Its a silly question I know but..

 

should I leave my FT job...?

 

I want to start my own web design and seo/sem freelance "company" and i know i have the skills and determination to make it work.

 

However, Im working FT for a online marketing company doing what can only be described and pretend SEO (all i do is re-write content for websites to a pre-set format that search engines like).

 

Working all day till 6pm leaves me no time do do any work, so when I get back, and when i do work im up untill like 3 in the morning most nights which is well bugging me.

 

Any thoughts or opinions would be great...

Hey,

 

At the end of the day, it is only you who can decide when it is best to leave your FT job and make the step into freelance.

 

The things that I could think of that would possibly be a show stopper are:

 

Money

Will you have enough money to pay startup fees, hosting, software, hardware, living expenses? Okay pretty much everything that you pay for now. There is no point leaving your fulltime job to go to nothing and have no money etc. I suppose the best thing to do would be to keep working but save, save, save so you have enough to fall back on for a while for when you finally are ready to make the jump.

 

Clients

Are you going to have work once you have made the jump? What I mean here is there is also no point jumping to freelance if you have nothing to get stuck into right away and just sit there while you wait for work to come in. This is the mistake that I'm guilty of.

 

Erm, I think that is all I can think of for now lol, I'm sure I've wasted enough of your time anyway

 

Either way, good luck!

 

Matt

Leaving a well paid job to go it alone is a tough choice to make mate - you have to ask yourself 3 questions:

 

1. Could you survive if you had no work in for a month?

2. Will you actually be self motivated and go find the work?

3. Is it what you want to do?

 

If yes is the answer to all three then go for it. But if you have a mortgage etc.. and are no confident that 'going it alone' would pay the bills then maybe it isn't the right thing to do.

 

Another option would be to speak to your boss about maybe doing a 3 day week for 40% less money. I know a few people have done this and it allows them to start up their own company 2 days a week while still having the job security and financial stability

 

Good luck

Ask yourself one thing, can you survive without pay for at least (!) 6 weeks and cover your start up costs? If so, go for it! But its tough times, count yourself lucky you have a job atm tbh.

Maybe you need to not go in solo, but partner with someone? i built up my contacts before i started lowering my other jobs hours, and increase my webdesign time.

 

Reaper

I'd say partner up before going alone, and make sure you have the funds for your start-up costs.

I agree with many of the comments above. However, if you feel you've finally had enough and are hating your work life, then as long as you can pay your mortgage for a month, get the hell out of there, pick up your phone and cold call all your local businesses!

 

I have recently taken this step and I'm delighted I did,

 

Good Luck,

 

Chris

Do you have something like Business Gateway near to you?

 

Business Gateway brings together information, advice, training, networking opportunities and funding, providing an effective one-stop-shop to support start-ups and businesses seeking to grow.

I dont think we do, theres nowt on the lancaster city council website that i can see of...

 

Parnering up would be a great idea... suppose i should start looking into that one.....

I also looked at a more concrete thing, like a llp. Let me know how it goes for you if you go down that route, as I'm Keeping it in mind. If you have the drive, plenty of money to be made in this business, just takes time to get it off the ground