4 ms·

I Quit My Job. Here’s How I Planned the Start as an Entrepreneur

34 points by mratiebatie 6y ago

eloff 6y ago
I would actually recommend not quitting your job to be an entrepreneur. I did it, and as the money ran out I couldn't even focus anymore and made poor decisions. It seriously affected my self esteem as a man. It might be different if you're single and young and can get your expenses really low. But I am married and was supporting my wife in her education. I strongly advise getting a part time job and bootstrapping in peace knowing you have the bills covered. The change of pace switching between tasks is not unwelcome, and I feel like I can make better decisions without a gun to my head. I don't feel like I'm losing any productivity. I also have the resources to hire someone to do e.g. Some of the front-end development that I'm not that good at anyway, if I chose to.
- stingraycharles 6y ago
  I concur. It’s so stressful when the clock starts ticking: suddenly you are racing against time, which may cause a certain kind of desperation, which makes you make poor choices. Most of the things the poster is doing, like figuring out “what type of business do I want to start?”, are absolutely things you must find out before you quit your job. I would even go further and say that one should already validate the business idea before quitting. Once you figure out what you want, you can perhaps start slowly scaling down work (I know working 4 days a week is very common in .nl) and use the extra day to validate the business. All in all, I’d say that following the advice mentioned in the article is not good for starting entrepreneurs.
hehsjsbb 6y ago
If I understand the timeline: - July 2019 - start first full time job - early 2020 - 6 months unpaid leave - June 2020 - quit job to start company - August 2020 - blog post about how to quit your job So someone with less than a year of full time experience who seemingly hasn't actually built a business is giving me advice on how to successfully quit my job? I guess that's the part they've succeeded at so far.
- dangus 6y ago
  That’s hilarious, I was about to respond in some grumpy fashion about how it’s basically impossible for anyone to get any useful information or advice out of this article. I didn’t even notice this timeline. Not even year into a career and the author already doesn’t like it. I mean, it’s entirely possible that your first job just sucks. It’s entirely possible that your first company just sucks. I’d just look for a different job if it was me. Dropping everything and becoming a particularly vague brand of entrepreneur isn’t going to work. A huge percentage of companies who have really serious complex business plans and even seed capital still fail. And here’s a junior-level person thinking they’re just going to start a successful business in a selection of vague categories (e.g. email marketing - I don’t know if the author has any clue how mature and complex this product segment really is. You can buy some fantastically complex email marketing software for like $20/month). But I’m trying not to be grumpy. Good luck author. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing you in the cubicle in 6 months.
  - sushshshsh 6y ago
    I'm 28 and virtually every single male I talk to in their 20s has this deep resentment of working for a corporation. It personally used to resonate with me, but it turns out I like money much more than freedom.
    - spanhandler 6y ago
      "You want to play house, you got to have a job. You want to play very nice house, very sweet house, then you got to have a job you don't like. Great. This is the way ninety-eight-point-nine per cent of the people work things out, so believe me, buddy, you've got nothing to apologize for." - Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates) Advice given to a main character who's (spoilers?) smart and thoughtful enough to be deeply bored by and unhappy with anything like a normal career, while also easily doing well at such a job while hardly trying, but who also believes deeply that he's meant for something more artistic and intellectual and adventurous but is both entirely unmotivated to actually make that happen, and also probably not that smart. And yes I felt attacked when I read the book :-)
    - 6y ago
debarshri 6y ago
Dutch government has lot of benefits and Grants for people who wish to create their own company. I would recommend applying for them in worst case scenario
- stingraycharles 6y ago
  WBSO and MIT come to mind. WBSO only works well if you already have some source of income, though, which can be from a part time job.
skmurphy 6y ago
I really like Derek Sivers "Change Careers Like Tarzan" model https://sive.rs/tarzan https://sive.rs/tarzan "I get emails from many people who want to make a big change in their career. Each one wants to quit their current career, and boldly leap into their new venture or preferred lifestyle. When they ask my advice, they think I’m going to say, “Yes! Quit! Go for it!” But instead, they’re surprised at my suggestion: Remember how Tarzan swings through the jungle? He doesn’t let go of the previous vine until the next vine is supporting his weight. So my advice is: Change careers like Tarzan. Don’t let go of the old one until the new one is supporting you. And make sure you don’t lose momentum."
- kyuudou 6y ago
  Sometimes the first vine breaks.
- peteradio 6y ago
  Its tough to take advice based on analogy to a fictional character.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - skmurphy 6y ago
    Think of it as taking advice from a successful serial entrepreneur who is using a metaphor.
simonbarker87 6y ago
This isn’t advice, this is marketing. Dudes been in the workforce for a year and intended to spend half of this time travelling and has now quit. I wish him all the best but this isn’t the way to do it if you really want to make it on your own. I ran a company for nearly a decade straight out of uni and can tell you it’s horrendous to have no income and no fall back, I got through it with a lot of luck and making some some funding decisions that ultimately killed the business. Start small, grow on the side, build something stable and then go full time - or raise a boat load of VC and hope for the best.
KennyLogins 6y ago
This is almost comedic at the complete lack of self-awareness. Once it got the to happiness rating of e-commerce and starting a podcast, I half expected the next paragraph to be an MLM pitch.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
CommieBobDole 6y ago
So he's spent a month of his six-month runway, and what he's accomplished so far is writing a journal and rating a bunch of fields of business on how much he might theoretically enjoy starting a company in one of them. Starting a business is about getting things done. Thinking about what things you might possibly want to get done in the future, or making charts about things that you aren't getting done is a pleasant way to avoid getting things done, but it doesn't really get you any closer to your goal.
kanobo 6y ago
You'll probably want to validate the R in your ROI ratings with the people who will be using your product as quickly as possible instead of making educated guesses. There have been many times where my expectations of return were completely wrong.
loriverkutya 6y ago
With economy going down the drain and nobody sees the end of the tunnel, I'm not sure, that leaving your job is the best decision, because as it was mention in the article: "The worst thing that can happen is that I don’t earn any money in the next 6 months and I’ll have to find a job again." Not sure how the job market will look in February, but pretty sure, not as nice as before Covid.
meritt 6y ago
He quit his job at a consultancy to become a solo consultant. Groundbreaking.
devmunchies 6y ago
It’s almost impossible to start a business by yourself. Your first 5 years of your career are vital because you’re making connections that you can leverage when starting a new venture. But starting by yourself AND having almost no understanding of how the industry works. No chance. This type of move kills career trajectories.
- simonbarker87 6y ago
  If my business had failed in the first 4 years I’d have been toast. As it was killing the business after 8 years was still hard enough to build a new career from. Starting a business in your early 20s is fun, it can work out and you will learn a lot but if it tanks you’ll have been better off starting in a normal job 9 times out of 10
zachshefska 6y ago
I feel like this may be relevant: https://shefska.com/blog/i-quit-my-job https://shefska.com/blog/i-quit-my-job I documented my decision making process leading up to leaving the firm I was COO at. I was 24, and making $200k per year. I still knew entrepreneurship was the right decision. So glad I made the leap!
skynica 6y ago
Says “only action leads to results” then lists out 9 different things you should plan out... lol And don’t get me started on Tony Robbins

