How Quitting Your Job Could Skyrocket Your Earnings

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over 2 million Americans quit their jobs every month. The Bureau appropriately calls this category "Quits."

Some people are alarmed that so many are are leaving their jobs in the midst of uncertainty, but I think it's a fantastic way to dramatically skyrocket your earning potential. It also leaves lots of time and room for innovation to grow your own business and income streams. There are few ways to scale your income as quickly as you can by quitting your job.

Still not convinced? Here's why quitting your job could be one of the best financial decisions you ever make.

You're More Likely to Get a Raise Somewhere Else

Even if you decide to keep your day job, staying at the same place too long can actually derail your earning potential. In fact, employees who stay at companies for longer than two years get paid 50% less than those who jump ship early. What kind of raise are you sticking around for?

Look at the recent research. World at Work's annual survey forecast is predicting one of the biggest pay increases in recent memory.

Sounds like good news, right? Well, it's great if you're okay with a 3.1% increase instead of the 3% seen in previous years. You could be waiting around for a decade before you see a 30% raise come your way. Or you could quit and aim to double your revenue instead.

So here's a strategy: plan to quit your job every few years and negotiate a raise at your next job. Spend the time at your job working to improve your skills, make new connections, and update your resume.

You'll Stay In Control Of Your Income

When you work for someone else, you're largely at the mercy of the company's salary ranges and payment schedules. Unless you're on track to get a raise or are a superstar at work, it's unlikely you're going to see any big surprise bonuses or financial windfalls from your employer.

But when you quit your job, you're in control of your own income; you decide how much you make. That can come with terrifying highs and lows, but at the end of the day, you're the one responsible for your own wealth.

Look at the lifestyle you want and set a financial goal to get there. That goal is likely bigger than whatever you're earning at your day job.

You Can Turn Yourself Into a Profitable Brand

Quitting your job means choosing yourself over a traditional office job. But how do you choose yourself? Start by turning yourself into a personal brand and aligning your career and financial goals accordingly. Next, work on making new connections and building up your network based around your brand.

For example, after I sold my previous digital marketing agency, I worked on figuring out what I wanted to do next and what I wanted my life to look like. I decided to focus on helping others grow and scale their businesses through public speaking, consulting, and building tools like ContentMarketer.io.

Now my network knows me as the go-to guy for marketing, growth hacking, branding, SEO, and distribution. I earn money through my brand and can keep expanding it to include new categories and services whenever I want.

You Can Develop Multiple Income Streams

Quitting and working for yourself opens up a world of possibilities and income streams. So use your time as a free agent wisely and foster your skills and interests into profitable side businesses.

For example, former business managers can look into consulting or earning a profit by becoming a silent partner at a budding startup. Next, work on crafting a resource that your ideal clients need, such as a video series on hiring, growing, and retaining top Millennial talent.

Remember, income streams can also grow in the form of investments. So start talking investments with that new startup you've been admiring, meet with your financial advisor about next steps, or take the plunge into real estate.

Or you can go the traditional route by looking into rental property, or think about commercial property investments, from office buildings to storage space. You can even crowdsource your real estate investments with a site like RealtyMogul and get started for as little as $5,000.

You Can Scale Up or Down as Needed

You can't exactly tell your boss you're going to take it easy for a few weeks to recover from a personal problem, or because you want to take a much-needed vacation. The opposite also holds true: if you're itching for more responsibility and money at work, all you can do is work harder and hope someone notices and offers you a healthy raise.

But when you're self-employed, you can scale your work however you want. It's not always a simple process, but it's still within your control.

Look at your earning and workload projections for the next year, and identify potential slow pockets. Make plans to scale down and take that family vacation you've been thinking about. And when things pick back up, look to hire a virtual assistant or extra contractors to keep your workload manageable.

You Can Pursue Your Passions

We're lucky we live in an era where work and passions are often pursued in tandem. However, there's usually only so far you can take that concept in your workplace. It's hard to feel passionate about status reports and busy work that keep you from doing what you really want to be doing. And if you're stuck in a low salary structure, you probably don't have enough money to pursue your passions anyway.

So when it comes to earnings, the dynamic of your day job vs. your true passion is a problematic one. But the value of being happy in your work shouldn't be underestimated. In fact, research supports the idea that happier people tend to make more money.

Yet we're simply not set up to do that in most traditional office environments. I would rather take my chances with passion and profits than sit around in a cubicle all day.

You Can Help Others

Helping others is one of my favorite ways to earn more money. Simply offering to help, taking meetings with friends and acquaintances, talking through problems, and getting to know your network in a genuine way is a surefire way to profitable success. Who would you rather hire for your next project: the nameless consultant you found online, or the person who has been offering invaluable free advice and supporting you when it counts?

You can still help people at your day job, but it doesn't quite work the same way as it does when you're focusing on it like it's your job.

Most employees are expected to help a business's bottom line--not each other. That personal connection in helping others gets broken when we're sitting in meetings and talking about increasing productivity.

Whether you're working at a company or for yourself, you can start helping someone else by asking what they need, or offer pro-bono services to your favorite charity through a site like VolunteerMatch.

Remember, quitting your job isn't always a clear path to success. What quitting really offers you is the time and resources to focus on your financial goals and align your work around that. Hopefully you'll also mix a dose of meaning and passion into your work while you're at it.

I'm Sujan Patel, co-founder of Web Profits & Hubspot Academy Instructor. In my 13 years in marketing I’ve helped grow companies like Mint, Salesforce, Linkedin, Yahoo!, and many more.

This article was first published: https://www.inc.com/sujan-patel/how-quitting-your-job-could-skyrocket-your-earnings.html