How I Knew It Was The Right Time To Quit My Job

But this wasn’t a cinema-screen worthy, burn-all-my-bridges, fuck-you kind of resignation - in fact, the whole exchange was so nice and supportive that there has to be some kind of human resources award on its way in the post.

Nonetheless, I finally did it. After blogging for over four years, I finally quit my job and took the decision to make this my full-time career. I made the transition at the start of the month and I’m now just over three weeks into truly self-employed life, and as a few of you have asked me how I knew it was the right time to take the plunge and how I feel now, I thought I’d reflect over the build up to my resignation and what personal and financial situation I was in at the time.

It goes without saying that everybody’s situation is different. I know of bloggers that have worked their way up from nothing so they could channel all of their energy into their content, and I know of bloggers who are extremely successful but still working part or full-time, either because they like the financial security or, actually, blogging isn’t their career priority. Each individual falls somewhere on the spectrum depending on their preferences, goals and current situation, so the timing of one person deciding to go full-time is often not likely to suit another. For example, going full-time when you live with your parents and don’t have larger rent or mortgage obligations is easier than doing so when you have a family home to run.

With that being said, here’s where I was at.

So, the big one: the financial side of things. Since January, I had cut down to working the part-time hours of two days a week; this acted as my security blanket, but I was only taking home about £550 a month from this so, by far, it was not enough to cover my rent and bills. When I started to seriously consider quitting my job, I had to factor in that I was going to be 8 days richer but five hundred odd quid poorer, and how I was going to either recuperate that loss in the meantime, or find a way to live without it.

For me, the crux was identifying the value of my time. I was spending 64 hours a month in the office, but if I were to spend those 64 hours creating content, I’d not only be earning more money, I’d be building my career and indulging my passion all at the same time.

And that content needn’t all be sponsored; taking the time to create more content (whether those are blog posts, YouTube videos or even Insta Stories) means that there is more for people to read, which in turn makes you guys want to come back or engage more and builds my platform for even better opportunities. So as well as a financial decision, understanding the value of my time was also a very important business decision for the growth of my career.

But back to the financial nitty gritty of things, I was getting regular enough work for a healthy enough fee to cover my rent and bills, plus a little extra to still enjoy my life. If you’re wondering ‘well ffs how much exactly is that?’, my bills equate to about £950-£1000 a month, and that includes rent, utilities, my phone, laptop, insurance, contact lenses and various bits and bobs like Photoshop and Netflix.

Realistically, I was going to need at least £1400 a month to ensure my financial obligations were met and that I was also able to  buy my regular and expensive coffees. After about 6 months of consistently covering these costs, I felt I was financially comfortable enough to support myself without too much stress.