That’s no secret, quitting the rat race is one of those things more and more people talk about these days. And there’s nothing to blame them for! If you think about it, jobs get more difficult to find these days. Heavy corporate structures definitely aren’t suitable for everybody, and the current developments around Covid are even pushing people off their offices – let alone their job.
More and more, creative people realize that they could turn their job into something they could do for themselves. Instead of working for a boss, they’d work for several clients at once!
Perhaps even more significantly, the perspective of spending a decade or two in the same company, on a 9-5 work routine isn’t appealing anymore. Student loans don’t pay for themselves anymore. The race toward the top of the corporate ladder is losing interest.
The usual work perspective has become a rat race to escape. Hence, the idea of quitting the rat race is a new trendy thing, and the goal of building a passive income to escape society as we know it is a new norm.
For the millennials but not only!
Unsurprisingly, and because our mission is to make entrepreneurs gear up and scale up, one question keeps coming back to us. How can start a business and quit the rat race?
In this article, we’re providing some food for thought on that very question. And we dig into it by looking at the rather specific preparation angle. If you’re interested in a more general perspective, you’ll also want to read our Escaping the Rat Race Society 101 guide!
We see many people dream about leaving the rat race, but we also know that doing it isn’t as easy as it seems. For all of them, it’s the first time. And there isn’t any magical recipe to create a double 000 per year, let alone by July next year. Only hard work and strategic thinking. You need to spend time on it to make time later. We’ve done it ourselves, so we know.
So, are you interested in finding out more? Keep reading!
Tip #1: Quitting the rat race means you need to know what you want and why you want it. Really.
As I wrote before, more and more people want to leave their 9-5 routine these days. Most of them end up having two key issues, however.
How could you make that happen?
On the one hand, people always struggle with the issue of “how” to proceed.
Some want to leave the endless corporate lifestyle because they don’t see any career progression in there. Some might even be in a complicated position because their usual 9-5 doesn’t give them much stability. Worst, they can even be overly dependent on a system they don’t like or trust.
Of course, some might also want to become entrepreneurs. In that type of situation, the dream is definitely one of spending time on building freedom and self-sufficiency. And that’s really cool!
For everyone, the issue is to figure out how to get things going.
Some have money they want to invest in real estate, but they forget that real estate investment produces stress, not just a passive income. Some want to be an author paid to write posts or easy books from home but don’t realize that words don’t just sell on their own.
Some have an expertise they want to leverage, but some don’t really know what to leverage. The former have a boulevard to explore, but the latter don’t, and usually look into dropshipping and other online miracle methods of getting quick cash without doing too much work. Which is where things tend to go south.
Hold on…
Now, hold on. I’m not saying that dropshipping doesn’t work. I’m sure it does for some. Yet my own experience and discussion with clients tells me a couple of things.
One, just selling some crap coming from very far away usually won’t get you anywhere. If only because those who produce the crap know better and will replace you as soon as you’ve tested the market for them.
Two, these types of businesses still require a lot of work. From an organizational perspective, of course. But also from a digital marketing perspective, because selling online is a lot more difficult than people think and takes both time and skills.
So, before you get yourself super excited with the idea of firing your job to quit the rat race, start with figuring out precisely what you could do instead, and start working on it alongside whatever you’re already doing. No kidding!
Are you clear as to why you want to do it?
On the other hand, people often forget to clarify “why” quitting the rat race is important to them.
As a business coach, I coach entrepreneurs and challenge them in their daily life. Clearly, doing this has taught me one thing: we all work in cycles and go through phases we don’t really know how to manage unless we have a clear business karma picture in mind. And most people don’t.
Some of my entrepreneur clients run successful businesses and have the luxury of living a life they want to live. To get there, however, they’ve worked hard to build not only a business, but a business structured around processes, and which can therefore work without them. The reason why they are successful, though, is that they know precisely what they want to achieve and why they want to achieve it. The question is, do you?
Truth be told, those who don’t know what they want to achieve usually spend a lot of energy working on shoveling types of job. They spend hours and hours doing stuff and getting shit done, but they don’t think for a second about planning and structuring so their business can work for them. Not the other way around.
They get tired of what they do, because managing people, money and time is all about managing pressure. They get tired of what they do because working INTO your business doesn’t produce the results you get when you work ON your business.
So, every once in a while, I bring them back to the basics. To their own basics, I mean.
In fine, the question shouldn’t be “How can I get out of the rat race?” The question should be “why do you want to quit the rat race in the first place, and what ultimate goal do you have in mind?”
Many people dismiss goal-setting on the ground that goals are abstract concepts that don’t pay the bills. Yet, the reality is that setting smart goals for yourself is what will make you hold on, keep up and persevere when the bills don’t get paid and things go slower than you’d want.
