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You know what the one thing is that separates the people that daydream about quitting their day job from the people that actual do it?

A plan.

Well, let me back up. I’m sure there are plenty of daydreamers that do quit their day jobs without a plan, and if you’re that brave and that much of a risk taker, more power to you! Sometimes I wish I could be that bold.

I’m talking about the daydreamers who are more like me, who like security and are slightly risk-averse. A plan is what separates those daydreamers who just stay at their job forever, wishing they were doing something else from those of us who actually do it.

Because it’s hard to imagine what’s really possible when you don’t know the actual numbers. Things seem so nebulous and so impossible until you actually look at it on paper.

When I first started my side hustle, I knew that I wanted to quit my day job, but I didn’t really have a plan. I just had daydreams like, “I want to quit my job by the end of this year.”

The end of this year came and went.

“Okay, THIS year is going to be the one. I’m going to quit my job at the end of THIS year.”

Back to work on January 2.

“Okay, no really, THIS year, this is it. This is my last year at this job.”

And this time, I had a plan. And this time, I actually did quit my job.

And in today’s pep talk, I’m going to share how I came up with my plan so that you can follow the steps and make your own plan.

Before I dive in though, the title of this pep talk is How to Quit Your Job by 2020, and I’m recording this in September of 2018. So if you’re listening to this in like, September 2019, I don’t want you to think YES!!! I’m quitting my job in 3 months, woohoo!!!

Maybe you’ll run through this plan I’m about to share with you and the numbers will make sense and it will work for you to make it happen in 3 months. Awesome!!!

But for most people, I’m recommending that you give yourself more time than that so you can build a really solid, stable foundation that’s going to serve you instead of stress you out.

I called my plan “Side Hustle Gone Serious”. It’s a stark contrast to what I used to name my budget spreadsheet back in the day, which was “No Fun in 04” I think that carried on to No Fun in 05-07, and then in 2008 I was making enough money that I named the file Fun in 08.

This plan, my “Side Hustle Gone Serious” plan, had a bunch of intention behind it. No more winging it, no more dreaming. Putting the actual numbers in black and white on paper and seeing what I really needed to do to make it happen.

So if you’re ready to plan your own #SideHustleGoneSerious, here’s where you can download a free worksheet to help you create your #SideHustleGoneSerious plan. I want you to do that right now. Pause this episode, scroll up, and you’ll see the episode notes in iTunes. Click on the link which will take you over to my Pep Talks for Side Hustlers website where you can enter your name and email address and I’ll send it right to your inbox.

Okay, here’s your Side Hustle Gone Serious Plan:

1. Figure out your bottom line number (the lowest amount of money you can make every month and still make ends meet)
2. Figure out what you really take home every month at your day job after taxes, including benefits.
3. Research benefits – cost of health insurance, retirement, etc.
4. Knowing the bottom line number of what you have to bring in to pay the bills, including paying for any insurance and benefits your employer currently pays, decide what you are going to pay yourself every month.
5. What’s the revenue you’ve made each month that you’ve been in business?
6. How much does it cost you to run your business every single month? Add up all of your expenses, even those that only happen once a year – you’ll divide those by 12 to get your monthly average. Be sure to include money for mentoring, coaching or personal development, you’ll need this if you really do want to grow!
7. Add 25% to how much you intend to pay yourself to cover taxes.
8. Add up your monthly business expenses, plus how much you want to pay yourself, including how much you’ll need to set aside for taxes. That’s your target number of how much revenue you need to generate every month to quit your day job.
9. Look at your savings. Do you have any savings that can supplement this amount? Personally, I didn’t have much savings, and I had this weird thing about using it anyway… It’s for emergencies, not for deciding to quit your job…
10. Decide how you are going to pay yourself. I pay myself on the 1st and the 15th. Start paying yourself any profits above your expenses and taxes by putting the money into a totally separate account. But we’re not spending it just yet…
11. Set a target quit date.
12. Look at what you’re making as a profit right now. Look at what you want to be making by your target quit date. What’s the gap? How much do you need to increase your revenue between now and your quit date to bridge the gap? Is that realistic?

Here’s where it gets really fun.

As a side hustler, you have a steady paycheck that’s hopefully taking care of your day-to-day right now. You have a whole lot of choice as to what you can do with the money you earn beyond your business expenses and taxes.

Here are some things to consider:

• Pay off debt. When you can decrease the amount of money it takes to pay your household bills every month, you bring the target amount of money you need to make in your side hustle down, which closes the gap, which means that target quit date can possibly be moved up!
• Bank a bunch of savings. You will have fluctuations in your income when you become self-employed. It’s inevitable. When you have a cushion, you can use it to ride the income waves, or you can use it to supplement your revenue, which can also help you close that gap which means that target quit date can possibly be moved up!
• Do something fun with your family that you would never consider doing with your regular paycheck! You’re working hard at a full-time job, you’re side hustling and your family is probably wondering what’s in it for them. How can you reward yourself and them for supporting your dream? We had some friends invite us to Mexico for vacation and we didn’t have to think twice about paying for it.

What I don’t want to see you do is make the same mistake that I did, which was to not have a plan for that extra side hustle money and fritter it away on unplanned business things. Sure, I can buy that premium course, I have the money. Yep, I can go to that conference, I’ve got the money.

Now I’m not saying that those things are not important, they certainly are, but I didn’t PLAN for them. If I had them figured into my monthly expenses, then I’d have a more clear picture of things. Instead, I randomly spent money and side hustled for three years when I could have been more intentional and quit my day job faster.

The other benefit of having such a well-defined plan is that it’s much easier to get the support from your partner or any of the other people in your life who are going to question your sanity when you tell them that you’re leaving that illusion of security called corporate America. Can you do it without their support? Absolutely. But does it make life easier when you have the people that love you cheering you on rather than being worried that you’re ruining your life and having their doubt start making you doubt yourself. 100%!

So to recap those steps:

1. Figure out your bottom line number.
2. Figure out what you really take home every month at your day job after taxes, including benefits.
3. Research benefits.
4. Decide what you are going to pay yourself every month when you are self-employed.
5. Track your total revenue for every month that you’ve been in business.
6. Figure out your monthly business expenses, including any conferences, training, or mentorships.
7. Add 25% to how much you intend to pay yourself to cover taxes.
8. Add up your monthly business expenses, plus how much you want to pay yourself, including how much you’ll need to set aside for taxes to find your target revenue number.
9. Review your savings and decide if you’ll use that as a supplement or not.
10. Decide how you are going to pay yourself.
11. Set a target quit date.
12. Review the gap between