3 Signs You're Ready to Start Freelancing Full Time and Leave Corporate FOREVER
Make it stand out
Are you wondering if you're truly ready to quit your corporate job and make freelancing your full-time career?
If you're balancing a demanding day job with growing freelance work, struggling to keep up with clients, or questioning whether now is the right time to leave corporate, this episode is for you.
Jump in to recognize the practical and financial signs that indicate you're ready to make the transition with greater confidence.
In this episode, you'll discover:
How to identify when your freelance workload has outgrown your corporate schedule and you need to leave your job.
The key financial and mental health indicators that suggest you're in a position to leave your full-time job.
How to recognize signs that show it's time to fully commit to your freelance business and quit corporate for good.
Press play now to gain a clear framework for deciding whether it's time to leave your corporate job behind and confidently take the next step toward full-time freelancing.
Connect with Kiri, the host:
Corporate2Contract
LinkedIn
Instagram
Reddit
Episode Transcript:
========================================
By the end of this episode, you're going to learn the 3 signs that show you're ready to start freelancing full-time and quit your corporate job, leaving corporate. FOREVER. Woohoo!
Welcome back to the show. We are on our last day. I can't believe it. For the past 7 days, we've been going into fears, myths, money questions, and mindset shifts that stand between you and a successful freelance career. And now we're wrapping it all up, and this is specifically for my corporate folks, the ones who are still in an office. I've been there, I understand what it's like to be there. And these are the 3 signs I want you to look to, to know when you're ready to start freelancing full-time and leave corporate forever, okay? The first sign, it's really… ugh… you feel like you have too much work. But how much is too much? And your anxiety's starting to take over. Your mental health is suffering. You're super stressed out. How much is too much work, okay? And for me, it really comes down to… how much sleep are you getting at night? Like, honestly, it's that simple. If all you're doing is working, let's say, 2 hours extra day, I would say no. No. You're not there yet. That's not too much work. When you're working, let's say, 4 hours at night, you're going to bed at, like, 10, 11, and you're getting up at 5 in the morning just to keep your business running and clients happy. That is too much work. I hope that gives you, like, a little bit of a framework to work around. And the reason why this is so prominent in my mind right now is because I've just had a student go through this. Like, he just quit his job, and it's been so exciting for all of us. We all clapped our hands, we all gave him a celebration, and he felt so good. But it was, like, starting to get too much, and that was really what it was. It was, like, every single hour he had, that he was awake, that he wasn't working for corporate, he was working on his freelance business. And when you start, you know, declining social opportunities, time with your friends, time with your family, and your weekends starting to get eaten up by freelance work. Friends, that is a sign. Now, if you're not at the two-thirds money rule yet, and if you ha- don't know what I'm talking about, then you gotta go back to Day 3 and listen to that. If you're not at the two-thirds money rule yet, that means that you're overworked and not making enough money. If you're working all those hours, and you're not at 2 thirds time for you to ditch some of your clients and get clients that pay you better. I would rather you sleep And have energy for the day, and enjoy your life? then be working… worked to the bone and not being paid enough. Because even if you quit your job and you have your lower rates, you're going to be even more stressed. So ditch some clients, and then work on finding new clients. You still have your corporate job, so you still have that income coming in. I know you want to quit, but that is what you need to be thinking about, okay? I want you to have energy, I want you to have sleep, and I want you to be happy. So ditch some clients. Start over from scratch if you have to, and get higher paying clients so you can make it to that two-thirds rule. Alright? So your anxiety and mental health is really, really important to you. So if you feel like your anxiousness is getting out of control, your mental health is suffering, that is another sign That it might be time to quit your job. Because the mental health is so important, and I want that to be important. So it's like, I guess it comes down to, like, the first point, how much are you working? How much is too much work? And I gave you some kind of basis there. Now, if your mental health is suffering at your job because you feel like, oh my god, I'm gonna get fired any second now, this is really a toxic work