Quit your job and burn the bridges?
In 30 seconds
If you want to open a business, quit your job first. With no way back, you will have no choice but to make it work.
Month 5When ₪60,000 of savings run out on the second road of the worked example below. Put in your own numbers.
Two roads, the same ₪60,000 of savings
The worked example's numbers. Put in your own.
On the second road the savings run out in month 5, and at this pace the sales do not pay the way within 60 months.
A worked example. The numbers show the mechanism, they are not a statistic.
mobiusbiz.co.il
In 3 minutes
Why it sounds right
The idea is simple. If there is no way back, you have to move forward. Without a salary to fall back on there is no time to hesitate, and every day pushes you to act.
It is also easy to say and easy to share. Advice that fits in one sentence travels fast, and this one travels mostly through courses and social media.
People who look for easy solutions most of the time take easy actions, which are just a populist way for so-called influencers and gurus to shout easy things to do, while it's not correct.
And part of it is true. Pressure does make people act, and Alex does not dismiss that part:
Burning all the ships is good for taking action if you know what to do, because you have no other option, and you have adrenaline and other elements that will probably help you take action.
When it is even right
Burning the bridges works when you no longer need them, when you already know what to do. In practice, most of these are true before you resign:
- You have already sold, in your spare time, to clients who are not friends or family.
- You know who buys, why they buy and what they pay.
- You like the work enough that you already do it after a full day at your job.
- Your savings cover the household and the business costs for the months your plan needs, with a margin for mistakes.
- The people who live on the same budget know the plan and agree to it.
Then leaving the job removes a distraction, not a safety net, and the pressure pushes in a direction that has already been tested.
Where it breaks
It breaks when the pressure arrives before the knowledge. The job goes, and with it the salary that paid for the house and for the tests.
But if you don't like what you are doing enough to do it in your spare time after your day job, you will probably not be interested in doing it even if you are fired from your day job or you leave it.
People get fired or leave work, and after that they don't even know what they need or want to do. They don't know who the audience is, who the clients are, what the value is. They start making many very expensive mistakes.
When you don't have a day job and you want to open your business, you are not only not getting paid, so your living expenses are not covered, but you also need to invest, which is hard to do because you don't have cash flow coming in. And this is a very, very big risk.
And the job itself may not be there to come back to. This is how Alex first described the myth:
If a person has no skills, no experience, no understanding of what he will do or for whom, he simply gets lost. He has lost a good job that he will not find again, takes big financial losses, and puts his family, his children, his friends and his future at risk.
In 10 minutes
An example with numbers
The picture above follows one person on two roads, with the same ₪60,000 of savings. The numbers are a worked example, not a statistic, so replace them with your own.
- Keep the job: a net salary of ₪13,000 and ₪1,000 of first sales come in. The household costs ₪11,000 and the tests ₪1,500. The savings grow by ₪1,500 a month, to ₪78,000 after a year.
- Quit first: more time for the business brings ₪3,000 of sales. The household still costs ₪11,000, the investment ₪3,000 and the mistakes ₪2,000. The savings shrink by ₪13,000 a month and are gone in month 5. From there every month is debt, ₪96,000 of it by the end of the year.
The second road does not fail because the idea is bad. It runs out of money before the idea has been tested. On the first road a failed test costs ₪1,500 and teaches something. On the second, every month costs ₪13,000, whether it taught anything or not.
What to do instead
Instead, make smart investments while you are searching and trying: small actions while you have a day job. In your spare time you test your hypothesis, work with one client, make some sales. If it's not working, you have enough room for other tests.
- Write down the one hypothesis you are testing: who the client is, what problem you solve and what they will pay.
- Find one paying client in your spare time, and deliver.
- Count what came in, what went out and how many hours it took.
- Decide in advance, in writing, which result would make you leave the job and which result means another test.
- Build the savings for the move while the salary still pays for the house.
When you have a day job and you work in your spare time, you have enough room to test, to find what you love, to improve your product, and other things.
Check yourself
- Have you sold this to a stranger, not a friend?
- Do you do this work in your spare time today, without anyone making you?
- Can you say in one sentence who your client is and why they pay?
- How many months do your savings last with no salary, household and business costs together?
- If the business earns nothing in those months, what is your way back?
If most of the answers are no, the bridge is still carrying you. Keep it while you test.
General information that explains how the mechanism works, not personal tax, legal or investment advice.
Business, Marketing, Operations & Financial Consultant
Mobius
Alexander Slutsker
9+Years of experience in business consulting
I help entrepreneurs, self-employed people, small businesses and startups understand their own numbers, choose what to do first and grow from there.
Book a Call+972 055-248-6151. Better on WhatsApp: I am in meetings most of the day and answer as soon as I am free. Other ways to reach me