Before You Quit Your 9-5

Know Yourself (And Your Audience)

The best way to ensure future success as a full-time creator is to be confident in who you are and who your audience is. Understand your niche and how to capitalize on it. Know your target audience; what do they need? How can you continue to serve them? Double down on engaging with your followers as you prepare for your transition. Your community will be the support system you need to take the next step.

Have A Vision

Every budding entrepreneur needs to have a roadmap for the future. Do you have a clear vision of what you’d like to accomplish as a creator? Knowing exactly what you’re reaching towards and what type of success you’d like to achieve is crucial. The more specific you can be, the better.

Research creators whose careers you’d like to model yours after. What actionable goals can you accomplish that would lead you closer to their level? We recommend creating SMART Goals for your career. Those are goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Creating clear deliverables for yourself in your first year of full-time creating will give you the structure you need to take your career to the next level.

Understand Your Revenue

Before content-creation becomes your entire income, you must understand your revenue. You’ll want to be able to answer the following questions:

• Where is the majority of your revenue coming from?

• Example: Brand Deals, product sales, affiliate links, etc.

• Which platforms earn you the most amount of revenue?

• Is your revenue growing?

• Can you track your growth over the last year and project how much you might be able to make the next year?

• What is your projected revenue for your first year of full-time creating?

Data is the key to understanding how you’re growing and what areas you can improve in. Tap into all the analytics available to you. Setting a realistic project revenue goal for the year will give you clear path stay on track with your finances.

You’ll also want to consider diversifying your revenue as much as possible. Adding another revenue stream before you become a full-time creator can help support you during your transition. Some of our favorite ways to add another income stream include UGC creation, freelance consulting, affiliate marketing, launching your own product, offering a course, and ad revenue.

Find Your Budget

Once you have a handle on where your money is coming from and the projected yearly revenue, you need to figure out how much it’s going to cost you to get there. Do you have the capital needed to reach your goals?

We recommend you have at least 6-months worth of savings before saying goodbye to your 9-5 job. Your first few months will probably be slow as you adapt to your new schedule and find a groove. Give yourself a big enough cushion with your savings to succeed.

You’ll also need to budget both personal and business expenses per month and for the entire year. When comparing that number to your projected revenue, make sure you have enough money to survive. Be realistic with your expectations and know that it’s going to take some time before you feel confident with your finances.

Plan For Success

With your finances in place, it’s time to take actionable steps to set up your business. Having these things done ahead of your transition will you save you valuable time down the line. You’re going to want to:

• Separate your business income from your personal income

• Set up a new bank account for your business

• Form an LLC

• Have contracts ready to go for your partnerships

• You may need to meet with a lawyer to create these contracts ahead of time

• Make sure you have a stellar Media Kit and Rate Card

• Create a content schedule for yourself

• One schedule to make content and one schedule to post content

Take The Leap!

With your audience on board, your finances in line, and your future plans in order —  it’s time to take the leap. This is the scary part but there’s a reason you’ve gotten this far — trust yourself to take your career even further. If you’ve set realistic expectations and thoroughly prepared to become a full-time creator, your chances of success are high!