Tips for Quitting Your Job to Start Your Own Business

When you hear the call of entrepreneurship, but are tied to your desk Monday through Friday, 9-5, life can feel like it’s going nowhere fast, and depending on the job and your personality, it can even make you miserable. If you’ve made the decision to leave your steady job to try to start your own business, here are some tips to make the transition easier.

1. Check your contract

Did you sign a contract agreeing to stay at your current job for a certain period of time? If you did, you’re going to have to wait out the term of the contract, unless you feel like calling in the lawyers for an expensive, messy legal battle.

2. Offer your services as a consultant

If your boss is worried about not having someone who can replace you, you can bring up the possibility of staying on as an external consultant for a specified transition period. Get all the details of this arrangement down on paper so that you and your current boss are on the same page about how many hours you can offer per week, how long the arrangement will last, and how you’ll be compensated.

3. Offer to train your replacement

No one knows your job better than you, so it might help ease the transition if you stay on long enough to train who ever your boss finds to fill your shoes.

4. Be polite

Even if you feel like your current job is a soul sucking waste of time and your boss is an idiot, try not to burn any bridges. You’re going into the great unknown as an entrepreneur, and having contacts is never a bad thing. You never know when you’ll need to call in a favor or ask for a positive reference, so make sure you’re nice during the resignation process and write a polite letter of resignation.