Follow these steps before you quit your 9–5 job

In the future, everyone will be working for themselves.

— Naval Ravikant

How many of you dream of quitting your job and working for yourself?

I assume that if you’ve clicked this article, you share this dream.

But quitting your job and working for yourself can often feel like a nightmare.

When I made the leap into my own consulting business it felt like I was jumping off a steep cliff with nothing but my underwear on.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

You can create a pathway out of your job that feels more like a soft exit ramp than a free dive off a mountain in your birthday suit.

Even if you think you don’t want to quit your job right now, having the option is liberating. The ability to tell your boss to get fuc*ed at any moment you decide gives you control and makes your work more enjoyable.

Here’s how I managed to win close to my full-time income in project work before I even quit my job.

I built my personal brand over a long period of time.

Whether you like personal branding or not, you’ve got one.

Congrats.

The choice is whether you’re actively creating a brand or passively letting a brand be created for you.

I get it. Talking about personal branding can feel icky. Sometimes I need a shower after I work on building my personal brand.

But your brand is your distribution channel. It allows you to connect with potential clients and organizations before you even have a business. People build trust with your name before they have even met you.

Once you’ve got a brand, building a business is easy.

Look at Elon Musk. The reason he can start businesses out of thin air and be wildly successful is because of his brand. People buy whatever he is selling because they want to be associated with his brand.

Electrics cars? Flamethrowers? An overpriced hat? A microchip in my head?

Sign me up and take my money Elon.

But you don’t need to be as famous as Elon Musk to build a brand to create a business.

At the time of writing, I’ve got a small following of 3,000 LinkedIn connections, 2.4k Medium followers and less than 500 Instagram followers.

Nothing to brag home about. But I’ve been really purposeful in the content I put out there by aligning it with goals.

Each post relates to the specific niche I am in. Each post builds my expertise in a domain. Each post is a vote of the business I want to create.

Pick a social media platform (my recommendation is LinkedIn), pick a niche, and consistently post content about that niche. Watch your trust and engagement skyrocket.

Your brand builds trust. And trust builds businesses.

Takeaway: You first build your brand, and then your brand will build your business.

I started several side hustles to see what I enjoyed.

I am a founder of a consulting agency, writer, podcaster, board member and paid advisor.

Anything you have an interest in can be monetized. The internet means you can connect with anyone in the world who shares an interest in your niche.

The means of monetization are abundant, it is the desire to do so that is scarce.

Anyone can start a podcast, Youtube channel or Medium blog. But most don’t. And 80% of those who do start one quit within 6 months or aren’t consistent enough to leverage compound interest.

Side hustles allow you to test the market as well as your interest before going all in. Once I found a side hustle I enjoyed, I went all in. I learned the skills necessary to grow and scale my impact.

Takeaway: Think big, start small, iterate constantly and scale rapidly.

I nurtured key relationships over a long period of time.

20% of your professional networks will bring 80% of your business.

Focus on constantly giving value to the 20%.

Forget the other 80% for now.

Takeaway: You can’t be everything to everyone, so don’t even try.

I learned skills and stacked them on each other.

Every skill you learn roughly doubles your odds of success.

— Scott Adams

In short, skills pays the bills. Plus more.

You’ve got a unique set of skills that you can combine to put you in the top 1% of the world of people with those skills. The best part? You don’t even have to be world-class at any of those skills individually.

Simply aim to be in the top 25% of each skill and then start adding more and more skills together.

After a certain level, the value of the skill stack comes from the uniqueness of the combination, not the level of competence of individual skills.

I am one of the few people in policy consulting who can:

• Run a successful podcast.

• Speak confidently in public and facilitate a large group of people.

• Understands the nuances of online blogging and writing.

• Can create engaging social media content.

I am not an expert in any of these topics. I barely scrape the top 25%. But in combination, I am only competing against myself.

List all the skills you’ve currently got. Combined them in a way that is unique. Look at the skills you want to have. Start to add them to your stack.

Takeaway: Combination beats competence.

I put my work into the public

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.

— Austin Kleon

I’ve failed publicly many times.

I’ve had blog posts go nowhere. I’ve had content on my LinkedIn flop with zero engagement. I’ve had crap conversations on my podcast that attracted criticism. All in a day's work.

But every single time I’ve failed, I looked at what I did wrong and made sure never to repeat it again. Will I fail again? For sure. Probably many times.

But documenting your journey in public attracts your tribe. You’ll find your fans, supporters and even critics. It’s all part of the process.

I’ve been consistently posting on LinkedIn for 2 years now and my professional life has been transformed.

I became a magnet for opportunities because I already had a portfolio of work in the public domain. Your digital presence is your new CV. Real experience trumps credentials.

Takeaway: The amount of opportunities you receive is in direct proportion to how much you put yourself out there in public.

Closing thoughts

1. Build your brand and then your brand will build your business.

2. Start a side hustle to understand what you enjoy and are good at.

3. Keep learning and stacking new and unique skills.

4. Constantly show your work in public.

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