Soul Proprietor - When quitting your day job turns out to be a bad move.

Picture this scenario: you start an online business. It begins to do well. You start to think about how much better it would be to go full-on self employment. Yeah…a big bank account plus free time to hang with the cats and organize your Lisa Frank stationery sounds pretty nifty, right? So you quit your day job (you weren’t all that into it anyways) and dive in.

At first, it’s awesome.

You’re marketing hard and doing your thing. You may even get some “internet fame”. But then…it stops being fun.

Because you discover that the hours are long. WAY long. The myth of freedom is just that…a myth. And the income? The variable money thing sets your teeth on edge. You’re no longer able to predict when you are going to have enough coming in. Every month, you take a deep breath and hope you’ll be able to cover your ass (especially when those quarterly taxes are due).

Suddenly, that day job starts to look pretty good.

What if running your soul-based business starts to feel so stressful that it no longer feels soulful?

That’s what my friend Pace Smith was talking about on a recent episode of Business Mistakes Podcast. “Freedom isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.” she said as she discussed how quitting her day job to focus on her business turned out to be a not-so-great move for her. Sure, she was making enough money…but the stress was sucking her soul. Pace’s story is not unique.

That podcast really caught my attention because so many people are lead to believe that self-employment is the way to go. They hear the stories of “six figures” and loads of “free time” to sit on the beach (usually accompanied by pictures of laughing people with margaritas lounging by a palm tree).

There are other messages hidden in those entrepreneur fables: that somehow a “day job” is inferior or that having a side biz means you’re not a “real” entrepreneur.

Hear these three truths instead:
1. Having a business (successful or not) does not make you superior to anyone. Every job is important. Yes, even the person that serves you fries deserves mad respect for showing up and doing their job (PS I love fries).
2. Self-employment is not for everyone – and there is nothing wrong with that.
3. You are not defined by what you do.

So if your spiritual business is not making enough or is no longer resonating, you can give yourself permission to go back to your day job – or never leave it in the first place. It’s all good.

There is no shame in admitting that it’s not working for you. Returning to a day job does not make you a failure. It makes you a smart, practical person. And it may be the right path to keeping your sanity and your love for your mystical work intact.

As Pace said: “You are valuable for who you are not what you do. You can do business but don’t BE business.”

Amen to that.

Listen to Pace’s story here: Business Mistakes.

Blessings,

Theresa

A previous post you might enjoy: Soul Proprietor – Side business shame…let it go.