9. How To Secure Your Financial Future as an Entrepreneur
When thinking about starting your own business, you're probably worried about no longer having the safety of your regular, steady paycheck. The thought of walking away from your corporate salary feels terrifying. I know it did for me early on. But that financial fear is just one of the mindset obstacles holding you back from the life-changing success you're capable of achieving. And there are more.
How do you become aware of the mental money myths stopping you from creating the business and life of your dreams? And how can you prepare yourself for entrepreneurship in a way that prevents you from getting stuck in the belief that starting your own business is just too much of a risk? Listen in today to find out.
If you believe transitioning to entrepreneurship means risking your financial future, don’t miss this episode, as I help you transform your relationship with money and step confidently away from the scarcity mindset of corporate security. You’ll learn practical strategies for building a financial runway for your transition into entrepreneurship, so you can start creating from a place of abundance instead of getting stuck in fear of the unknown.
Are you a mom who is ready to quit their job and get serious about starting their own business? I have just the thing for you! My free webinar From Corporate to Creator: A Roadmap for Moms Ready to Build a Business takes place on Thursday, August 1st, 2024, and will give you a 5 step process to help you take action. It’s my last live event before maternity leave, so don’t miss it! Click here to grab your spot now.
If you're looking for the right environment to start your networking journey, look no further than my group, the Mom Entrepreneurs Circle. Join us for mutual support, advice sharing, and the tools you need for both you and your business to thrive. We meet on the 2nd Thursday of each month and participation is totally free!
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
The biggest money myths and obstacles keeping you stuck.
Why leaving your corporate job isn't necessarily financially irresponsible.
How to see where you're operating from a scarcity mindset around your current financial situation.
The big conversations you need to start having about money and your family finances.
How to start getting practical in decoding the factual reality of your finances, instead of getting stuck in your fears.
My tips for leveraging a side hustle in your early days as an entrepreneur.
Practical strategies for making the transition into entrepreneurship less of a leap of faith and more of a calculated process you can trust in.
Listen to the Full Episode:
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If you're looking for more support, check out my free Mom Entrepreneurs Circle. We meet monthly and you can click here to sign up!
3. When to Quit Your Job: The Importance of a Departure Date
8. Managing Your Mind: The Secret Weapon for Building Your Business
Full Episode Transcript:
When you transition to entrepreneurship, you’re gaining so much more than just a paycheck. You’re gaining flexibility, which is the ability to structure your work around your life and not the other way around. You’re gaining time, more precious moments with your family and for self-care. You’re probably gaining purpose, the deep satisfaction of building something that aligns with your values.
Welcome to How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. It’s a podcast that helps working moms just like you, optimize your time, manage your mind, and start a business that helps you create more freedom, flexibility, and, yes, fun. I’m business and mindset coach Jenna Rykiel. And I offer practical tips to help you ditch the nine-to-five. I have been exactly where you are, and I know what it takes to make the transition without trading one form of burnout for another. So, let’s get started.
Hey, mom friends, I know you’re out there scrolling through job listings late at night, and even during work hours on your work computer. You’re desperately searching for an escape route from your demanding nine to five. You’re probably torn between the security of that biweekly paycheck and the burning desire to build something of your own so you can have freedom and flexibility in your work. The thought of walking away from a corporate salary to pursue entrepreneurship feels terrifying. I know, it did for me.
But honestly, that financial fear is one of the mindset obstacles that’s holding you back from the life-changing success you’re capable of achieving. In today’s episode, we’re going to uncover and understand some of the mental money myths and arm you with practical strategies to start building a financial runway for your future transition. Get ready to transform your relationship with money and step confidently away from a scarcity mindset so you can start creating from a place of abundance rather than stalled by different flavors of fear.
Let’s start by addressing the obvious obstacle, that nagging voice telling you that leaving your job is financially irresponsible because here’s the truth. For most of us, money anxiety is based on assumptions, not facts. We use phrases like, I can’t afford to leave without actually crunching the numbers. So, I want to ask you a powerful question that changed everything for me when I was planning my own exit strategy.
If you lost your job today, no more income on your end, how many months could you and your family survive without changing anything about your life? Can you answer that question with confidence in this moment? If not, don’t worry, you’re not alone. But this knowledge gap is precisely what’s fueling so much of your fears and keeping you stuck. It’s time to get intimately acquainted with your financial reality in order to start this process of being practical about setting yourself up for financial success rather than either staying stagnant or burning it all down without a plan, both of which I don’t recommend.
