One question I’m asked often is, “How can I quit my job in the next year?”
This is especially true if they have a dream business they are building on the side.
Have you ever wondered this as well?
Tune in to learn from the Cash Flow Expert, Chris Miles, how this can not only be a dream but a reality!
Chris Miles Bio:
Chris Miles, the “Cash Flow Expert,” is a leading authority on how to quickly free up and create cash flow for thousands of his clients, entrepreneurs, and others internationally! He’s an author, speaker, and radio host featured in US News, CNN Money, Bankrate, and Entrepreneur on Fire, and he has spoken to thousands getting them fast financial results.
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Listen to the podcast here
How To Dump Your Day Job Within 12 Months
I’m so excited about the topic, and you should be too. If you’re reading this, this is meant for you. As a reminder, make sure you check out our website, www.MoneyRipples.com. If you haven’t done so, be sure to download our free eBook there, Beyond Rice & Beans: 7 Secrets to Free Up Cash Today, and also check out other things. We’ve got blogs in there.
We’ve also got an event coming up. If you’re reading, this might be the very event for you, especially if you want to be face to face. It’s the Wealth Empowerment Intensive. Make sure you check that out on our website as well. Be sure, if you want, to come to use the code, PODCAST. If you use that code, you will get $300 off that ticket price. There are only a few spots left. I would keep it very small and intimate.
If you’re the type of person who says, “I want my money to work for me. I want to know how to get that work and how can I pay less in taxes,” even if you get a tax return, you might still be overpaying taxes. How do you pay off your debt faster? How do you get your retirement money to make you $10,000 or $20,000 a year or more? What can you do there? All those things I address there face to face. If you’re not able to do that, feel free to reach out to me at Chris@MoneyRipples.com. We can get you connected and at least create a conversation across the miles, no pun intended with my name.
What I want to talk about is how you are able to dump that day job in twelve months or less. I’ve had several clients with whom we have talked about this before. We have worked on this and done this and even some that we’re working on this. I’ve been so pleased with some of the people I’ve met lately. We have had some cool people start to work with us.
There are a few things that I want you to look at as pointers or ways to expand your mind because so many people think the same thing I used to think. Even as a financial advisor, I used to think, “If you work hard and save every dime you possibly can, then maybe someday if you’re lucky, you can live off the interest.” Here’s the thing. Living off the interest does not work. Think about how much money you have to have to live off the interest in a traditional sense.
Financial planners, advisors, and experts are saying you should not pull out more than 2% or 3% of your money each year. If you have $1 million you happened to save up, you’re not supposed to be pulling out more than $20,000 or $30,000 a year. If you want a $60,000-a-year lifestyle, you probably need a good $2 million to $3 million so you can support that lifestyle. Isn’t that awesome? In that case, they’re counting for inflation and everything else because that $60,000 a year has to keep going up over time.
Many times, people are busy in their business, but they're not productive. Click To TweetThink about that. To save $2 million or $3 million is a horrible feat. What if you could do it with a lot less? What if you could do with a fifth of that money or a tenth of that money? What if it didn’t require that much money at all? This is something I want you to consider. You all come from different places. Some of you might even have a side business. You have a job that you want to be quitting and get out of. Some of you have a job. You’re like, “I would love to be able to retire sooner than never.” This is exactly the show for you.
I had somebody that talked to me about this in another interview, and inspired this conversation. I want to bring it up now. I’m going to address different people. If you’re an employee, you don’t have a side business, and then you’re coming from that place, your best bet is whatever you’ve got in retirement. Some of you have some and some of you don’t. That’s not a problem. There’s always an answer.
If you’ve got retirement accounts, the hard thing is that you probably don’t want to be putting any more in those accounts because if you keep putting more money in your 401(k)s, IRAs, or RSPs if you’re Canadian or wherever you are in the world and if you have these different retirement accounts, more likely than not, you can’t get to this money unless you either quit a job, switch jobs, or somehow leave your job or your current employment because they don’t let you access that money.
Even though you think it’s yours, it’s not. The hard thing is because it’s not accessible, saving it for these kinds of retirement plans feels like an expense. A few things can happen. One, if you’re lucky, you can access that money, and that’s fine but maybe not. You might not be able to. It might require you to quit your job or at least do something else. There might be some other ways to do it.
For example, you can loan half of your money. If you’re in the US, you can loan half up to half of your retirement account. If you take that as a loan, go out, and generate some income with that money, whether it be in a business, whether you’re doing real estate investing, whether you’re doing other types of investments or opportunities that can create cashflow, or whatever that might look like, you can start creating some cashflow before you even leave your job.
My recommendation is that you do, ideally. Everybody’s situation is different. This is why I can’t give you a blanket statement on everybody. In some of the cases I’ve worked on, a lot of times if somebody has a side business, I want them to get their income in that side business by at least 10% more than what they’re earning at the job to be able to quit but if you don’t have a side business, 1) I might recommend getting a side business, or 2) Find a way to become a better investor. That could take some time. It could take twelve months. It could take more.
