Quitting The Day Job To Pursue The Dream

I want to congratulate JD at Get Rich Slowly on making the next big move that many bloggers aspire to – the title of full-time professional blogger. Yes, JD is quitting his job at the box factory and will become a professional blogger.

JD started Get Rich Slowly 18 months ago and has seen the site grow from a handful of readers to over 30,000 RSS readers. The blog now generates $5,000 per month in revenue, which is enough to cover JD’s living expenses. However, JD isn’t diving head first into his new full-time position. Instead, he plans to transition from full-time job to full-time blogger over a one year period.

Beginning 01 January 2008, my Tuesdays will be spent working on Get Rich Slowly.
Beginning April 1st, I’ll drop Thursdays at the box factory.
On July 1st, Mondays will be spent writing.
Next October, I’ll be down to only Wednesdays at the day job.
Finally, on 01 January 2009, I will be an official real-life full-time blogger.

I personally feel that taking a year to transition is a mistake but he is “Get Rich Slowly” so I can understand why he wants to become pro-blogger slowly. I wish JD the best of luck.

When Should You Quit Your Day Job?

I get asked this question a lot. My recommendation is to wait until your Internet income matches your full time job income. Once it hits that level, tell your boss to take this job and shove it (only if you don’t like him). Some people would recommend you keep both job and blog and make twice as much. However, those people don’t see the big picture. If you can match your full time job income with part time blogging, imagine how much you can make if you work at it full time.

My friend Greg Morgan quit his $80,000 a year job at Yellow Pages when his Internet income matched his job income. His Net income isn’t at $160K yet but it’ll be there soon enough. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t have a job to tie you down.