You need to take time to look at your savings accounts, your investments, your monthly expenses, everything. And this may take longer for some than others, depending on how involved you’ve been in the family finances up to this point. Personally, I’ve always been obsessed unhealthily, if that’s a word, obsessed with money. Until recently, after lots of mind management around my ingrained money beliefs I operated from a scarcity mindset riddled with fear.
No matter what the number was in my bank account, it was not enough. All I could think about were the what ifs around future potential emergencies, future unknowns. And especially the uncertainty around retirement and not knowing how much we need to put away now for when we’re in our sixties. For better or worse, this also meant that I religiously checked my accounts almost daily, checking how much is in, making sure no rogue charges were on any of my credit cards. It was absolutely exhausting.
I share this because as my grip and obsession on seeing every dollar enter and exit my accounts loosened, I checked my accounts less per day. But I still had a good understanding of how much we had in cash and investments and how much we were spending on a monthly and yearly basis. My husband and I look at and talk about finances in depth on a monthly basis so that we can consistently answer questions like the one I just posed. And you’re likely starting from a different vantage point with your finances.
And no matter where your level of awareness or knowledge is today, it’s perfectly okay. But today or this week is when you’ll start replacing fears with facts. Get to a place where you understand what your family on average spends on a monthly and yearly basis, year over year. If you have a partner who contributes to the family financially, understand their contribution, how it increases on average. What parts of it are stable and what parts of it are unstable, especially if they work under a bonus structure or are in a fluctuating industry.
You’ll want to know how much you have in available cash and what’s available in stocks, investments, 401(k) accounts and even assets. When Chris and I lived in Denver we bought an apartment that we lived in for a while. And when we moved back to Maryland, we ended up renting the apartment so that we could afford to keep it. On multiple occasions, we have had conversations about worst case scenarios where if we got to a certain point in our businesses or if certain emergencies came to fruition, how we’d sell the condo and how that extra cash would factor into our financial planning.
You need to be having these big conversations about money. If money is holding you back from starting your own business you especially need to know the facts of your financial situation. You might be surprised by what you discover. Maybe you’ve been steadily contributing to that 401(k) for years without really noticing. Perhaps you have some investments that have quietly grown, or maybe you’ll realize that you’ve been paying for a few extra monthly subscriptions or memberships that you no longer use and can cancel.
Whatever you uncover, I promise you this, clarity and knowledge is power. Once you have a true picture of your financial landscape you can make informed decisions about your future rather than choices that are based on fear and assumptions. In episode eight we talked in depth about why our beautiful brain worries about these things, because it wants to keep us safe. And one of the antidotes to that anxiety is knowledge. By facing your financial reality head on, you’re taking a first crucial step towards building the life you truly want.
And this knowledge isn’t just important for preparing your financial runway. It’s also important for business decisions and understanding what goals make sense to set for yourself to stay on track and to retire at a certain age or to be able to go on a big family trip each year. It’s going to be different for everyone, depending on where you are, what your financial situation is and how you define success. But what’s 100% true for all of us on this journey is that you need to know very intimately your current financial landscape.
Okay, now that you know you need a clear understanding of your finances let’s talk about a few strategies for making the step into entrepreneurship less of a leap of faith and more of a calculated process. The first strategy is the nest egg approach. It’s having a separate savings account, steadily growing, dedicated solely to funding your transition out of corporate. This isn’t just about stockpiling cash, it’s about buying yourself peace of mind and the freedom to pursue your passion without immediate financial pressure. But here’s where many aspiring entrepreneurs get stuck.
They set an arbitrary, often unrealistic savings goal, or they keep moving the goal post so that the nest egg becomes another excuse to delay their dreams. We are not going to fall into that trap. Your nest egg should be tailored to your specific situation, and I want you to consider a few things. First, your current expenses, I like to look at both monthly and yearly like I just discussed.
Number two, how long you want to go without financial strain on your family. Remember, in episode three I talked about picking a transition date and I talked about my own experience where it was important to me that there wasn’t pressure for my business to bring in revenue until at least a year. Now, did I try and succeed at bringing in money sooner? Yes, but I didn’t want to be desperate for that income knowing my family needed it. That’s not an energy that helps to create successful outcomes. So, I want you to consider how long you want to go without financial strain on your business or on your family.
