How To Quit A Job That You Hate And Become Your Own Boss

This article may contain affiliate links. For more info you can read our disclosure page.

Are you tired of your job? Does just the thought alone makes you cringe in despair, making you wish there was such a place as Neverland where you could forever not adult?

You can’t even fully enjoy your weekends because on Saturday you keep dreading that the day after it’s tomorrow (Sunday) is Monday.

You are tired of yearning for Friday’s, — basically rushing for your life to pass on by. Tired of having your days being confined to another companies vision for most of your waking hours, STUCK in a cold and lifeless office pretending to actually care about the work. In fact, you are having trouble even pretending to care anymore.

The ONLY thing that brings you is the paycheck.

Every day you wake up you wonder what you’re even doing there, and then you remember…” oh yeah I have bills to pay…that’s why and Neverland doesn’t really exist”. Boohoo!

Your dislike for it is so great that if you won the lottery, forget about giving a two weeks notice let alone one day! You’re out of there and never looking back!

You try to find something that makes you happy to come to work in the mornings, but a cup of coffee can’t even fix this dilemma. You simply hate your job.

Surviving the rate race

According to an analysis from HuffPost Australia on average a person will spend 13 years and two months at work, that’s not including commute or the time it takes to make ourselves look decent for work in the mornings.

That is some serious time that humans will spend working. It leaves little to no time for anything else, especially when you come home mentally and physically exhausted from a work day. The only thing left you have energy to do is sleep.

What kind of life is that? Can we just all agree that it’s not a fulfilling one?

What to do when you hate your job but can’t quit?

I’m currently in this situation. I work at an office job that I don’t find much joy in. I went to college right after high school with the hopes that I would find the perfect career and have life made afterwards.

But the thing is, I’ve always had an entrepreneur mindset. I went to college for safety and it turned out to be the exact opposite results. Now I have loads of student loan debt to show for it, but no real career. I want to quit my job, but now debt is preventing me from doing so.

I go to work and as soon as I log onto the computer I want to go home. Not to mention the work is boring and unfulfilling. My motivation for the work is nonexistent these days.

My ultimate goal is to stay at home with my twins and make a full time income through this blog. I’m just beginning my journey, but I’m confident I can get there. I MUST get there. And you can too!!

Here are steps to take to quit your day job and become your own boss:

1. Think about your why’s and Reasons to quit your job

The first thing you need to do is think about why you are still at a job that you hate. Assessing your why will give you the opportunity to think of ways to find a solution to your why.

If your why is a good enough reason to stay for a little while (debt, bills, obligation) then it will lead you to find a way that you can resolve your crisis.

Another why you should think about is why do you want to leave your current job. Do you want to create your own business and have more freedom over your time? Is the job no longer a good fit for you, you lack passion, boss getting on your nerve, etc. Let all these reasons be the fuel to your fire of getting you out of there.

When you get discouraged and feel like you have to settle, your why’s should put that fire under your tush to inspire you to pursue true happiness, — and know that you can find true happiness outside of the “normal” career path.

2. Get out of debt

If you are in debt it will prevent you from doing so many things. Debt entraps you to a job because you have people to pay back.

The first thing you want to do is get financially sound enough so that when you quit your job you won’t miss your full paycheck too much. This is especially so if you plan to leave your job to pursue your passions or to start your own business.

I know we all dream of quitting our job and then the next day money starts to roll in from our side hustles or business’s, but when creating your own business it’s not going to be a steady paycheck like your 9 to 5, but the good news is, it can be much greater.

But until it gets to that point, getting out of debt will help prevent stress and money problems down the road. You want to start off with a clean plate, freeing yourself from a long list of bills,that way you can invest more money into your business to flourish it.

3. Create a safety net

You always want to make sure before taking a big step to quit your job that you have a safety net. Start an emergency fund right away. It’s good to have any emergency fund even if you aren’t quitting your job because you just never know in today’s economy when your job might not be able to get funded anymore.

Usually the bare minimum that should be in an emergency fund is $1,000 based on Dave Ramsey’s baby step program. But if you are planning to do something drastic like quit your job, it’s important that you have three months worth of expenses saved up in my opinion.

This way you have some time to work out your vision and create a streamline of income to replace your previous one.

4. Live below your means

Get used to the idea of living below your means and scale back on your expenses. You can see where you need to scale back by first keeping track of your spending. That’s what I’m currently doing now to prepare myself for my quit day. It helps because it won’t be such a drastic shock when we live on just my husband’s income alone since we will be used to it.

I always think of each dollar I spend as another dollar that ties me to my job. So it helps me to be more mindful of my spending habits and to not get carried away just because extra money is there. Any extra money you have should be set aside to go into your emergency fund so you won’t be struggling financially.

