Keep Your Job, Build Your Business | Guide, Workbook & Make the Leap Planner
Keep Your Job, Build Your Business | Guide, Workbook & Make the Leap Planner
I kept my full-time job for eight years after I started building. That's the point.
Most business advice sells the same dream: have an idea, quit everything, go all in. For most people with bills and families, that's a bad plan.
I built a nonprofit animal rescue, three dog boarding businesses and a veterinary clinic between 2013 and 2021, through a marriage, two kids and a pandemic, while working a full-time job the whole time. This is exactly how I did it, with the real numbers, the real decisions and the mistakes I'd avoid.
WHAT'S INSIDE THE 22-PAGE GUIDE
- My story, year by year: from buying a house to foster dogs to opening a vet clinic
- What it really costs to open: home vs. storefront, and the equipment and building mistakes that cost me tens of thousands
- Loans or savings: how to pay for it, and how to pay it back on purpose
- Finding the time: the building phase (every day, about 2 hours a night) and when you can scale back
- When life changes: the childcare decision that led me to a work-from-home job instead of quitting
- Money rules and taxes from day one, including the tax mistake I made as an accountant
- Running a business you're not at all day: cameras, software, phones, training a manager, and SOPs
- Your job as your safety net: how my job income covered payroll and overhead in 2020
- When to step back: how I set my $7,000-a-month rule, and why I waited for a full year of consistency
- What I'd do differently
6 WORKSHEETS
Idea test, startup budget (new vs. used vs. DIY), work options, weekly plan, remote setup checklist, and my number & ready check.
PLUS THE MAKE THE LEAP PLANNER (EXCEL & GOOGLE SHEETS)
Enter your monthly bills and it calculates your number: the monthly profit your business needs before you step back. Track profit and your streak month by month, price your startup budget, and see when every "ready" sign is met.
WHO IT'S FOR
- People with a job and a business idea who don't want to bet everything on it
- New side-business owners wondering when, or whether, to quit
- Parents, military spouses and anyone who needs steady income while they build
Not ready to buy? Get the free short version first.
This guide shares the author's own experience. It isn't financial, tax or legal advice. Talk with an accountant about your situation.