You hate your job. Your boss is a dick. The office politics are soul destroying. You’re bored, unmotivated, and ready to get out of that hell hole.
Waking up to an alarm clock every single day, rolling out of bed, and heading into the office is slowly draining your will to live.
I’ve been there. I know how it feels. Even though I quit my job over 6 years ago, I still vividly remember feeling like a prisoner at my engineering job. I knew that if I didn’t find a way to escape, I’d keep doing that same kind of work for decades, basically waiting to get old so I could retire.
Fuck that.
So, here’s what I’m going to do in this article.
I’m going to give you the real scoop on how to escape your day job fast (meaning within months), and WITHOUT any of that start an online business kind of bullshit or even taking big risks. Seriously, very little risk.
If you follow what I lay out in this article and actually do it, there is no better to way to escape your day job.
But here’s the deal. Unless you REALLY want to leave that job, stop reading and go for a jog or something. If you’re just kind of maybe thinking you might possibly want to start a business some day if the stars all align perfectly, let me save you some mental anguish by telling you upfront – you will never quit your job (at least not until it’s an absolute must) here’s why.
But, if you are desperate and totally fed up with being a cog in a machine that makes somebody else rich, or tired of having to ask somebody else if you can have some of your time to go on vacation – then keep reading.
I’m gonna share the real shit. ZERO B.S. All from experience.
Imagine that for a second. Just a short few months from now you’ll get to see the look on your co-workers faces when you tell them you’re quitting. Imagine the envy on their faces. You’ll be the talk of the office for weeks.
A year from now? Oh my, won’t life be full of wonders.
To get there is actually pretty simple, too. The hardest part is going to be avoiding bad advice, so let’s start off with what NOT to do.
Thing #1 NOT To Do
Most people who want to quit their job get sucked into the allure of starting an online business, whether that is starting a blog, selling online courses, or selling products on Amazon.
Many “experts” are getting rich selling unrealistic dreams about online business success so this is an easy trap to fall into.
People get sold on this idea that you can work from your house and make tens of thousands of dollars working just a few hours per week. And it’s true, you can do that. Many do. I’ve done it myself.
There’s just one problem…it takes a looooooong time to get to that point, and even more work.
When I started my online business in 2012, I thought I’d be making $200K per year within about 18 months. Three years in and I was only making a few hundred dollars per month.
Talk about a buzz kill.
And that was after putting in hundreds of hours of work.
In fact, it wasn’t until my 5th year in business that things really started taking off and I started generating a six-figure income.
Do some people do it faster? Maybe. But I can guarantee one thing, most people never make any money when they take this route. I know several people who started their business when I did who still make very little income from their efforts.
Does that mean I hate online business? Hell no. I love it. I’ve made up to $45,000 in a single month with my online business.
My point is this: If you want to escape your day job, starting an online business is not the best way to do that.
Thing #2 To Avoid
Then, there’s the people who’ve been watching too much Shark Tank. They watch these “regular” people who came up with a simple idea and are now making their dreams happen. They start to fall for the myth that if they just come up with a good idea, they’ll be set.
But, an idea isn’t worth any more than the inspiration it gives you until you make it a reality. Building a business that scales quickly is hard. It’s like a level 9 out of 10 on a scale of business difficulty. Plus, there is almost no room for failure. One small mistake, one bad decision, one overlooked piece of information, and that idea and business is doomed.
Succeeding at this level is about as likely as becoming a pro athlete. Sure, people do it every day, but the odds are terrible. You might as well go to Vegas and bet your life savings on black at the roulette table. At least you have a 47% chance of winning.
So, what is the fastest and easiest way to escape your day job?
Well, obviously it is to start a business. Unless you just want to get another job and keep on repeating the cycle, you’ll need to find a way to generate some cash while calling the shots.
And the easiest, fastest, least risky, and most reliable way to do that can be done in two steps:
- Offer a service
- Charge money for it
That’s right, go trade your time for some money. I know, I know, Robert Kyosaki said to never do that. But, this isn’t Rich Dad Poor Dad. This is real life, and unless you are willing to live out of your car for a while, you’ll need some income.
Here’s how it works. First, you start offering a common service that is in demand. That could be a handyman service, a cleaning service, a web design service. There are thousands of services to choose from.
You don’t even have to be that good at the service either, although it helps if you are. As time goes on, you get better at that service and eventually, after a several months (unless you’re dilly dallying around), you’re able to replace your income.
You might be thinking….”But Dan, there’s already so much competition.”
Bullshit. The reality is that it’s hard to find somebody who provides a good service for most things and there is plenty of opportunity. That’s because a service is hard to scale. Unlike a product based business (which can be scaled at lightning speed), a service business is much more challenging.
In a product based business, the best product enjoys a disproportionately high percentage of the market. It’s winner take all.
But, most service providers are just one-person operations. Even if there are other service providers who are much better than you, they can only handle so much work. That means there can be hundreds, or even thousands of people offering the same service in the same city, all running successful businesses.
By switching you mindset from a product based business to a service based business, you go from competing with the entire world of high performers to competing with regular people just like the guy next door.
It’s a huge difference.
In fact, the very reason that a service is hard to scale is the same exact reason that it’s the the best way to replace your income. All the level 10 business people out there are focused on starting scalable businesses that will bring them millions. You don’t really have to worry about them.
But, a one-person service business (if setup properly), can easily generate a six-figure income relatively quickly and reliably. No, you’ll never make a million dollars per year trading your time for money, but you will escape your day job.
Over time, you’ll dial it in, get better, and increase your rates.
Once your business is established, you can focus on increasing your income per hour. The higher you get your income per hour, the less you have to work. That means more freedom.
No, you don’t need a new idea for a service. In fact, get the idea out of your head that you need a unique idea. Most new ideas fail. Proven ideas are a much better bet.
In fact, the best way to start a business and start generating money fast is to offer a very common service. For example, when I quit my job, I started a handyman business.
There were literally hundreds of handymen in my city already, too. And, I barely had any experience. But, within a few weeks of getting started, I already made a few hundred dollars. Within 3 months I was generating a full-time income.
But that’s just one example. You could start a web design service, a dog grooming service, a wedding planning service, or any of the other thousands of services people pay for every single day.
Then, once you’ve gained your freedom and taken control of your schedule, you’ll have plenty of time to grow a new business that can scale and bring you wealth.
But for now, just take it one step at a time.