Simon Sinek, author of the book Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Finding Purpose for You and Your Team (recommended), writes that it is only when you understand your “why?” (your purpose) that you will be more capable of pursuing the things that give you fulfillment. It will serve as your point of reference for all your actions and decisions from this moment on, allowing you to measure your progress and know when you have met your goals. Before you burn the ships of your corporate career, you must have your "why?" identified to give you the driving force to succeed.
Unfortunately, it does cost money to live. Otherwise, there would likely be no ships necessary for you to burn. Therefore, consider what the living expenses might be before any income is earned in your new ventures. If you believe it will take 24 months to create a stable income, make sure you understand what 24 months of living expenses looks like for you and your family. It might also be prudent to account for a little extra as life does throw the occasional curve ball. This is a great time to create a budget, if you haven't done so already, and cut any unnecessary expenses. Living lean to begin with will not be desirable, but it just might provide the extra time and resources needed to succeed.
Develop a plan for your new career. Read books and more books (see our Must Reads section). Educate yourself. Find out what it takes to survive financially in this particular field. Make your action plan as specific as possible and define your success criteria. For example, if you plan on hiring a virtual assistant or marketing through Facebook, make a goal on how much income your business would need in order to be able to afford the assistant and run the ads. Additionally, take into consideration that some ventures will require start-up capital. Do you need partners, equipment, or education? Consider how you can get the ball rolling on each of these before burning the ships of your corporate career.
Before you burn the ships of your corporate career, consider and build out your new schedule. This means accounting for every hour of every day of the week. If you need eight hours of sleep per night, then schedule your sleep (e.g., 10pm-6am - Sleep). If your new venture requires you to answer emails, schedule times throughout the day to do this (e.g. 8am-9am and 1pm-2pm - Respond to Email). Feel free to be as broad or specific as you would like; however, the more specific you are with your schedule, the more focused you will be on the tasks at hand. When developing your schedule, make sure to incorporate space for both personal and career goals. Your goals are important and you will want to give yourself a fighting chance from the beginning to achieve them. The Miracle Equation by Hal Elrod and The One Thing by Gary Keller are highly recommended reads for this topic.
If you are married, communicate, communicate, and communicate some more with your spouse on your plan before you burn the ships. It is important that you and your spouse work together as a team. Times will get tough and you will want your spouse behind you 100%. If you are not married, there are probably still others whose opinion matters to you. Lean on these people for emotional support in your journey. If they do not support you, calmly listen to their reasoning with an open mind. If you still feel passionate about moving forward in your new ventures, find others who will support you. At the very least, our support team and forums are here for encouragement!
Many people are scared to burn the ships of their corporate careers for fear of losing their health insurance from their employer. This may or may not be a justified concern. However, without at least assessing your current health situation against what other insurance options might be available in the market, it would be ignorant to say that you are bound to a corporation's health insurance benefits. Write down the pros and cons of burning the ships of your corporate career with regard to health insurance. Yes, your health insurance will undoubtedly be more expensive as an entrepreneur, but when considering the potential freedoms to come in your personal and financial life, these increased costs may end up being an insignificant factor.
For those whose household contains a single wage earner, this one is important to consider before burning the ships of your corporate career. Once you leave your W2 corporate income behind, bank institutions are significantly less likely to lend until your entrepreneurial income becomes stable and consistent. This is no problem if your plans included buying a house or car with cash. However, if you were planning to obtain a mortgage or finance that new ride after the ships have been burned, make sure to plan accordingly.
Ultimately, burning the ships of your corporate career has to be your decision. However, before jumping into entrepreneurship, it’s worth your time to seek out mentors in your desired field. Mentors are valuable resources for entrepreneurs, especially if you’re starting a business for the first time. Many successful entrepreneurs have owned multiple businesses, which has led them to a wealth of knowledge and learning experiences. They can help by providing advice, perspective, guidance, and typically have an extended network of contacts and resources you can take advantage of when building up the infrastructure of your business. If you find a mentor you admire and trust, they might lead you down the right path for years to come.