Every entrepreneur has a hard time dealing with all the complexity in his life, sooner or later. When that happens, reminding them of their ultimate goal in life is the best way to give them a boost.
So?
Well, before you jump into the “leave the 5-9” bandwagon, make sure you know why you do it and why you plan on spending the next months (years) working hard to get there. Just saying…
Tip #2: Beware of the “Quit the rat race” BS, and consider your options.
The second tip is this one: beware of the “Quit the rat race” BS, and consider your options.
They’re selling a dream, remember?
Remember that there is a big difference between what you see online, and the way things happen in real life. There are lots of guys out there ready to sell you the miracle methods to help you quit the rat race. Still, what they do is sell you a program for a very expensive price. And then they justify themselves by saying that the investment is what it takes to change your life.
Worse, some even go as far as saying that if you can’t afford to pay their ludicrous fees you are probably not worth the effort anyway.
Guess what? That’s bullshit. Pure and simple bullshit!
These guys sell you a dream, and when they’ve done that they also the golden-plated titanium shovel you need to dig your own hole. So, be careful and think harder about your options.
Have you considered your options at all, by the way?
At the end of the day, the big deal is, what options do you have, and which ones are the most impactful?
From a “what to do” perspective, quitting the rat race should make you think about your expertise, and about the value you could create for others.
If you’re sure the value is a matter of selling them made-in-china drop-shipped stuff, then go for it. But think also about the kind of thing you know how to do, the kind of problem you can solve for others, and the unsolved problems people talk about. Your options lay wherever you can create value that people will be happy to pay for. It’s that simple!
Eventually, a portion of your options relates to your skills, and to the means you have at your disposal to get where you want to get. Some online courses – including our entrepreneurship 101 module – will help you quit the rat race by helping you build a sound and sustainable business. But they need to be the right option for you, and the best way to help you build a project you will want to fight for over the next months and years.
Long things short? Beware of the “Quit the rat race” BS, and consider your options.
Tip #3: Build yourself a safety plan.
Here’s a last tip I really want to share with you. Before you embark on your journey, please (please, please) invest some time in building a safety plan for yourself.
Have you considered your personal financial safety?
Dropping everything isn’t something you should do overnight, however talking about building a financial strategy, planning, and keeping a safety net is the smart way to go.
From a personal finance perspective, you really really really want to make sure that you have a security cushion available somewhere. That cushion should allow you to live decently for at least six to eight months. And it should help you make sure that you’ll be able to sleep at night until your dream business starts making good money.
These things take time. They won’t happen overnight! So, the best thing you can do is to protect yourself from the inherent uncertainty that comes with your future entrepreneurial life. Save money and build yourself some personal financial security before you do anything.
Have you thought about your personal emotional safety?
I mentioned earlier that, as part of what we do as business coaches, we spend a lot of time challenging clients, from a business side, but also from a personal side.
Often, our clients tell me about their various insecurities.
Some relate to decision-making, and the difficulty to differentiate the urgent from the important.
Perhaps even more importantly, some of their insecurities also relate to their emotional safety. For instance, some are related to personal life – let’s say, marriage tensions that impact their ability to focus on the business. Or, to their own, personal ability to manage whatever comes to them.
More often than you’d think, entrepreneurs worry about their ability to stay on track and to keep up with a surrounding environment that changes faster than they want.
They wonder if they have the training they need to keep thinking forward. They wonder if they’ll be able to take on a leadership position in their business organization. And they tend to feel on their own when that happens.
Long things short? Your emotional safety will play an important role in your ability to quit the rat race, and chances are that training yourself could make a massive difference.
Quitting the rat race: the takeaway.
If you’re wondering “How can I get out of the rat race?”, then remember three things.
One, know why you want to do that (the deep why) and be very clear as to the “what” you can do to make it happen. On that point, remember that creating value is THE thing you need to consider.
Two, beware of the “Quit the rat race” BS, and consider your options. There is a lot of marketing out there, and those who sell you dreams are also trying to sell you the golden-platted shovels you’ll need to dig a hole for yourself.
There’s no miracle recipe there, just hard work. So, make sure to invest in the right programs – for you, not for them.
Third, have a safety net. From a financial perspective, make sure you’ll be able to sleep at night despite things taking more time than expected. Your dream business could take five to six years before you can really live your dream lifestyle!
From a personal emotional perspective, make sure you are well-equipped to get on with your journey as peacefully and impactfully as possible.
If you’re interested in reading more about the topic, have a look at our free Escaping the Rat Race Society 101 guide, and take a look at our Entrepreneurship 101 module. It was designed for people like you, you’d be silly not to use it!