Here’s the thing though even if you can’t do this within twelve months. In some cases, this could be the case. I’ve had a few people reach out to me where I’m like, “Twelve months is not likely but 5 to 10 years could easily be likely.” That’s still amazingly miraculous compared to what anybody else sees. 5 to 10 years is not too unrealistic if you have the focus, you stay on track, and you have the right guidance that you’re going along that path but if you want to do twelve months or less, if you’ve got a retirement account, that can be possible.
One client I’m working with does have a retirement account. Unfortunately, she can’t access it but we’re hitting another access and things like her and her husband’s home equity in their home. We’re able to start getting them to do some real estate investing. They’re starting to do some real estate investing and buying properties they could turn around or rent out. Right there, they can make an extra $700 or $800 a month with a little bit of equity out of their home. That’s no money out of their pocket right there. That’s not even any savings at all. They do have some retirement accounts.
The nice thing is if you have retirement, this can also buffer you and buy you some time. For example, someone wants to do real estate investing. Sometimes the best thing you can have is a job. In their case, because she has a job and income, banks love that. They’re able to loan, leverage more money, and buy more properties because they’ve got this job that’s there and cashflow.
If you were to quit your job, try to take your retirement account, and invest it, it may not work as easily. You could but you probably have to buy the property in full. The rate of return on your money goes down the more you have to put a down payment on your properties if you’re buying real estate, for example. If that’s all possible, I recommend people try to do those things before they quit their job so you have some streams of income coming in. That can slow down the money you’re using from the retirement accounts and find other ways to generate income that way.
If you don’t have some other source of income, that’s got to be it. It might take some time if you don’t have a whole lot of savings. If you don’t have a business or a side business, then 5 to 10 years could still be a much more possible situation for you but if you’ve got some savings, retirement, or savings away from retirement, it’s even better. A lot of times, we will recommend people start to do that from that moment on, stop funding their retirement accounts, and start doing other types of savings where they’re accessible but they still get good returns and things that are even guaranteed.
Here’s the thing. The stock market is not guaranteed. Even if you start to save well in those retirement plans, who’s to say that the market doesn’t tank, and then all of a sudden, it puts you behind a couple of years because you’re in the market? There are some other guaranteed ways you can generate rates of return on your money. Those of you that don’t have a side business or anything, and you’re just working a job, your retirement savings or your other savings are going to be your key to helping you do that, and/or getting a side business that can help generate more income.
Your job might be the very thing that allows you to be living your passion right now. Click To TweetThe great thing about business is that you don’t need money to make money. If you do have a side business and you’re working a job, here’s the thing I recommend. Let’s focus on building up that business because the likelihood is that your business will give you the best rate of return. You can do real estate investing like that example I was giving you with that one working a job. She also has a side business. We’re looking at ways to help her generate income there and generate income from real estate, giving her two ways to make money.
That can speed up the process to be less than twelve months. If you do have a side business, less than twelve months is very possible. You don’t need a lot of time to make a lot of money in the business. You do need to have focus and be productive with that time. What happens is many times, people are busy in their business but they’re not productive. They will spend hours, days, weeks, and months trying to make their website look nice but they’re not talking to people. They’re not creating conversations.
All wealth is created through conversations. If you have a side business and you’re looking to make that leap, let’s look at ways to generate more income. Every situation is different. It doesn’t have to be this much or it might need to be more but as a rule of thumb, I want people to make at least 10% more than what they make on their job. If they’ve got some savings and stuff to back them up, we could do it sooner but that job could be the saving grace that allows you.
That’s the thing that’s funding your dreams. You might hate your job, especially if you have a business. People that have a side business tend to look at their job as handcuffs or things that are keeping them trapped and not living in their dreams and passions. I’m here to tell you that your job might be the very thing that allows you to be living your passion. I’ll give you a story.
When I was first trying to make that leap, I made the leap prematurely once. The very first time I made my leap full-time in my business. It was a little premature. I got to a point where 1 month or 2 months, I made more than my job. I said, “I can’t afford to do this anymore.” I made that leap. Here’s the thing. If you don’t know how to control your emotions and your scarcity thinking, which I didn’t understand what those things were at that time, that fear and that doubt crept in, “What if I can’t pay my mortgage? What if I can’t feed my family?”
My wife was at home with our first child, pregnant with our second at that time. She was still with our first that time. I’m thinking, “How can I do this? How can I provide?” That desperation came through when I talked to people. Even though I didn’t talk about that desperation, still people would feel it. People do have a Spidey sense of people’s energy. If your energy is desperate, people say, “It doesn’t feel quite right. It feels a little bit weird. I feel like I’m being pushed into something.” That pushes people away when you try to push. I recommend people don’t do that.
The job could be the very thing that says, “I don’t need this money for my business. I don’t need it all but those people might need me.” If you come from that place of power, you say, “I don’t need the business. I could be fine on my own but I’m living my passion and my dream. I’m building this business so that I can be able to serve people more. Eventually, we will get to the point where I’ll have to quit my job and serve people better.”