For the spiritual looking to burn the ships of their corporate career, mentorship can also come from prayer. Pray you make wise decisions for you and your family that glorifies your Creator. Once you receive this wisdom and have acted on it, do not look back!
Whether it's two weeks, four weeks, or two months, make sure to provide the appropriate amount of notice to your employer before departing. Most people will tell you that it’s standard practice to give your employer two weeks notice before you leave, but that’s actually the minimum amount of notice you should give them. A more reasonable notice might be three to four weeks before you officially leave for good, which would allow your employer to spend more time finding a best-fit replacement for you.
If you don’t know the optimal amount of notice you should give, follow your company’s policy about resigning, or take note of the amount of notice other employees gave before they left. If you’re a manager, you need to give your employer even more time to find your replacement, as management is a challenging role to replace. According to Leonard Schlesinger, a Professor at Harvard Business School, managers should submit their resignation letter four to six weeks before they leave.
Maintaining your productivity and motivation will prove to your manager and colleagues that you’re a responsible and accountable professional. This will leave a strong lasting impression. If the last thing your colleagues observe about you is that you stayed dedicated and engaged at work, even though you were moving on to new ventures, they’ll remember you as the person who was committed to finishing what they started.
If you slack off during your final weeks, especially when your team is working on a big project or if you have several important tasks to finish, you’ll leave your team with the burden of completing your unfinished work and a negative last impression of your character.
Unleashing an emotional burst of criticism toward your manager or human resources might feel great in the moment, especially if you’ve had a rocky relationship with your manager. However, your eruption could wound their self-esteem and anger them, changing their opinion of you, and ruining the future references or business they could give you.
During your exit interview, try to focus on the positives of your experience and constructively voice your concerns about the company, team, or your manager. You do not want to spark any backlash. There is just nothing you can gain from it. You are already leaving the organization.
Before you depart, you might want to consider sending out your personal email address to your colleagues and request to keep in touch. As you burn the ships of your corporate career and venture into entrepreneurship, these relationships could provide your business an extra boost. This boost could be increased sales or even a future business relationship, if you have earned the trust of your employer and colleagues. People like to work with the ones they know and trust.
You have created a game plan and burned the ships of your corporate career. Congratulations! Breathe... everything will be okay. We are primed to conquer and build our personal and financial freedoms. In Step 1, we discussed creating a detailed schedule for your week. Now is the time to begin executing. Though, as you get into a groove, your schedule will inevitably need to change. This is normal as we begin to discover the work and life rhythms of our new ventures. Adjust your schedule accordingly, just make sure not to ditch it. Now is not the time to lose focus on your goals.
Creating goals is an important step to being successful. However, it goes much deeper. According to research performed by Dr. Gail Matthews of Dominican University of California, individuals with written goals were 39.5% more likely to succeed than those that did not. Even more astonishing is that individuals who wrote their goals and sent progress reports to friends were 76.7% more likely to achieve them. Write out your goals, send people within your support group progress reports, and have them keep you accountable for these goals!
No matter how great your business idea may be, its success depends on other people. After all, they will be the ones providing your income, whether directly or indirectly. Without a strong network, you will reach the ceiling of your business very quickly. You can network by joining a mastermind group or other meet-ups in your industry. Social media is also a great place to provide value and build trust with your customers (read Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk). Don't forget to check in with your mentors!
It has been said that you cannot improve what you do not measure. Make sure to set aside time to periodically assess your personal and work related goals. This could mean analyzing your sales growth, tracking your net worth and your income, or even how many date nights a month you have with your spouse. Whatever numerical metrics you have, review them.
Before burning the ships of your corporate career, you must have an understanding of your "why?" What is your driving force? Is it personal freedom to spend time with the family? Is it financial freedom so you can donate more time at your local food bank? Whatever your "why?" is, make sure to keep it in focus and it will serve as your guide moving forward. Check in regularly with yourself to see if you are staying true to your "why?" Doing so will allow you the greatest opportunity to enjoy your new personal and financial freedom!
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