You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job to Be an Entrepreneur

Somewhere along the way, starting a business and becoming an entrepreneur became synonymous with quitting your job and “going full-time.” But I believe that this dream is unfairly forced upon many who it’s not right for - so let’s talk about it.

Employee to Entrepreneur to Employee: My Story

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Katie, and I am an accountant (employee) turned full-time entrepreneur turned instructional designer (employee) with a “side hustle.”

Now, I want to be clear that I did not leave accounting in 2018 to become an entrepreneur. I left my job and stayed out of the workforce due to other circumstances going on in our lives at the time; during this period of transition, I focused on my business which only generated a part-time income.

I ended up in this “work limbo” for over two years. More With Money saw many successes in that time frame, and I am proud of what I accomplished and how I grew. But towards the end of 2020, I had an itch that I couldn’t scratch.

My last day as an accountant: August 31, 2018!

I could write an entire post on the many factors that led me to take this next step. In short, I was feeling the need to step away from my business and reset. But in the meantime, I still needed money.

I wasn’t trying to go back to traditional work. I had, in fact, previously gone to a job interview at a bank. But while I waited to hear back, I felt so wrong about that path that I basically hyperventilated and didn’t sleep for 3 days and ultimately called in to withdraw my name before ever finding out if I would have gotten the job.

Instead, I started a different business. I had a theory that selling services was an easier business model than selling your authority and expertise as a coach or educator.

So I took the skills I had acquired growing More With Money and offered virtual assistant-type support to course creators for their online courses.

It actually took off really quickly. I started making more monthly revenue in a couple of months than I had with MWM in a couple of years.

Through this business, I landed some contract work with a course design agency that offered done-for-you course creation services to online business owners.

My VA business website, started in October 2020. Note, this business does not exist anymore.

Essentially, we take their expertise and content and help them package it up into a quality online course backed by real learning design. So I was still in the online business world that I loved and still working from home, but in a totally new way.

And one day, I was offered a real position as a full-time employee of the company, and I couldn’t say no.

Being an Instructional Designer was never what I thought I would be doing with my life, nor does it have much to do with the mission I have at More With Money (that I still deeply care about). Despite this, I found that I loved what I did, I cared about the success of the company I was working for (run by an online business solopreneur-turned-agency-owner), and I’ll be honest - the pay provided for my family. So I accepted.

What My Side Hustle Looks Like Now

So today, as I write this, most of my week’s time and energy goes to my full-time work as an Instructional Designer. And my business is now what one would call a “side hustle,” though I’ve grown to not love that term (we’ll get there in a moment).

The reality is that I have a lot less time to work on More With Money. And when I do find the capacity to do so, I have to be a lot more focused, which was my biggest downfall in those two years that I spent doing both a lot and nothing at the same time.

I’ve had to lean on support, bringing others in to take on certain tasks that need to be done but I don’t have time for. This is certainly an investment, but one that has proven to be worthwhile.

I’ve also had to restart! Remember, I originally set out to step away and reset, and reset I did. I redid my branding, my website, and have been rebuilding my library of content. I’ve been reworking my entire vision for this business, because I have so much more clarity now.

A lot of this clarity actually came from lessons learned through my work. With the courses I get to work on (many of them business-related) and the clients I’ve been able to connect with (many of whom I once looked up to as a newbie entrepreneur), I have a whole new perspective on my work here!

And you know what else helps? Not worrying about money.

I’ll be completely transparent. Before, I made compromising decisions because I was desperate to bring in revenue. But now that my bills are paid from a separate source, I can make better, healthier, long-term decisions for my business.

This is something that was talked about more in a book I once read (and highly recommend):

“When you keep your day job, all opportunities become surplus propositions rather than deficit remedies. You only have to take the ones that suit your dream best.” - Jon Acuff, Quitter

The Toxic Glorification of Entrepreneurship

If you’ve spent any time in the online business world, you’ve probably experienced the glorification of full-time entrepreneurship.

Many people assume that your goal is to quit your job, and that success looks like not needing to be employed by another.

Entrepreneurs have a way of looking down (I believe unintentionally) on the employed, seeing them as sad, burnt out workhorses chained to a desk and enslaved to someone else’s dream.

I once spoke with a conflicted entrepreneur with a growing, thriving business AND a thriving career. She had an incredible dream of being one of the first black C-Suite executives in her industry, and she was well on her way to achieving that. But…her business coach had told her she needed to create her plan to exit her day job so she could continue scaling her business. She wasn’t sure how to choose, and I had to resist screaming when I told her she didn’t have to.

It’s amazing if your dream is to quit your job and be your own boss. That takes a lot of courage, and I want you to know that I believe you can do it. But if it’s not your dream, that’s okay, too.

There are many successful, high-earning, high-achieving entrepreneurs who haven’t left their day job.

There are many fulfilled entrepreneurs who are successfully generating the additional income they wanted or simply doing work that they enjoy outside of their day job and are content with that.

Your desire to keep your job for a time, or stay in your job until retirement, or look for a job you like more while still holding onto your business - all of this is completely valid.

Being an employee is not inherently a “limiting belief” or a “mindset block” to be overcome.

There is no shame in returning to work or staying at your job even when you’re an entrepreneur. You can do both. You can do one or the other in seasons. You may even decide entrepreneurship simply isn’t for you at all. This doesn’t mean you failed.

I believe in pursuing your purpose, whatever that looks like for you. And that might change from day to day and over your lifetime. But if you lean into YOUR passions and proficiencies, and pursue opportunities that allow you to thrive in those, you will find meaningful work. Maybe that’s your business, maybe it’s working for someone else, maybe it’s a bit of both. That’s up to you.

Are you ready to take your financial journey to the next level? Then you may be ready to check out the More With Money Academy!

This ever-growing collection of online courses and trainings are specially designed to support entrepreneurs like you on your path to financial wellness. The Academy contains carefully designed courses that are easy to understand and implement so that you can be empowered with the practical concepts, streamlined systems, and powerful mindset to transform your business and personal finances.

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