There’s nothing wrong with having a business on the side at all but it has to be done at the right time with the wisdom in order. You can’t make that leap too quickly. I did. What’s funny is when I made that leap, my income dropped. Even though I had more time to work on my business, my income decreased. When I got another job temporarily to help out, it’s funny how my income in my business increased even though I had less time in that business.
There’s a thing psychologically that happens. The job that you have could be awesome. If you do it with the right planning, you can get out of that job quickly and safely, and not feel desperate for business when you get out of it. I’ve had people that didn’t hire me quite yet before they quit. That puts them in a little tight spot. Even if they came to some of my events, and we help them out a little bit, it still creates a little bit of stress and desperation. You don’t need that in your life. You don’t need that desperation and stress. You can do it in a very quick and efficient manner if you do it right.
Here’s the advice I give to all of you no matter what your situation is. Whether you have a side business or not, all of you need to be tracking your money. You need to know how much is coming in and how much is going out. You need to make sure that the consumptive or destructive expenses that you have are gone. Get rid of those. It might require paying off debt. There are great ways to do that too and ways that may not even require money out of your pocket. That’s a great way to free up some cash and allow you to do it.
I had a client. We were able to get their debt paid off and free up over $4,167 a month. That’s about $50,000 a year that we’re able to free up. What that has allowed them to do now is breathe. One of their incomes can go away. One of the spouses quit full-time. They’re both working because they’re getting a lot of traction, gain, and savings especially as they’re able to put away several thousand a month. That’s sweet.
If you’re looking to create a good foundation, that’s awesome. You don’t need a lot of savings to be able to quit your job but the more you have, typically the better it can be, the more money you could get that work for you, and the better you can do to be able to relax, make money outside of it, and not feel like you’re forced to make money. The worst thing you can do is feel like you’re forced to make money.
The more money you could get that work for you, the better you can do to be able to relax and make money outside of it. Click To TweetWho knows? Maybe some of you got laid off or are about to get laid off. That’s forced retirement. We can do stuff with that. Ideally, if you have a job, it helps. That’s the thing. I want you to be able to work in this job, love it, be grateful for it, and look at it as a way to accelerate your ability to be able to quit your job, retire, or semi-retire. How cool would that be to be able to have that ability?
It always comes back to cashflow. If you’re tracking your money and you know what you have, put money away in savings. If you’ve got savings, how can we get that money to work for you so you’re not always desperate, and it creates some cashflow for you? Can we get your business to improve and be able to make more money if you have a business? There are ways to do that too. There are so many ways to be able to make money without having to work hard for it.
If you do any kind of investing, this is one thing I’ve found out. Even though I have people that have different opportunities for people to make money, and they want me to send every referral to them, I won’t do it because the thing is if you’re not passionate about whatever you do to make money, whether it’s a business, an investment, or whatever it might be, and if you don’t have a little bit of passion or interest in it beyond the money, you’re not going to be successful at it anyways. Even if you were trying to be successful at it, what makes that any different than a job?
I have some people I remember when I used to stock coach that would say, “Chris, I want to invest stocks and make money so I don’t have to keep dealing with people.” Here’s the problem, buddy. That money comes from creating value for other people unless you’re trying to gamble it in markets, which is what they wanted to learn to do. Here’s a problem. If you want to make good consistent money, it’s about creating value for others in whatever way that does. That even includes investing.
If you’re not trying to create value for people, change people’s lives, and serve people, you’re going to have a harder time making money. You’re going to be a gambler, not an investor or someone who’s a real business owner that makes good money. If you want to make good, sure, secure, and awesome money, you’ve got to make sure that you’re still tying it to people.
For those people that always try to do it for the sake of money, not because they love it but because they want to make money, what makes it any different than a job? Those people were still strapped to a job. Even if they were investing, they were still working for money. How is that any different than getting a paycheck each and every week or month?
The problem here is you have to have real passion. You have to have something that’s of interest to you. That’s something you’ve got to explore to see what that is, “If money were no issue, would I still want to do this thing? Maybe not.” That may not be the thing for you but if money weren’t an issue in your life anymore, you say, “I’ve got extra money. I would still like to do this. It would be fun, whether it be a business or an investment.” You’re onto something. I can give so much advice on this.
The reality is I want you to focus. Wherever you’re at, whether you’ve got only the job, or whether you’ve got a job and a side business, if you’re looking to quit that day job or that 9:00 to 5:00 and be able to get a part-time retirement or a full-time retirement, it’s possible. It can happen. You can get your money to work for you so you’re not always working for money. You can get your time more leveraged so you can make more with the time you have. There are so many ways to make money.
The thing I ask you to do is if you’re able to come to that Wealth Empowerment Intensive, do it. Check it out on our website. If not, reach out to me at Chris@MoneyRipples.com and say, “Chris, here’s my situation. What do you think? Do you think it’s possible? What do you think could happen here?” We can take a look at that. That’s my advice for you. I hope this was valuable for you. There’s so much good stuff we can go into, but this is somewhere you can focus and start on right away. Go and make it a great and prosperous week. We will talk soon.