Quit Your Day Job Plan

[#1]

So I figured I start this thread so we can write out our QYDJ plans and track our goals and inch ourselves closer to quitting the day job and taking our businesses full-time.

Pop in often to update your plans, change them, track your progress, ask for advice, encourage others, and so forth!

Happy planning!

[dorsetclothing]

Bumping this back up! For those of you that haven't quit your day jobs, what's your plans for achieving your goal?

[GreenMarthaBoutique]

I already sort of quit - I'm on parental leave until my daughter turns three. I planned to keep it that way until september (planned end of said leave) but I have too many opportunities coming up, so tomorrow I'm trying to contact the HR people to negociate something, and if I don't hear from them fast enough and I get a positive answer from a market I really really want to do, I'm just going to quit.

Goals for 2014 are :
- get the legal existence of my business in order
- find and get into interesting art and craft shows over the warm season
- get into the shows I have already noted down for the holidays
- develop a coherent textile line that I enjoy making, that has my print on it and that can transition between medieval fairs and modern life.
- try to get into medieval fairs
- keep my Etsy shop active all year long and finally get some regular sales
- develop my custom wedding line

[Former_Member]

I hope you get a good answer from the market! You have so e really great goals! It looks like your 2014 is going to be amazing!

[GreenMarthaBoutique]

Actually, I'm starting to think about more long-term goals - fiding a space to store my materials and products will become a necessity soon enough, and once both kids are in school fulltime (in about 2 years), thinking about a workshop outside home would be a really good thing.
In the meantime, I want to learn screenprinting to have and alternate way of working with fabric.
And since we're talking 2016-2017 goals here, I should defintely hold at least one more solo exhibition by then.

[BelovedDollDesigns]

I haven't gotten there yet but I would love to. I signed up for my first show this year but it's a lottery so no guarantees that I'll get in. Next week is vacation week from the day job and I have 5 pages of things to do (both personal and business) so I can take full advantage of this opportunity to move forward. Online sales have been slow but there's still other things for me to do yet, such as shows, trying other selling platforms (ie, ebay) and plenty of work to do on the website.

I feel confident I'll get there. The question is when.

[Former_Member]

I'm a SAHM, so I can't quit my day job, but my long-term goal is to grow my business so I won't need to get a day job when my youngest child starts school (that will be Fall 2018).

I will be doing a craft fair next month that I haven't done before, in addition to the two I always do in the Fall, and I hope to find at least one more to add leading up to Christmas.

Last December, I did a home party and it went really well, so I'm hoping to line up a few more of those this year.

I am developing a couple of kits. At shows, if someone mentions that they could make something of mine, it is usually the key rings, so those are what I decided to create kits for - I think they are a good item to 'dip my toe' in the water, so to speak, and also a good project for customers to try.

[ThoughtfulRoseSupply]

I'm tweaking my work flow to be more efficient. Right now I'm re-organizing my sweater stash (a huge task!); next I'm going to re-organize the shipping supplies. I'm looking for various ways in which I can spend less time looking for things and deciding what to do next, and more time getting things done!

[dorsetclothing]

Good luck Sharon! Getting things organised really does make a difference! I was organised but then I bought too many supplies and now I'm a mess again. I've banned myself on non essential supplies this year to lessen my fabric stash and get my room back into control.

[Former_Member]

I am a very new SAHM (as of 7 weeks ago when LO arrived!), so have quit my job to stay home with her... However, as such, our income has been slashed as well and now I'm trying to figure out a way to get sales and make products on a much more limited budget.

So, my goals are:
1) Find ways to make new products around the schedule of an infant and on a very limited budget
2) Find ways to increase sales both on and off Etsy
3) Work on improving my social media interaction & following - probably including creating accounts on new places
4) Organize both my supplies and products better
5) Find some fairs I can participate in throughout the year

I'm also open to any ideas or suggestions, but I'd LOVE to take this from hobby to all-out like I've always wanted to... I just need to figure out how! :)

[dorsetclothing]

Bumping this up again! What steps are people taking to quit their day jobs?

[GalacticAffair]

I finally opened my shop yesterday after about a year of development, branding, research, and creating product prototypes. I still have a long way to go, and I don't expect success to happen overnight. However, I've gotten great feedback from friends and some of them have already bought some of my pieces.

I also do costume commissions for conventions on the side and have been doing that off/on for the past 6 or so years, but have had a lot of mixed experiences with that (mostly due to not knowing how to run a business :P). I started doing it again much more professionally and have had great results. I've been making plans with my boyfriend who lives two hours away and as long as no surprises happen, I plan to quit my office job by the end of this month and move to be with him and pursue working for myself. I'm nervous, but I believe it's what will make me most happy.

I do hope that I can make my designs my main source of income, but I expect that to take some time and patience. I'm lucky enough to have a backup plan to keep doing costume commissions which is why I feel more confident about this decision. But I'm excited to embrace change! I've been in desperate need of it.

[DesignstheLimit]

We have QUIT OUR DAY JOB and lament that the Quit Your Day Job team has been taken over by continuous promotion threads. Would love to see the promotion threads contained and more threads of discussion about turning your hobby into your dream job. Would recommend pinning at least one thread that does not have anything to do with promotions for the purposes of discussion. We hope more Etsy sellers make the transition and know that our success is part of the success of our community.

Richard and Tatiana
Design's the Limit