And then the third thing is a realistic timeline for savings. We don’t want it to be a 10 year savings plan because so much changes in 10 years. And you’re going to be exhausted if you stay in your job for 10 more years and your kids are going to be grown. So, we don’t want that. So, we want to pick a realistic timeline for saving.
Let’s break this down with a practical example. Say your family’s monthly expenses are 5,000 and you want a six month runway before you need to start generating income from your business. That means your initial nest egg target would be 30,000. Now, if you’re currently earning 100,000 a year and can realistically save 20% of your income. You could potentially reach that goal in about a year and a half, but remember this isn’t set in stone. You might find ways to accelerate your savings or adjust your target based on your comfort level.
If your family’s monthly expenses are 5,000 and you have a partner that brings in 10,000 at their job each month. Then there’s a ton of flexibility in the nest egg conversation. Maybe there’s an opportunity to cut back on what’s being contributed to the retirement savings for maybe a year while the business is being built. Can the nest egg really be closer to 10,000 versus the full 30,000 if the family expenses are more than covered on a monthly basis by a partner’s income? Can we make decisions like waiting on home renovations for a year or two while the business is being built?
I can’t answer these questions for you, but I know that these are important questions to ask out loud. And if you’re a single parent, it’s definitely worthwhile to speak to a financial advisor to get a second opinion on both of the landscape and trajectory of your finances when considering a big career change. I mean I recommend having these conversations whether you’re a single parent or in a partnership with a professional. But especially you want to be having these conversations regularly at least with the partner in your household.
There’s also a really brilliant strategy I learned from a fellow mom entrepreneur that combines saving with a real world test drive of your new financial reality. And she did this, and it makes so much sense, so I definitely want to share it. Six months before her planned exit date, she started direct depositing her entire paycheck into a separate savings account. She and her husband lived solely off his income during that six month time. This approach was genius for her for two reasons. It supercharged her savings in those final months, and it gave her a taste of what life would be like on a reduced income.
And this allowed her to identify areas where they might be able to cut back, adjust spending, or be able to say, “Wow, it’s not possible for us to live off of one income. I need to save more.” If you find that it’s not possible to completely remove your income and feel comfortable as a family with the finances. So, I’d love for you to take action this week and maybe open a dedicated Freedom Fund savings account. Set up an automatic transfer, even if it’s just $50 to start. And I want you to begin building your nest egg if you want that to be a part of your transition plan.
As you learn more about your financial landscape, find ways to increase the amount going in and maybe even find places that you can redistribute funds into that account. Let’s say you have a streaming service that you basically never use. Maybe you cancel that and put the extra $10 or $15 a month into the Freedom Fund. Maybe you’re able to sell a bunch of old clothes or baby toys and put the proceeds into the Freedom Fund. Get creative, but start building that financial runway today but again, it’s only if you need it. And we’ll talk about how you can decide whether you truly need it in just a few minutes.
Now, I can already hear some of you saying, “Jenna, I don’t have time to save for months or years. I’m burnt out now. My kids aren’t getting any younger and I’m missing out on bedtime and summer fun now.” Don’t worry, I’ve got another powerful strategy to share, what I like to call the side hustle solution and here’s the beautiful truth about side hustles. They are not just about making extra cash, although that’s a fantastic benefit. They’re about proving to yourself that you can generate income outside of your corporate paycheck. That mindset shift is absolutely crucial for new entrepreneurs.
And I want to be clear that even though we call it a side hustle, it does not mean that you need to be hustling. You can make money without hustling and killing yourself in the process, but I also know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, between my demanding job, the kids’ activities and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life, where am I supposed to find time for a side hustle? And here’s my tough love moment.
If building a life you love is truly important to you, you will find the time. It might mean waking up an hour earlier, working during your lunch break, or dedicating a few hours on weekends to it. But remember, this is temporary discomfort that will benefit you and your family in the long term. And trust me, it can also be fun along the way. Lord knows us moms need more fun in our lives and something that we can build that has nothing to do with being a mom or a partner, but some other badass identity that we’re creating for ourselves.
And the good news is that in today’s digital age, the options for side hustles are virtually limitless. You don’t need to launch a full-fledged business right away. You can consider platforms like Fiverr or Upwork for freelance services. There’s Airbnb for renting out rooms, Uber or Lyft for flexible driving gigs, Amazon, Etsy for selling handmade or curated products and there’s tons of other things beyond that. The possibilities are limitless.
