De-Job Yourself

All too often I meet people with passion or a business idea, but with no understanding of the consequences of their initial plan. We are all encouraged to think big. To have incredible goals. While the rationale and coaching concepts can be argued, I believe that one fundamental and pivotal point has been missed when considering a journey into entrepreneurship and business development.

How can you think clearly and inspirationally about changing your life, and the world, if at some level you are still dealing with mundane matters like household bills and other household chores?

The concept of de-jobbing yourself first is, I believe, a crucial step in an easier path to entrepreneurial success. Of course you can carry on the old path, but consider this for a moment.

In the concept of de-jobbing yourself (and the topic of my fourth book in discussion with publishers as we speak) I suggest that the first step to easier entrepreneurial success is to plan how to “buy” yourself out of your day job.

This will be different for everyone; some of my clients have children and mortgages, some existing businesses, others are relatively free of financial commitments.

The first to de-jobbing yourself, as you’ll find below, involves an open and honest debate about your spending habits! I know you want to discuss your business plans, but trust me until your personal finances are laid bare, examined, in some cases operated upon, no serious traction can be achieved.

Whatever your current circumstances or business plans, you do need to de-job yourself.

Step one – List and analyse your personal expenses – if you need help find a spreadsheet online or I can send you one.

Step two – Then take a hard and honest look – identify your core living expenses, those costs without which you cannot function. (And honestly, whatever you think, that does not include your morning Costa or Starbucks!) This figure becomes your target.

Step three – Now identify the resources you have (time, money, knowledge, experience) to generate a passive income sufficient to initially generate this baseline living expense. Later you can earn more, the first step is to cover the basics and free your mind. Once achieved, I guarantee your thinking changes. There is an exponential shift in your ability to work faster, more brilliantly and even think more entrepreneurially.

Of course if you ask me I will tell you that investing in sound cash flowing properties is an excellent mechanism to generate relatively hands free income on a monthly basis. It can be quite easy, as for some people, just acquiring a portfolio of 2-5 properties is sufficient to hit that baseline figure.

The majority of my clients are on this path. They either want me to take their resources, leveraged with my time and knowledge, and act as their project manager to buy a cash flowing property portfolio. Or they want to learn how to invest in property themselves. Whatever their presenting objective or even long term goal, I encourage and support them to achieve this baseline. The shift in inspiration and success momentum is amazing.

They literally think differently, one client now runs her own art business, another two have emigrated, one is writing a book, others have gained the property bug and have gone on to identity exciting development opportunities. These are all stepping stones on their entrepreneurial path, made easier because they de-jobbed themselves first.