34 points by mratiebatie 6y ago

I would actually recommend not quitting your job to be an entrepreneur. I did it, and as the money ran out I couldn't even focus anymore and made poor decisions. It seriously affected my self esteem as a man. It might be different if you're single and young and can get your expenses really low. But I am married and was supporting my wife in her education. I strongly advise getting a part time job and bootstrapping in peace knowing you have the bills covered. The change of pace switching between tasks is not unwelcome, and I feel like I can make better decisions without a gun to my head. I don't feel like I'm losing any productivity. I also have the resources to hire someone to do e.g. Some of the front-end development that I'm not that good at anyway, if I chose to.

stingraycharles 6y ago
I concur. It’s so stressful when the clock starts ticking: suddenly you are racing against time, which may cause a certain kind of desperation, which makes you make poor choices. Most of the things the poster is doing, like figuring out “what type of business do I want to start?”, are absolutely things you must find out before you quit your job. I would even go further and say that one should already validate the business idea before quitting. Once you figure out what you want, you can perhaps start slowly scaling down work (I know working 4 days a week is very common in .nl) and use the extra day to validate the business. All in all, I’d say that following the advice mentioned in the article is not good for starting entrepreneurs.

hehsjsbb 6y ago

If I understand the timeline: - July 2019 - start first full time job - early 2020 - 6 months unpaid leave - June 2020 - quit job to start company - August 2020 - blog post about how to quit your job So someone with less than a year of full time experience who seemingly hasn't actually built a business is giving me advice on how to successfully quit my job? I guess that's the part they've succeeded at so far.

