Yes, eventually. Just not first. Keep the salary while it pays for the business’s awkward early phase, and quit when the business already has paying clients and the job has become the thing slowing it down.
You know the moment. It’s 11pm on a Sunday. The resignation letter is drafted in your Notes app, the business has a name, and the logo is gorgeous. (Nobody has paid for it yet. Details.)
Why it’s harder than it sounds
The internet has two settings on this. “Leap and the net will appear” or “never walk away from a pension.” Both sound wise. Neither will help you at 11pm on a Sunday.
The numbers are less romantic than the leap people would like. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics tracked every private-sector business that opened in March 2013. The survival rate dropped 20.4 percentage points in the first year alone, and ten years later 34.7% were still going. That’s not a reason to stay put forever. It’s a reason not to make your rent depend on year one.
Then comes the part nobody puts on a motivational poster. For a while, you’ll be doing both. One lawyer who built an agency on the side described running it “from my phone, like in lunch breaks and evenings and mornings and on the train.” Glamorous. Also how most businesses start.
What actually works
Let the job fund the experiment
Your salary is the cheapest investor you’ll ever have. It doesn’t want equity and it never asks for a pitch deck. Researchers who followed people starting businesses found that those who kept their day job first and went full time later had “much higher rates of survival” than those who jumped straight from employment. Their explanation is learning. You get to make your early mistakes while someone else is paying your mortgage.
Get paid before you get brave
Compliments are not revenue. Your friends saying “you should totally do this” is not revenue. A stranger paying an invoice is revenue, and three strangers paying every month is a business. Until then, it’s a hobby with a logo.
Pay the business before you pay yourself
That same lawyer never took a salary while she was still at her firm. “I never paid myself a penny in those early days,” she said. When money came in, she hired. Her first hire was her brother, which she still calls a good move. (I said on air that I would never hire my brother. I stand by it.) She kept an org chart and wrote her own name in every seat she was still filling, so she could see which hire would buy back the most time. Every name you remove is a step closer to quitting.
Decide your quit number now, while you’re calm
Pick it in daylight, with a spreadsheet. Monthly revenue, months of runway, number of retainers. Whatever it is, write it down. Otherwise the decision gets made by a bad Monday and a passive-aggressive email from someone called Gary.
Know that staying is allowed
My co-host Sara said it best on the same episode: “it’s okay to work a nine to five too.” Some brilliant women build the business slowly, quit when it’s obvious, and never once sleep in their car for a founder story. We approve.
Hear it from someone who’s done it
Georgia Thomas was a corporate M&A lawyer. On a nine-month career break she turned a studio into an agency, and by the time she went back to work, “I’d already grown it into like a six figure agency.” She ran it from her phone around the day job before she handed in her notice. When Sara asked how she got the clients, she started with the question you’re asking: should everyone just quit and become an entrepreneur? Jump to 27:29 for her timeline, money and all, or listen on the episode page.
FAQ
Is it OK to quit my job without a plan?
It’s OK. It’s also expensive. If the job is making you ill, leave, and build the business calmly afterward. If you’re just bored, build the plan in the evenings first. Boredom is cheaper than an empty bank account.
How do I start a business while working full time?
Small and paid. Pick one offer you can deliver in your evenings, charge from the first client, and guard two fixed slots a week for it. Read your employment contract for side-work and non-compete clauses before you sign anyone. Boring. Essential.
Will I regret quitting my job to start a business?
Maybe, on a bad Tuesday. The regret that stings is quitting before the business could carry you, then going back because the money ran out and not because the idea was wrong. Quit last and that risk shrinks.
Can I take a career break and still build something?
Yes. One lawyer used a nine-month break to take a studio that was barely ticking over and turn it into a six-figure agency. A career break is a test lab with nobody watching. Use it.
Your next step
Hear the whole story, from handing out flyers in Wales to winning clients in America: listen to the full episode.