environment, I have a lot of anxiety, that's another story as well. And if you feel like your freelancing job is really calling to you, and you have that two-thirds rule set up. then absolutely, you should quit your job. Because again, I want you to be happy. Freelancing is one of the best things that can happen to anyone, and especially if you suffer from mental health issues and anxiety. Freelancing can really relieve a lot of that. So as long as you're in a good place financially, and you've reviewed everything that you need in order to be stable. Go for it. Anxiety and mental health are not worth it. Last. I have this, like, framework that I kind of look at when we've hit the first two, which is, like, you're working a lot, you've got the two-thirds rule, mental health is really taking a toll. I start looking at, like, how many emails are you getting during the day for your freelance clients? How many calls are you getting during work hours? If you have more than 4 hours per day devoted to client work. And mistakes are being made on both fronts, so your job and your business. That's, like, a lot going on there. It's probably time to quit, right? If you're getting, like, 2 emails a day from a client. That's alright, even if you have, like, 3 or 4 clients. If you're getting, like 10-plus emails from clients during the day, or even if they're, like, rapidly just shooting things at you, like, oh, I actually need this too, and I need you to help me with this, and what about this? that's a lot. Like, for me, I remember, like, calls, like, I had a client who… I had to do calls for his… his clients? Like, I had to contact his clients. And so I'd do it during my lunch break, but then after a while, they started, like, calling me all the time, and they would call me in the morning, they would call me in the afternoon, and I'd have to follow up during the lunch break, and it was just, like, getting too much, and I'd see it ringing, and I remember my boss was at my desk at once and was like, oh, do you need to answer that? And I was like, no, no, no, it's fine. Like, oh my god, right? And so, if you have more than 4 hours of client work, right, during a… that's like half a standard workday. I think that's a pretty good rule of thumb, right? And you're not sleeping, and you're getting up at 5am to work on your marketing for your business, or even client work. that's a good, good sign as well. And again, lastly, those mistakes. Those mistakes that are being made on both fronts in your job and your business, something has to give. Do you let go of freelance clients, or do you quit your corporate job? If you have that two-thirds rule in place, my friends, like we've been talking about from day three. Then all of these are the additional signs you need, and that you need to know it's time to quit. Alright? So I hope that helps you. If you're struggling with that decision, remember it's never a perfect time to quit. You'll never be ready. It's never gonna work out like that. It's just like having a baby. Like, people think, like, oh, I'll be… I'll know when I'm ready to have a baby. Never. Never. There's always more money you could make. There's always more stability you could have. Same thing with running your freelance business. You just need to understand that It is time. to quit your job sometimes, when your just mental health is out of control, like, your anxiety's ratcheted up, you have too much work, some mistakes being made on both fronts, and your inboxes and calls are piling up, alright? These are the signs. It's time to start freelancing full-time and quit your corporate job! That's so exciting, right? Like, I want to cheer for you if you are at that place. Furiously. Very much so. I want to thank you all for joining me on this 7-day series. I really hope that this has been so helpful for you, right? Like, if you've ever wondered how much money you need before quitting, whether freelancing is actually stable, or how to know when you're truly ready to leave corporate, the 7-day series This was made for you. I walked you through everything that I wish people had told me before I made the leap. And here we are, right?
We're just going back to a regular schedule, no more 7-day series. This is gonna be available, though, on my website, if you wanna hold on to it forever and find it very useful that I'm so flattered, and I will have it up on my website soon. And we're gonna be talking about a tip of the week on Thursday. We're gonna be jumping right back into that, and we're gonna be talking about the only thing you really need to start freelancing. And it kind of went into this… A little bit in the 7-day series, but it's gonna be a lot shorter. So join me for that, and I would love to talk to you. If you're thinking of quitting your corporate job, like, please, I am the girl to talk to you, and I want to have that discussion with you, completely free. Link in the show notes to set up a free call with me. Thank you again for joining me on this 7-day series, and keep flourishing.
