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About a week and a half ago, I found out that I’ll likely be without a job come December 31st. My gut reaction was holy shit. What am I going to do?
The decisions haven’t been final yet on who is staying and who will be let go. After speaking to my husband we decided that I’d take this as a sign to pivot out of the legal field. I haven’t really wanted to be in legal for some time now so it seems like the perfect time to get out.
So I pulled my old resume out and started updating it. First I did some research on how resumes should be formatted these days. Then I went to work sprucing it up.
A couple hours later, it was done. But through this process of updating my resume I realized something. I don’t really want to work for anyone again. I decided to take this as the push I need to break out of the 9-5 grind.
Why I want to be an entrepreneur
I’ve been in the legal field for the last 7 years. I hate the daily grind of going into a job. But more than that, when we decide to have kids, I want to stay home with them.
The freedom and flexibility it will give us as a young family will be amazing. I’m not saying it will be easy. I’m 100% sure it will be hard as hell. But I also know that it will be worth it.
Building a good foundation will be a lot easier to do before we have them so that is why I’m looking at this as a long term investment into our family. When we decide it’s time to start a family, we’ll be ready with me already work from home.
Growing up, my mom worked from home. It was great. She was there in the morning before we’d go to school then be there to greet us in the afternoon when we got home. I want a little more flexibility than that which is why I want to own my own business.
How I plan to prepare to work from home
There are two parts to this plan that I’m forming. The first is finances. I have a little debt, nothing major. Less than $6K. I had actually started tracking it in August so I could be debt free by the end of the year. This was before I knew about my job so it’s kind of all fitting into place.
I estimate that I have about 16 weeks left at my job. My main focusing is going to be on paying down the debt and finding freelance work. Blogging is a long term game so while I’d love to get this blog to be monetized by the end of the year, I don’t plan on counting that as a main source of income.
Paying off my debt
Right now I have roughly $5,852.85 in debt. Some of that is my SUV, I owe $2,378.34. I was already on track to pay it off by the end of December so unless I receive any bonuses from work, that be the track I stay on.
The rest of the debt, about $3,474.51 is credit card debt. Target is my weakness. I spend a lot there and use my RedCard because hey, who doesn’t love 5% off.
I also had just purchased some new work clothing which I now will likely not need as much but most of it was shirts so I’m sure I’ll continue to wear them after I leave my job.
My husband and I split bills and although my salary is nice, we can definitely make it on his. He’s more leery of doing this though. So my goal will be to make at least $2K per month after taxes and expenses. I think it’s doable to get close to that by the end of the year.
I’ll be posting monthly updates on my debt journey over the next 4 months. I’m hoping that this will keep me accountable and inspire you to join in the journey.
How I plan to make money
Planning how you’re going to earn money is also something to think about before your dive in. Freelance work and products is how I plan to get my base going. I’m going to start with freelance writing and graphic design.
I’m pretty handy with photoshop and illustrator and I’ve always loved designing my site and graphics. My long term goal is to own a web and graphic design studio and offer copywriting services to go along with that.
I’m also starting an online digital download print shop. Eventually I want to offer physical products as well digital but getting started in the digital space will be easier and less time consuming in the beginning.
I already started on Zazzle.com which is a print on demand site. I’m building my ecommerce shop on my own website now and plan on setting up on Etsy too.
My fear will not stop me this time
I’ve been talking about getting out of the legal field and starting in graphic design for years. I love the design process and creating things that will help people.
The problem is I’ve continually held myself back. I think part of the problem is that i’ve been in the 9-5 for so long, I’m really scared of doing this. But it’s ok that I’m scared. I’m here to tell you that it’s ok if you’re scared too.
That is how you know you’re growing it. Pushing past the fear and doing the work is what will propel you into the next level.
My plan for the next four months is to keep my head down, do the work and push towards my goals so that I can be as ready as I can be to take this leap. You can do it too. I believe in you.
