I did precisely the same thing last month. I had a great job, challenging and meaningful work, but there was something missing. Here's my experience six weeks i

I did precisely the same thing last month. I had a great job, challenging and meaningful work, but there was something missing. Here's my experience six weeks in. I found enough freelance work pretty much immediately to pay my bills, and didn't have to drop my rates. That said, my wife has a successful small business, and I have over a year's runway, so there's much less pressure. It forced me to become more 'social', and attend meetups (including HN London) and other events. Although I'm getting some work through meetups, the major benefit is in staving off the loneliness you may get from working remotely/at home/from a coffee shop. Coming from working in a great team, my experience is this hits you hard. Meeting lots of new clients and potential clients has been seriously fun. I wasn't expecting that. I even dipped my toe in Elance, which has been a surprisingly positive experience so far. I've never been busier or more motivated. I wake at 5.30am but now walk the dog, make time for my wife and take time out to explicitly learn new things when I like, not when a schedule dictates. That alone was worth quitting. My advice, for whatever it's worth, is to be rigid about dedicating 'off' time. (No mobile!) Even just half a day a week has safeguarded my mental health so far, and it's very, very easy to skip it. I've been able to work on my startup[0] a good three days a week, as well as launching a couple of other smaller side projects already. If possible, I strongly recommend having a big project so you feel like you've got an anchor, and can make forward progress whenever you're at a loose end and you might otherwise be checking HN. Quitting full-time work has been the best decision I've ever made. [0] http://databasify.com http://databasify.com