Back in 2018, I left the highest-paid sales job I ever had. It wasn’t easy to walk away from a guaranteed salary and stock options, but it was the best decision of my life.
Here’s how I did it.
A bit of context
As explained in my two previous articles, I was unhappy in my job and a complicated interaction with a co-worker sparked the creation of my escape plan. I had just landed a €10.000 sales consulting gig and I knew I was capable of making money on my own.
There was only one problem. The side gig was taking around 20 hours of my time on top of my day job.
Working on a side hustle in secret
I was so excited to be helping this new customer but it was taking all my mornings, lunch breaks, and evenings. My schedule looked like that:
06:00 - 08:00 → Wake up and work on side gig
08:00 - 12:00 → Go to the office and work on main job
12:00 - 13:00 → Work on side gig
13:00 - 18:00 → Work on main job
18:00 - 18:30 → 1:1 with customer
18:30 - 19:00 → Work on side gig
It was intense, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do my main job correctly and deliver value to my clients like that for long. But leaving my job meant walking away from a comfortable salary.
And that’s the main reason most people only dream of leaving their jobs and creating their own destiny. They are addicted to their salaries.
The spark
The spark to leave my job didn’t take long to come. I had closed the deal on the 30th of September, and I was weighing the pros and cons of leaving my full-time job.
Pros:
I’ll be free
I can deliver more value to my customer
I’ll have more time
I won’t have to report to anyone
I won’t need to hide
I’ll work with my customer during business hours
I’ll spend more time looking for new business
I’ll do something I love doing
Cons:
I won’t have a salary anymore
I’m walking away from stock options
I may be more stressed because of potential financial worries
As you can see the list of pros was way bigger than the list of cons, but I was still hesitating to hand in my resignation letter.
On Sunday the 7th of October, we went to see the movie Darkest Hour with Ara. If you didn’t see it, I can only recommend it.
It’s the story of how Winston Churchill became British Prime Minister in May 1940. At that time the Nazis invaded a part of Europe and the war cabinet was in favor of negotiating with them.
The underground train scene inspired me. In it, Churchill spontaneously rides the underground and asks a group of citizens what they think he should do.
Should he negotiate with the nazis or fight and never surrender?
And after seeing this scene, I knew I had to resign.
If Churchill was able to pick the toughest path and go through years of battles for freedom, leaving a job to go on my own was a minor decision in the grand scheme of things.
I felt empowered to take a more challenging path and fight to get what I wanted.
Handing in my resignation letter
On Monday the 8th of October 2018, I woke up, found a resignation letter template online, edited it to fit my situation, and took off.
We had a quarterly kickoff planned in a different location than our office, and I arrived there early.
I remember being so stressed that my hands were sweaty (that’s how I feel when I’m stressed). I expected to see my boss but he wasn’t there yet. I went to the printer room, printed my resignation letter, folded it in 3, and put it in my notebook.
My boss arrived a few minutes later and I asked him if I could talk to him in private. We went to a conference room, and before we could sit, I handed him my resignation letter.
I told him I was leaving, I had a great time working there, and I would be available to work for the next 2 weeks as the law requires it.
He was shocked.
How it felt
The moment I handed the resignation letter was a massive relief. I had built all that tension and played that moment in my head many times over.
I have handed 3 resignation letters in my life and it’s always been stressful. Even if it’s a common occurrence, it feels like a break-up and a tough moment to go through.
The last resignation letter I handed out was the most enjoyable. I had found the courage to do something different and take a bet on myself. I was triumphant.
As the word got out, I realized people started whispering and gossiping in the kitchen of the WeWork. Here’s how I felt:
I gave zero fuck about what people thought and I was so proud of having the guts to do what most people dream of.
My friends Gauthier and Vik were happy and excited for me and told me I was doing the right thing.
Just like me, they knew I had to fire myself before my employer did.
Key learnings
This process taught me a few things:
Working on a side gig is challenging and exhausting. If you don’t do it right, you risk burning out and reducing the value you produce for your employer and your customers
There’s a lot of free time before, after, and between your main job
When faced with a tough decision, do a list of pros and cons and talk with people who’ve been there before (you can book me if you want my take on what you should do, based on your situation)
Hand in your resignation letter like you remove a band-aid. Don’t drag the process or the pain will last longer
You’ll feel liberated and validated when you make the jump
If you don’t fire yourself, your employer will eventually do it (that’s what happened to 99% of people I was working with at this company)
You will figure things out as you go, just focus on your next step
Want to escape the hamster wheel too?
If you’re interested in going further, here are 3 ways I can help you:
Go listen to my podcast “Escaping The Hamster Wheel“