Well the actual writing prompt for today is much longer than the title… It’s “Quit your day job and follow your dreams” vs. “Find a job you love and figure out a work/life balance that works for you”… What was I thinking?
So I’ve done both therefore my POV is really based on personal experience and not what I think I would prefer.
Like many people, after I graduated from university I dilly-dallied a bit… Did some traveling, passively looked for a full-time job while I worked part-time short-term jobs that allowed me to continue traveling and didn’t demand very much of my time.
Eventually, reality (and bills, bills, bills) finally caught up with me and I knew it was time to be a big girl and get a “real” job 🙂
Thankfully, because of a shortage of pharmacists at the time, that wasn’t very hard at all. I quickly landed what everyone in the world of grown-ups said was a “good job” so off to work I went!
That was just the first in a series of jobs I took because I kept looking for the “perfect fit”. Eventually it occurred to me that I might be better of running my own business and I got connected with the entrepreneur community.
I read lots and lots of books and magazines about entrepreneurship and starting your business, franchising, online business, blogging, selling online, etc. Some were good sources of information and some were shams.
Regardless of that, I decided that I wanted to be a free bird and “make the leap”… You see, when you read enough of those books and magazines you eventually begin to believe that real entrepreneurs are “unemployable” and the only way to be a bona fide business owner is to make the leap…
Quit your day job, follow your dreams, and the rest will follow.
And so I did… much to the consternation and trepidation of family members who thought I might be going through a “quarter life crisis”
I’ll spare you the fine details but I’ll share them throughout this blog over time, but to cut that long story short… I went from living a nice comfy 6-figure life to struggling…
I did not enjoy the unnecessary pay cut. I wanted out… Entrepreneurship wasn’t paying me as well as a nice cushy day job did.
I realized that being an entrepreneur looks different for everyone. Some might have been happy with the amount I was earning with my business but I knew that I had earned a lot more and struggled less to make it… The headache/hassle of entrepreneurship just wasn’t proving worth it to me.
So back to the workforce I went… But this time I approached it with clearer eyes and more wisdom. My post-entrepreneurship job search was very different from my pre-entrepreneurship job search…
I knew what I did and didn’t want in my ideal job and what type of work environment I would subject myself to and what I wouldn’t.
I also discovered a podcast – Side Hustle School – that assured me that it was perfectly okay to have side hustles based on things that interested me (I’m a creative and I love doing wedding calligraphy) without quitting my day job.
And that’s exactly what I did/do.
So which side of the fence am I on…? I guess by now you’ve guessed it. It’s what works for me but might not be everyone’s cup of tea…
Find a job you love and work your side hustle while you earn that paycheck. 🙂
How about you? What side of the fence are you on?
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- Day 1 – Why I’m doing this challenge
- Day 2 – 10 random facts about me
- Day 3 – The story behind the name of this blog
- Day 4 – Quotable Quote… Why it speaks to me right now
- Day 5 – Recent random act of kindness
- Day 6 – Three current guilty pleasures
- Day 7 – Collections… What I collect and why
- Day 8 – Throwback Picture
- Day 9 – Recently read book recommendation
- Day 10 – Three Favorite Blogs
- Day 11 – Wishful Thinking… If I won the lottery
- Day 12 – Purpose of this blog and future blog goals
- Day 13 – What’s on today’s schedule?
- Day 14 – All about my profession
- Day 15 – My first international trip
- Day 16 – Something I miss from my childhood
- Day 17 – An impossible dream
- Day 18 – Three people or businesses I follow on social media
- Day 19 – Current Favorite TV shows
- Day 20 – What’s in your wallet?
- Day 21 – Calling all logophiles
- Day 22 – Forgotten freezer finds
For the full list of writing prompts, they’re here on the original post.
Just Half An Hour 
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