something that made me not want to be there.

I can remember a time back then when I was sat next to my husband on a Saturday night, watching a film. And we had a break for a drinks refill, so I picked up my phone. That’s when I saw this blog post from someone who had written about how she went from having this beauty blog to running a social media management business full time. I just remember thinking, ‘that's what I want’.

So to cut a long story short, I then went on to quit that job. I took my business full time. And I've been running that business for four and a half years. And I'm so grateful for everything that I have achieved.

But I can still remember to this day feeling so trapped in my day job. I know you might be feeling you're trapped in your day job right now. And maybe you've been telling yourself you're going to quit. And you've been telling yourself that for so long, maybe months or years. But you still haven't done it. Or maybe you are so caught up in the what-ifs that you're just paralysed. And you're just stuck in your job.

That's why today, I want to go through a seven-step plan to escape your nine to five. You may already have a business that you would like to take full-time. Those of you who are running your business full-time, don't skip away from this episode too quickly. It's always so helpful to revisit the foundations and just check in with yourself.

1: address your fear of failure

The one thing that will keep you in your day job, even when you know that you want out is fear of failure. What if this business fails, and I can't pay my rent on time? What if nobody wants to hire me? What if I've run out of money? These are all questions you’ve probably thought to yourself. There are two simple ways to beat this and not let this fear get to you.

worst-case scenario exercise

The first exercise is something that my business coach does with me and that is a worst-case scenario exercise. So what I want you to do is get out a piece of paper or you can do this on your laptop if you want to.

I want you to write down the worst, the absolute worst things that could possibly happen to you when you quit your day job. For instance, it could be something like ‘I can't pay my bills’. And when you've written out that list, I want you to then write out how you could somehow go about fixing that problem if it happened.

Write out every single one of your fears and then what you'll do if they come true. And what you'll find is that your fears aren't actually as scary as you thought they were. Because you now know what you're going to do.

If those worst-case scenarios come true, you've got an actual plan in front of you for things that you can do. And when you realise that, then they suddenly become way less scary.

reframe your thoughts

So each time you start thinking ‘what if I fail?’ consciously make an effort to switch the thought to ‘what if this is one of the best things I have ever done? What if this is the making of me?’

The question of ‘what if I fail?’ might be heavy on your mind right now. And I completely get that because I remember thinking that too. But what if you don't fail and you wasted days, months, years worrying about something that never even happened? That's what I always try and tell myself when I've had any kind of fear-based thinking or worries about my future.

I try to catch myself in that moment and think, ‘stop, you're worrying about something that hasn't even happened yet, and may not happen at all’. And something that my mindset coach Chloe shares with me is that anything that comes after what if is a form of visualisation. That is so powerful, and we don't want to be visualising negative things, we want to be visualising what will happen when it goes right.

2: cut down extra expenses

Cut down on your expenses, anywhere you can. I'm talking about the takeaway coffees, the subscriptions you don’t need. Just do whatever you can to minimise the financial stress, so that when you do quit your day job, you're not always freaking out about money, because you have so many things to pay for.

It really does help and you can do it periodically for your business once you’re full-time too. At the end of last year, I went through my my business expenses with a fine tooth comb and there were so many things that I had set up that I didn't need to be paying for or that I wasn't using.

The thing is, you want to experience joy when you quit. Running my own business has honestly been one of the most fun and exciting journeys that I've been on in my life so far. And it would be a real shame to miss out on all of that fun and excitement because you're panicking so much about money and your own financial security. So make the process just a little bit easier on yourself by cutting down on any unnecessary expenses.

You can do this easily by printing out your bank statements. Go through the statement and highlight every expense that you think you could cut out. And then do it on the same day. Just get it done. I promise you, it will give you a little bit more security when the time comes to quit your nine to five.

3: save 3 to 6 months of living expenses

Now, you don’t need three to six months of your wages, just your living expenses. This is also why it might really help you if you cut back on those unnecessary expenses because you can then put that money into a savings account, plus any money you make from your business.

When I went full time in 2017, I only handed my notice in at my job when I knew that my business was replacing my current salary. And I had three months saved up behind me.

