Many of you active on blogs have probably been waiting for someone to give you the cue, the go ahead to quit your day job and work full-time from home. Maybe you’re not a blogger, maybe you’re selling domain names, maybe you’re writing books, maybe you’re trying to get your invention off the ground. But, what if you have a partner (husband or wife)? You have responsibilities aside from your own. Are you sure you are ready to quit your full-time job?
Can you Afford to Quit Financially?
This is the most basic and obvious question but a lot of people make assumptions as to how it will work. Sure, if you are not relied upon for your income, then some cutbacks can be made. Have you taken the time to figure out your budget without your job? What does your money contribute towards? If yours is going towards something important like long-term savings, then your spouses income will need to be reorganized to make up for that. You can cut luxuries but you cannot cut savings, investments, retirement, etc.
Do you have Real Goals and Steps to Get There?
From my experience, most spouses want a full proof plan for your work from home job. It’s not enough to have been working at it as a hobby for years. They want the reassurance that you have set hours on when things get done and that those things are not frivolous. For example, if you are a blogger, you’re not going to just sit there until the inspiration comes to write another post. Imagine a spouse comes home to find that you spent an entire 8 hour day writing one post…
Seriously, you’ve got to be better than that and focused. Maybe you wrote a great post but you should have also been able to do some SEO, guest posting, content creation, networking, etc. Which leads me to the next point. Write down in a planner or Excel spread sheet, exactly what you are going to accomplish on a certain day each week. Similarly have goals for how much you need to write in a given month, income in a given month, etc.
If You’re Going to Work from Home, the Household Chores are Yours
Again, personal experience here and those of close friends. You may think as an entrepreneur, inventor or internet marketer that you are focused only on your projected. However, when your spouse brought home a guaranteed income and worked a set number of hours, you will have to provide another tangible asset to the home: housework. This includes things like cleaning, laundry, cooking and groceries. It might even include taking care of the pets and children. You will be expected to juggle all of these. Yes, it’s incredibly tough but if you have steps and goals like outlined previously, this work will become much easier, leaving you free time for lunch breaks and Netflix.
Eventually you Need to have Results… Eventually
Most spouses will put a deadline on your hobby or project – you call your business – and will fold on it, once that deadline has passed. That is not to say they are not going to be supportive of you or your gifts. However, they are going to trust you for results, whatever they might be. They could be income (most likely) and they could be networking or the like. Whatever they are, you will need to face reality if they are not coming together. There is a lot of luck in this world but there is so much that is in your hands. You have the tools to accomplish your goals and make your business a success. If you cannot get there, you need to know when to throw in the towel and better support your spouse.