And I know that I talked about a ton of other options in episode six. So go back and listen to that one for a refresher or to get the juices flowing. And also check back to episode number five for the how to create time and energy to actually build your business. Take those tips and tricks and apply them to the side hustle.
One of my dearest friends recently shared that she’s started monetizing her TikTok account. I had so many questions about it, but it really is that the possibilities are endless, money is everywhere. And like I said in episode six, you might be pleasantly surprised by what skills or assets you already have that people are willing to pay for.
A fellow mom entrepreneur that I’ve had many wonderful conversations with and would love to have on the podcast for her expertise in social media, started offering social media management services when she was laid off from her full-time job. And as she was looking for that next stable thing, she was also building her business Oh Snap! Social. She ended up finding something that felt more like a stable paycheck, but she kept the clients and business she started on the side.
And her and I have talked at length about the illusion of security at corporate companies because of the rate at which layoffs happen. So, I’ll definitely have to invite her onto the show to talk more about her entire journey and that since I know it’s an unfortunate reality for so many moms. She describes herself as incredibly risk averse, even to this day, where Oh Snap! Social is her full-time role. But there was a period of a few years where she was both working full-time and running her business and all the income that she made from her business was put towards her nest egg.
By the time she went all in on Oh Snap! Social, she was able to build a pretty substantial business. She had a number of dedicated clients that she could depend on and a nest egg of about 25K. And though she admits the process of doing both for a stretch was hard, she’s the first to advocate for and celebrate the flexibility that the hard work now provides for her. Her business is incredibly successful, and she has multiple employees who work for her now.
If you have been thinking about a side hustle, something that can get you warmed up in the entrepreneurial world, I want you to take time and maybe write down five potential ideas that align with your skills, interests, and available time. Choose just one and take a concrete step towards making it happen. Remember, the goal here isn’t to replace your full-time income or build a six figure nest egg overnight. It’s to prove to yourself that you have valuable skills, and that people are willing to pay for them outside of your corporate role.
As we dive deeper into this financial journey, it’s crucial to address a common misconception that success in entrepreneurship means immediately replacing or exceeding your corporate salary. Let me be clear, that overnight kind of success is rare. Most entrepreneurs, even highly successful ones, take a few years to match or surpass their previous income, especially coming from leadership positions like many of us did. But the exciting part is that the potential for growth is limitless when you’re building your own business.
If you truly believed in that for yourself, not just that it was something that unicorns other than you can do, how would that change your actions now? But more importantly, we need to expand our definition of success beyond just dollar signs. When you transition to entrepreneurship, you’re gaining so much more than just a paycheck. You’re gaining flexibility, which is the ability to structure your work around your life and not the other way around. You’re gaining time, more precious moments with your family and for self-care.
You’re probably gaining purpose, the deep satisfaction of building something that aligns with your values and truly contributes value to the world. And you’re growing, constant learning and personal development as you navigate new challenges. It’s incredibly hard to put a dollar sign on those things, but they are worth their weight in gold, whatever that means. I’ve never really understood that saying. But honestly, sometimes you also can put a dollar sign on these things.
I want to share a personal example of how this plays out in real life for me, and I know I’ve shared a little bit about this before. My husband and I are both entrepreneurs and we have structured our work week so that I don’t work on Mondays, and he doesn’t work on Fridays. This arrangement allows us to have our son Adley in daycare only three days a week and that has a positive financial impact for the family. We’re saving about $1,000 a month on childcare costs. And the real value goes far beyond that.
I get to spend Mondays at the pool or botanical gardens with my son creating memories and adventures. My family can also easily take five day weekend trips without scrambling for childcare. And earlier this year we spent a month in Argentina improving our Spanish skills and exploring Patagonia on the weekend which was literally priceless. Granted, we paid for childcare there so my husband and I could continue working, but childcare costs in Argentina were a lot more affordable than in the US. But these experiences, this flexibility, you can’t put a price tag on them.
And I know there are things in your life you can’t put a price tag on. Maybe it’s being able to visit family out of town more often. Maybe it’s being able to take care of your body more consistently. There are things that flexibility and freedom will allow for you when it comes to how you spend your time and how we spend our time is what creates our life. So, this leads to a question about success and how you measure success. What is success for you? Does money and income define success for you in your household or is there more to it than that? What experiences do you want to have? How do you want to spend your time?