Remember these things in life are just temporary pleasures. Ultimately you want to be happy to wake up every day and work doing the things that you love. Sacrificing material things for that moment is really just setting you up for success in the long run, — making it not really a sacrifice at all.

5. Find out what you’re passionate about

As soon as you decide you can’t take another year day working at your job without going crazy, it’s time to think of a way that you can replace your full-time income doing something that you enjoy.

Thankfully nowadays there are so many ways that a person can make money, even online in the comfort of your own home. I’m forced to believe that if others are finding success out there living their best life, doing what they love to do every day, then why can’t we join in that liberation too?

I’m not there (yet), but did you know that there are six-figure bloggers out there? Making serious money, writing about things that they actually like.

I want to be in those same shoes that’s why I started a blog of my own. I use Bluehost, and it has been nothing but a great experience so far. Going into my first month blogging, I’m already projected to make money, and I’m doing something I love! I really can’t believe it! My plan is to replace my full time income in 6 months. I can’t wait to continue the journey and learn and grow from it, and share with you all the experience.

If you are passionate about a subject and want to start a blog you can do so too with Bluehost.

Whatever the case, I believe it comes down to us having to find out what we are really passionate about. Taking the time to do some research and self-reflection will get you on the path there.

Ways you can make money and still be happy at the same time:

• Start a blog writing about a topic you enjoy
• Become a photographer
• Create a Shopify store
• Become an Etsy seller
• Find online jobs that you can work from at home
• Look into real estate
• Start your own business

6. Make a plan

Now that you’ve found out what you are passionate about, it’s time to start creating an actionable plan. You should be very specific and mindful when it comes to this because without a realistic plan, dreams do die.

For example, yes you have a goal to now follow your dreams, but what are the plans to reach that dream? Think about it and write down your goals with actionable steps you will take to achieve it.

Sometimes believe it or not, the first action is the easy part. Take it from me. I created this blog pumped and ready to conquer the world. That was the fun and easy part, then the overwhelm came. I realized if I really want to start making money from my blog I have to think of ways to promote it and get it in front of my targeted readers.

Two weeks in and I’m learning there’s so much more to blogging than I first knew about. Not that I dislike it, but it can be overwhelming especially balancing it with a full-time job plus children. I know I have a task ahead of me, but I’m not willing to give up.

When making plans it’s important to set realistic goals, so you don’t overwhelm yourself in the process and give up.

7. Be consistent

When you make your plans and set a vision for yourself it’s important to never give up. Your success could be just around the corner…or it may take longer, but you’ll never get there if you continue to throw in the towel.

Success takes discipline, time and sacrifice. As the saying goes, nothing good in life ever does come easy.

8. Manage your time better

In order to be consistent you must learn to value each and every minute that you have and assign it with purpose. Gone are the days of scrolling endlessly through the comment sections of Facebook or watching Youtube videos. You must take advantage of every moment you have to work on your goals to free yourself from being stuck working at your soul-sucking job forever.

If you are like me and work full time, married and have children then you know that time can slip away from you without you even noticing it. Balancing everything is hard, and granted somethings will go by the wayside — I can vouch for that! But I’m so serious about following my dreams, and I’m wiling to sacrifice so that I can eventually be free.

Lately I’ve learned to say no on more occasions than one so that I can focus my energy on my blog. When you have days off work, dedicate them to your side hustle. At the end of the daydreams don’t work unless we do.

9. Don’t leave on bad terms

When you finally leave that soul-sucking job of yours, do so on good terms. Although the plan is to never have to work for the corporate world again, you just never know. It’s better to leave on a positive note, that way if God forbid your business takes a dive you will have a great reference from your prior supervisor.

And while you’re still there, for it to be less excruciating find things about your job that you can be grateful about. If you can’t think of any, think about the paycheck. At the least it’s providing funds to put food on your table and provide for your family. That’s definitely something to be grateful for.

10. Have faith

Once deciding that this is the path you want to take have faith. I’m a believer in Jesus so I always try to combine my works with my faith. I find that it gives me the motivation that I need to keep going. This entrepreneur life can be tough. Especially in the beginning when you don’t see any fruit of your hard labor.

But if we just keep at it, and never give up on ourselves the results, I’m confident, are bound to catch up to our hard work.

In Conclusion

Now that you have actionable steps you can take to quit your job it’s time to start doing. Whenever you feel discouraged remind yourself that it’s a process. Keep going. Keep believing. Keep doing.

Have you had enough of the 9 to 5 grind? What is it that you see yourself doing as your passion?

Shaniqua

Hi, I’m Shaniqua! I paid off $26,000 of consumer debt and am on the path to pay off all my student loan debt. I’m a future full time blogger who loves to write about ways you can get out of debt fast, save money, and create more income. I’m a wife and mom, and I created debt smashing to share my own debt journey and to empower others to go for their dreams. I’m passionate about helping others to succeed with their personal finances and overall life.