dangus 6y ago
That’s hilarious, I was about to respond in some grumpy fashion about how it’s basically impossible for anyone to get any useful information or advice out of this article. I didn’t even notice this timeline. Not even year into a career and the author already doesn’t like it. I mean, it’s entirely possible that your first job just sucks. It’s entirely possible that your first company just sucks. I’d just look for a different job if it was me. Dropping everything and becoming a particularly vague brand of entrepreneur isn’t going to work. A huge percentage of companies who have really serious complex business plans and even seed capital still fail. And here’s a junior-level person thinking they’re just going to start a successful business in a selection of vague categories (e.g. email marketing - I don’t know if the author has any clue how mature and complex this product segment really is. You can buy some fantastically complex email marketing software for like $20/month). But I’m trying not to be grumpy. Good luck author. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing you in the cubicle in 6 months.
- sushshshsh 6y ago
  I'm 28 and virtually every single male I talk to in their 20s has this deep resentment of working for a corporation. It personally used to resonate with me, but it turns out I like money much more than freedom.
  - spanhandler 6y ago
    "You want to play house, you got to have a job. You want to play very nice house, very sweet house, then you got to have a job you don't like. Great. This is the way ninety-eight-point-nine per cent of the people work things out, so believe me, buddy, you've got nothing to apologize for." - Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates) Advice given to a main character who's (spoilers?) smart and thoughtful enough to be deeply bored by and unhappy with anything like a normal career, while also easily doing well at such a job while hardly trying, but who also believes deeply that he's meant for something more artistic and intellectual and adventurous but is both entirely unmotivated to actually make that happen, and also probably not that smart. And yes I felt attacked when I read the book :-)
  - 6y ago

debarshri 6y ago

Dutch government has lot of benefits and Grants for people who wish to create their own company. I would recommend applying for them in worst case scenario

stingraycharles 6y ago
WBSO and MIT come to mind. WBSO only works well if you already have some source of income, though, which can be from a part time job.

skmurphy 6y ago

I really like Derek Sivers "Change Careers Like Tarzan" model https://sive.rs/tarzan https://sive.rs/tarzan "I get emails from many people who want to make a big change in their career. Each one wants to quit their current career, and boldly leap into their new venture or preferred lifestyle. When they ask my advice, they think I’m going to say, “Yes! Quit! Go for it!” But instead, they’re surprised at my suggestion: Remember how Tarzan swings through the jungle? He doesn’t let go of the previous vine until the next vine is supporting his weight. So my advice is: Change careers like Tarzan. Don’t let go of the old one until the new one is supporting you. And make sure you don’t lose momentum."

kyuudou 6y ago
Sometimes the first vine breaks.
peteradio 6y ago
Its tough to take advice based on analogy to a fictional character.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- skmurphy 6y ago
  Think of it as taking advice from a successful serial entrepreneur who is using a metaphor.

simonbarker87 6y ago

This isn’t advice, this is marketing. Dudes been in the workforce for a year and intended to spend half of this time travelling and has now quit. I wish him all the best but this isn’t the way to do it if you really want to make it on your own. I ran a company for nearly a decade straight out of uni and can tell you it’s horrendous to have no income and no fall back, I got through it with a lot of luck and making some some funding decisions that ultimately killed the business. Start small, grow on the side, build something stable and then go full time - or raise a boat load of VC and hope for the best.

KennyLogins 6y ago

This is almost comedic at the complete lack of self-awareness. Once it got the to happiness rating of e-commerce and starting a podcast, I half expected the next paragraph to be an MLM pitch.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

CommieBobDole 6y ago

So he's spent a month of his six-month runway, and what he's accomplished so far is writing a journal and rating a bunch of fields of business on how much he might theoretically enjoy starting a company in one of them. Starting a business is about getting things done. Thinking about what things you might possibly want to get done in the future, or making charts about things that you aren't getting done is a pleasant way to avoid getting things done, but it doesn't really get you any closer to your goal.

kanobo 6y ago

You'll probably want to validate the R in your ROI ratings with the people who will be using your product as quickly as possible instead of making educated guesses. There have been many times where my expectations of return were completely wrong.

loriverkutya 6y ago

With economy going down the drain and nobody sees the end of the tunnel, I'm not sure, that leaving your job is the best decision, because as it was mention in the article: "The worst thing that can happen is that I don’t earn any money in the next 6 months and I’ll have to find a job again." Not sure how the job market will look in February, but pretty sure, not as nice as before Covid.

meritt 6y ago

He quit his job at a consultancy to become a solo consultant. Groundbreaking.

devmunchies 6y ago

It’s almost impossible to start a business by yourself. Your first 5 years of your career are vital because you’re making connections that you can leverage when starting a new venture. But starting by yourself AND having almost no understanding of how the industry works. No chance. This type of move kills career trajectories.

simonbarker87 6y ago
If my business had failed in the first 4 years I’d have been toast. As it was killing the business after 8 years was still hard enough to build a new career from. Starting a business in your early 20s is fun, it can work out and you will learn a lot but if it tanks you’ll have been better off starting in a normal job 9 times out of 10

zachshefska 6y ago

I feel like this may be relevant: https://shefska.com/blog/i-quit-my-job https://shefska.com/blog/i-quit-my-job I documented my decision making process leading up to leaving the firm I was COO at. I was 24, and making $200k per year. I still knew entrepreneurship was the right decision. So glad I made the leap!

skynica 6y ago

Says “only action leads to results” then lists out 9 different things you should plan out... lol And don’t get me started on Tony Robbins