To what degree does your life align with those visions? As we wrap up our strategies, I want to address perhaps the most crucial element of all, your money mindset because here’s the truth. All the practical strategies in the world won’t help if you’re still operating from a place of financial fear and scarcity. And I want to share another more personal story that illustrates just how powerful and limiting our thoughts about money can be.
So back in 2015, my husband and I decided to quit our jobs and travel for a year. I had been saving religiously since I was 14, squirreling away every penny I could, and I even lived with my parents the year before we left. This was, of course, pre kids, and we had a detailed budget, tracking every single expense down to the cent. And one day in Thailand I remember my husband gave 40 baht, which was equivalent to 50 cents at the time to a man who was begging. And I’m embarrassed to say that I completely freaked out. In my mind that 50 cents was going to be the difference between us making it through our trip or running out of money.
We argued about money constantly on the trip, me fighting for us to stay in the cheapest accommodations and advocating for the lowest cost itineraries in every location, all 19 countries. And him being more realistic and being the one who kept reminding me that this was a once in a lifetime experience and we had saved enough money to enjoy ourselves. Looking back now, it’s laughable.
We ended up spending just $28,000 for the entire year. That’s $14,000 per person which is less than what either of us had been paying in rent alone in Baltimore before we left, and well under what we had been saving for the previous decade for emergencies and a rainy day that never came. But in that moment, or the many moments of the trip, my scarcity mindset was so strong that I couldn’t see the bigger picture. I couldn’t trust in our ability to be resourceful, to figure things out, to create more money if we needed it. And it wasn’t like we were draining our entire savings.
Sometimes even when we have a cushion, we create stories that prevent us from using it to benefit us long term. And that experience taught me a couple of powerful lessons. The first is that money is just a tool. It’s to be used and while being intentional with how it’s used is of utmost importance, it’s a resource that will help us create a life that we love and experience life and the world in a meaningful way. But none of that can happen if it just sits squirreled away as a safety net, as a cushion.
And no, I’m not advocating for draining your entire savings and disregarding the need to put money towards retirement. But what I am advocating for is using money as a tool to start a business so that you can make more money down the road. No good comes from a scarcity mindset. We want to think about money in our lives as abundant.
The next thing that it taught me is that money is neutral until we assign meaning to it. Whether I had 100K in my savings for that trip or 14K in my savings for that trip, it was not going to be enough. I know that now after many years of thought work around money, the number itself is completely neutral until I have a thought about it. And if that sounds hard to digest, go back and listen to last week’s episode where I talk a lot about mindset and perspective.
The truth is that, while we might tell ourselves that there’s a specific number that will help us to feel secure. I find that for most of the people I work with, who all generally struggle with money beliefs because it’s almost universal in this society, no number truly brings security. The goalpost keeps moving once we reach it because we realize that the number no longer feels secure once we get there. And why does that happen? Because security comes from how we’re thinking about the number, not the number itself. And it’s really hard to change our default thinking. Again, revisit last week for some deeper dives on this.
More security is going to come from a belief in your ability to be resourceful and create money than in a number in your bank account, I promise. How we think about money can absolutely empower us or it can absolutely hold us back. But the beautiful thing is that we can change how we think about money, and we can change our beliefs around what we need in order to feel secure.
So, here’s some mindset shifts I want you to start practicing. Instead of thinking I can’t afford to leave my job, try thinking how can I create the financial conditions to make this transition possible? Instead of what if I fail and run out of money, consider, what if I succeed beyond my wildest dreams? Instead of, I’m not good with money, maybe say I’m learning more about my financial landscape every day.
Remember, your ability to make money doesn’t disappear when you leave your corporate job. In fact, as an entrepreneur, your earning potential is limited only by the amount to which you succumb to various fears and doubts that spring up along the way. You can make money on your own terms. So many moms have figured it out and you are no different. I like to remind myself of that and I remind all my clients of that all the time because it’s true. You’re smart, capable and determined. You just need to get out of your own comfort zone.
So, moving forward, in order to create this financial blueprint, I want you to do a few things. I want you to get crystal clear on your current financial picture. Knowledge is power and understanding your true financial situation will help you make informed decisions.
The second thing is, this week I want you to start building a Freedom Fund if building a nest egg before you leave is part of your strategy. Determine how much runway you need and start saving strategically. Potentially even practice living on a reduced income like my good friend tried before leaving your job.
