I officially left my job on January 17th, 2014. I had technically started my business before then, but didn’t have the time to commit to it that I wanted. I had no idea if my website could make money, if I’d fall on my face, or even if I could come up with enough revenue streams to make Ancestral Nutrition a viable financial option.
I just knew that I hated my current job and wanted to turn my passion into my full time job. I wanted to do something I enjoyed. I wanted to help people. I want to be my own boss. I wanted to work from home. I wanted to have that freedom.
So I left.
In the months leading up to my resignation, I spent a lot of nights crying to Scott. I hated my job. People were rude, arrogant and had no sense of humor. I would literally be called into my boss’s office for arriving at 7:31AM instead of 7:30AM. We represented giant, horrible corporations that were destroying the environment. Top that off with a daily schedule that looked like this:
6:30AM – Wake up
7:30AM – Get to work
12:30PM – Lunch, but really spent this time working on my site
4:30PM – Hop on the bus home
5PM – Work on my website
6PM – Clean up the house, make dinner
7PM – Eat Dinner
7:30 PM – Clean up dinner, make lunch for the next day
8/8:30PM – Work on my website until I fell asleep
Every single day. There wasn’t a moment that I could just be. I didn’t have a second to just chill out or have time for myself. The only time I found for fun was on weekends and I was usually too drained to feel like doing much of anything. I wasn’t happy (with my work life, very happy in personal life).
I would regularly cry to Scott. I just didn’t have time for everything. I wanted to grow my website but I was exhausted. I was stressed. I was so, so stressed.
And then one day Scott asked, “What if you quit your job to do this? If you don’t make enough money, you can get a part time job.”
It really hadn’t occurred to me to quit until I was making as much from my site as I was at my day job. So I mulled it over and realized two things: I was never going to make the money I wanted to while only working on my site when I had the time and this one I hear a lot – start before you’re ready.
I was making some money when I left my job, but not nearly enough. I didn’t have parents or money to fall back on. It was a sink or swim sort of situation. And you know what happened within two months of quitting?
I made more than my monthly income from my full-time job. Don’t get me wrong, there were ups and downs. Some months I made good money, some months I didn’t. I figured it out. I didn’t put more money than I had into things. I didn’t pay for expensive web designers or copy writers or developers or even on advertising. Not a single Facebook campaign. I worked my ass off to grow organically (because I didn’t have the financial option to do otherwise). I joined a great team and started to promote essential oils (which was one of the best things I did for my business). I kept creating. I just kept doing things for my website. Here’s a summary:
Created three new programs:
Essential Acne Killer – LINK THESE TO NEW PAGES
I figured out how to make some money with ads (still figuring this out – blogging is a never ending learning experience). I made more money with Amazon. I partnered with affiliates I loved, like Morrocco Method and Perfect Supplements. I joined the world of essential oils in April after falling in love with them.
And here’s what happened to my traffic.
Traffic this time last year:
This year. BAM:
I increased my traffic about nine times. I added revenue streams. I just kept at it. I’m not rich (yet). But I know that if I keep doing this and taking small steps and actions that I will eventually be making more money from my website than I ever would have from a day job. In fact, it’s now my goal to make six figures before I’m 30. And that is totally possible.
Two things that are important to note: I couldn’t have done this without my husband (who was not my husband or even my fiance when I decided to leave my job). He is always supportive and encourages me to make money doing what I love (he’s a money man, aka a CFO). And two: I am so focused on making money because that means I’m helping more people. At first I thought I shouldn’t be so focused on the financial aspect, but from Marie Forleo I learned that if you’re not making money, you’re not helping people. This is true. My entire job is to help people, so the more money I’m making, the more I’m helping people – which is the ultimate goal.