Now at this point, you might be thinking, ‘this is going to take me so long’. But I am not a fan of leaping blindly into a business without having something to fall back on. Because even though you've already started your business, and your business may already be making money, it's not a good idea to get too confident. It never hurts to have savings in the bank, just in case. It will make you feel a lot more secure and prevent you from taking risks and making decisions out of this panicky mindset.

4: Re-evaluate your business foundations

You may already have these things in place, but I think it's so important to reevaluate them before you go all-in on your business. Building a business is like building a house: you want to make sure that you build your house on a steady foundation.

So think about things like who your ideal customer is; how they talk, what their struggles are, what their desires are. Think about how you're going to structure your schedule. How will you manage your calendar? Will you batch your tasks? Will you systemize or automate any of your tasks? Think about your business model as a whole. What will you offer? What will you do to hit your revenue goals? Think about your business strategy. What are your goals going to be? And how are you going to achieve them?

People just start posting on Instagram without having any of these things in place. And it's so important to have these foundations in place first, especially when you're a beginner in the first one to two years of your business.

I highly recommend looking at a monthly recurring revenue stream because this will give you some kind of financial security. I know that this is a lot easier for certain industries. So coaches can offer payment plans, social media managers can create monthly packages.

But it's doable in every single industry. If you are a web designer, you could create a monthly website maintenance package. Or if you're a graphic designer, it could be something like a monthly social media graphic package.

It's also important to review your messaging on an ongoing basis. Too many business owners and creatives make messaging all about the service and the ins and outs of their packages or products, not so much about the transformation. But at the end of the day, your customers only care about the transformation that you provide them with. So your messaging needs to be centred around that transformation, not centred around the ins and outs of your product

You can include those somewhere, but it shouldn't be what your messaging is always about. You want to make sure that your vision is clear and that you communicate what you do and how you help people.

5: Create and implement a consistent marketing plan

The most important thing is to make sure to build this around marketing that you actually enjoy. Because you don't have to do absolutely everything that you see other people doing. You don't have to be on every social media platform.

Steer clear of doing things because other people are doing them and do the marketing that feels good for you show up in a way that feels good for you.

I would recommend creating a unique marketing calendar of things that you are going to do each day, week or month to find customers and to grow your audience. I know you want consistent sales, but you cannot expect consistent sales if you're not marketing consistently.

And when I say consistently, you don't have to be marketing non-stop every day. Try to be as consistent as you can. But consistent doesn't mean perfect. You don't have to do something so consistently and so perfectly that you never take a break.

What should go in this marketing plan? Well in the Create Your Money-Making To-Do List course I'm going to be going through specific examples of money-making tasks, but these are just some things that I personally would advise to go into a marketing plan…

Pick one social media platform and spend one hour a day, each day connecting. It doesn’t have to be all in one go, either. (You don't need to do this forever, but just to get your business going and build momentum.) Connect and network on social media with people in your industry, and with potential clients and customers by commenting genuinely on their posts or stories. Start a conversation!
Content marketing. Not a quick and easy way to get clients, but an amazing way to build a long-term audience and strategy

6: Learn to sell confidently and authentically

How do you feel about selling?

From one introvert to another, I know that many of you may be thinking ‘selling is sleazy and selling makes me feel so nervous’. The problem is if you think that selling is sleazy, you won't sell much of anything. You don't have to sell like those sleazy people. You can just be a human trying to sell to other humans.

If you be yourself and bring your personality into your business and your marketing. You will find that even when you are selling people will be okay with it. It will feel normal and natural because you're treating them like a human and not like some marketing machine that is just after their money.

7: Make a work/life balance plan

You do not want to quit your soul-sucking day job and create a soul-sucking business. I see too many creatives getting caught in that trap. And I got caught in that trap myself when I first went full time.

Instead, get clear on the kind of work schedules that you want. Really get clear on the definition of success for you. Because it can be so vastly different to all of us. Ask yourself: why do I want to quit my day job in the first place? Why did I start this business in the first place?

It could be because you want to travel the world. If that's the case, print out a photo of your favourite trip. Maybe it's because you're family-oriented like me. So put up a picture of your dog and your kids. And this way, every time you work on your business, you're reminded of your why and your reason for quitting your job in the first place.