The third thing that I want you to do, I also would love for you to explore the side hustle solution. Prove to yourself that you can make money outside of your nine to five and build confidence in your entrepreneurial skills. Remember, just because we call it a side hustle does not mean it has to be a hustle. I also want you to think critically about redefining what success means for you, beyond just financial metrics. Consider the value of flexibility, of time, of purpose, and personal growth in your new life.
Lastly, I want you to go back and listen to episode eight and work on transforming your money mindset from scarcity to abundance, challenge limiting beliefs, and cultivate an empowering relationship with money. What goes on between our ears is the difference between staying stagnant and miserable and taking action towards building a life we love, so this is the most important piece. Remember, building a financial runway isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about creating confidence and security.
And honestly, it might be the case that you can be confident and truly secure right now without a lot of time and effort invested in building a financial runway. For some of you, it may just be changing the way you think. By implementing these strategies and shifting your mindset, you’re not just preparing financially, you’re setting yourself up for long term success and fulfillment. I know this journey can feel overwhelming, but I want you to know that you’re not alone.
Each episode of this podcast is designed to give you the tools and strategies and mindset shifts that you need to create the life and business you’ve been dreaming of. Your homework this week is to take one concrete step towards building your financial runway, whether that’s sitting down to review your finances, opening that Freedom Fund, brainstorming side hustles, take action. No step is too small, and every action builds momentum.
Remember, this isn’t about making a reckless leap. It’s about building a strong foundation step by step that will support you and your family as you transition into entrepreneurship. Trust the process, and stay committed to your vision and keep tuning in, of course. So, until next time, keep dreaming big, taking bold action. Your future self will thank you for the steps you’re taking today. And I will see you next Wednesday.
Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. If you want to learn more about how I can help you stop making excuses and start making moves, head on over to www.jenna.coach. I’ll see you next week.
Welcome to How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. It’s a podcast that helps working moms just like you, optimize your time, manage your mind, and start a business that helps you create more freedom, flexibility, and, yes, fun. I’m business and mindset coach Jenna Rykiel. And I offer practical tips to help you ditch the nine-to-five. I have been exactly where you are, and I know what it takes to make the transition without trading one form of burnout for another. So, let’s get started.
Hey, mom friends, I know you’re out there scrolling through job listings late at night, and even during work hours on your work computer. You’re desperately searching for an escape route from your demanding nine to five. You’re probably torn between the security of that biweekly paycheck and the burning desire to build something of your own so you can have freedom and flexibility in your work. The thought of walking away from a corporate salary to pursue entrepreneurship feels terrifying. I know, it did for me.
But honestly, that financial fear is one of the mindset obstacles that’s holding you back from the life-changing success you’re capable of achieving. In today’s episode, we’re going to uncover and understand some of the mental money myths and arm you with practical strategies to start building a financial runway for your future transition. Get ready to transform your relationship with money and step confidently away from a scarcity mindset so you can start creating from a place of abundance rather than stalled by different flavors of fear.
Let’s start by addressing the obvious obstacle, that nagging voice telling you that leaving your job is financially irresponsible because here’s the truth. For most of us, money anxiety is based on assumptions, not facts. We use phrases like, I can’t afford to leave without actually crunching the numbers. So, I want to ask you a powerful question that changed everything for me when I was planning my own exit strategy.
If you lost your job today, no more income on your end, how many months could you and your family survive without changing anything about your life? Can you answer that question with confidence in this moment? If not, don’t worry, you’re not alone. But this knowledge gap is precisely what’s fueling so much of your fears and keeping you stuck. It’s time to get intimately acquainted with your financial reality in order to start this process of being practical about setting yourself up for financial success rather than either staying stagnant or burning it all down without a plan, both of which I don’t recommend.
You need to take time to look at your savings accounts, your investments, your monthly expenses, everything. And this may take longer for some than others, depending on how involved you’ve been in the family finances up to this point. Personally, I’ve always been obsessed unhealthily, if that’s a word, obsessed with money. Until recently, after lots of mind management around my ingrained money beliefs I operated from a scarcity mindset riddled with fear.
No matter what the number was in my bank account, it was not enough. All I could think about were the what ifs around future potential emergencies, future unknowns. And especially the uncertainty around retirement and not knowing how much we need to put away now for when we’re in our sixties. For better or worse, this also meant that I religiously checked my accounts almost daily, checking how much is in, making sure no rogue charges were on any of my credit cards. It was absolutely exhausting.
