As of May 13th, I am officially a full time content creator/influencer, but this post takes us back to March 2021, and looks at my thought-process before quitting my very stable 9-5, and how I prepared to make the jump.
I’m about to quit my day job.
My very stable day job.
The job I thought would be my forever-job; the maternity leave is great, they have pensions, it’s the golden handcuffs of jobs. I never thought I’d leave because that felt stupid and irresponsible.
But…here we are.
Saying Goodbye to Stability
I summarized all the thoughts in this blog post into a YouTube video, so if you prefer video content, you can watch that version of this post below! If you like what you see, don’t forget to like and subscribe. 🙂
How I feel about Quitting
A little while back, I was on the podcast, Crying On My Yoga Mat, where I publicly shared for the first time that I planned to quit my day job to create content full time.
In talking through the decision, I first said I was “scared”, but then quickly corrected myself.
I said that I wasn’t actually scared, I just felt I should be because that’s what society wants me to be.
However, now that I’m a lot closer to quitting… I think I spoke a bit too boldly.
I am now definitely scared of quitting my 9-5 to become a full time content creator.
How I’m Preparing To Quit my Day Job
All that being said, I’m trying to remind myself that while it is a risk to leave the status quo, this is still a calculated risk.
I’ve already proven to myself that I can make money as a content creator.
And there are a number of things I’m trying to put into place before I leave.
And so I’m sharing them here, not just to help put myself at ease, but to also help anyone else who is considering leaving their 9-5.
Building Up My Savings
Before quitting your day job, it is so important to set up a financial safety net.
When you’re self-employed, you never know when an emergency might sweep in, or you might have a dry spell in gigs.
So personally, I am using this time where I have two incomes to build up my savings.
My goal is to have enough to cover several months of rent.
If for some reason I didn’t get a brand deal for 3 months, I would still be able to sustain our household.
Diversifying Income Streams
The next thing I’m working on as I plan to quit my 9-5 is diversifying my income as to not put all my eggs in one basket.
Brand deals are one of my biggest sources of income, and although they pay really well, they aren’t predictable, so you don’t know what you’ll be making month to month.
AND those NET 30s-90s are BRUTAL, making it an unstable source of income that is difficult to plan around.
I’m currently working on building up my affiliate income and ad revenue.
And I’m also trying to build my Youtube channel in the hopes that I’ll eventually earn money from my videos.
I’m also trying to brainstorm all the different ways I can use my skills to earn money… Maybe I’ll go back to pursue couples portrait photography.
Passive Income
On the topic of diversifying my income, the next goal is to build up my passive income streams.
People often describe passive income as “making money while you sleep”.
But a lot of upfront work still needs to be done before you can continually make a profit without any ongoing effort.
The two ways I currently earn passive income are:
- Affiliate links
- Ad Revenue
Although I haven’t dedicated enough time to really building out these avenues.
Some other methods I’m working on developing are:
- Selling ebooks and digital assets that will help other creators.
- Creating a digital course (likely around Pinterest)
Thinking about the Future
And finally, In order better-prepare myself for quitting mu 9-5, I am brainstorming the future of my brand.
If something is going to become your sole form of income, I think it’s important to look as far into the future as you can.
I was originally stressed about the future as a content creator because I was struggling to reconcile Comfy Girl with Curls, which is focused on hair and beauty and lifestyle with this side of me, which loves sharing content creation tips.
Ultimately, I realized that they target two different audiences and serve different people. So I separated them into two different blogs.
Final Thoughts on Quitting my Day Job to Pursue Full Time Content Creation
There still is alot to work out, but I feel like I’m entering creating content full time with a better idea of what my content is and who I’m serving.
Like I said, I’m definitely scared.
But I’m also realizing there is this natural fear of leaving stability. Y
We think that you’ll never get it back, but that’s not the case.
It’s not like I can’t get another job.
If anything, content creating, photography, videography, and social media are transferable skills that I can use anywhere. I don’t have fears about getting a job if I needed to.
I’ll definitely keep you posted and any words of encouragement are welcome in the comments below.
And if you want to hear more on the journey that brought me to this decision, read this next.
Related Post:
- The Secret to Making Money as a Content Creator
- How to Attract Paid Partnerships
- 5 Things to do When You Don’t Feel Like Blogging