I share this because as my grip and obsession on seeing every dollar enter and exit my accounts loosened, I checked my accounts less per day. But I still had a good understanding of how much we had in cash and investments and how much we were spending on a monthly and yearly basis. My husband and I look at and talk about finances in depth on a monthly basis so that we can consistently answer questions like the one I just posed. And you’re likely starting from a different vantage point with your finances.
And no matter where your level of awareness or knowledge is today, it’s perfectly okay. But today or this week is when you’ll start replacing fears with facts. Get to a place where you understand what your family on average spends on a monthly and yearly basis, year over year. If you have a partner who contributes to the family financially, understand their contribution, how it increases on average. What parts of it are stable and what parts of it are unstable, especially if they work under a bonus structure or are in a fluctuating industry.
You’ll want to know how much you have in available cash and what’s available in stocks, investments, 401(k) accounts and even assets. When Chris and I lived in Denver we bought an apartment that we lived in for a while. And when we moved back to Maryland, we ended up renting the apartment so that we could afford to keep it. On multiple occasions, we have had conversations about worst case scenarios where if we got to a certain point in our businesses or if certain emergencies came to fruition, how we’d sell the condo and how that extra cash would factor into our financial planning.
You need to be having these big conversations about money. If money is holding you back from starting your own business you especially need to know the facts of your financial situation. You might be surprised by what you discover. Maybe you’ve been steadily contributing to that 401(k) for years without really noticing. Perhaps you have some investments that have quietly grown, or maybe you’ll realize that you’ve been paying for a few extra monthly subscriptions or memberships that you no longer use and can cancel.
Whatever you uncover, I promise you this, clarity and knowledge is power. Once you have a true picture of your financial landscape you can make informed decisions about your future rather than choices that are based on fear and assumptions. In episode eight we talked in depth about why our beautiful brain worries about these things, because it wants to keep us safe. And one of the antidotes to that anxiety is knowledge. By facing your financial reality head on, you’re taking a first crucial step towards building the life you truly want.
And this knowledge isn’t just important for preparing your financial runway. It’s also important for business decisions and understanding what goals make sense to set for yourself to stay on track and to retire at a certain age or to be able to go on a big family trip each year. It’s going to be different for everyone, depending on where you are, what your financial situation is and how you define success. But what’s 100% true for all of us on this journey is that you need to know very intimately your current financial landscape.
Okay, now that you know you need a clear understanding of your finances let’s talk about a few strategies for making the step into entrepreneurship less of a leap of faith and more of a calculated process. The first strategy is the nest egg approach. It’s having a separate savings account, steadily growing, dedicated solely to funding your transition out of corporate. This isn’t just about stockpiling cash, it’s about buying yourself peace of mind and the freedom to pursue your passion without immediate financial pressure. But here’s where many aspiring entrepreneurs get stuck.
They set an arbitrary, often unrealistic savings goal, or they keep moving the goal post so that the nest egg becomes another excuse to delay their dreams. We are not going to fall into that trap. Your nest egg should be tailored to your specific situation, and I want you to consider a few things. First, your current expenses, I like to look at both monthly and yearly like I just discussed.
Number two, how long you want to go without financial strain on your family. Remember, in episode three I talked about picking a transition date and I talked about my own experience where it was important to me that there wasn’t pressure for my business to bring in revenue until at least a year. Now, did I try and succeed at bringing in money sooner? Yes, but I didn’t want to be desperate for that income knowing my family needed it. That’s not an energy that helps to create successful outcomes. So, I want you to consider how long you want to go without financial strain on your business or on your family.
And then the third thing is a realistic timeline for savings. We don’t want it to be a 10 year savings plan because so much changes in 10 years. And you’re going to be exhausted if you stay in your job for 10 more years and your kids are going to be grown. So, we don’t want that. So, we want to pick a realistic timeline for saving.
Let’s break this down with a practical example. Say your family’s monthly expenses are 5,000 and you want a six month runway before you need to start generating income from your business. That means your initial nest egg target would be 30,000. Now, if you’re currently earning 100,000 a year and can realistically save 20% of your income. You could potentially reach that goal in about a year and a half, but remember this isn’t set in stone. You might find ways to accelerate your savings or adjust your target based on your comfort level.
If your family’s monthly expenses are 5,000 and you have a partner that brings in 10,000 at their job each month. Then there’s a ton of flexibility in the nest egg conversation. Maybe there’s an opportunity to cut back on what’s being contributed to the retirement savings for maybe a year while the business is being built. Can the nest egg really be closer to 10,000 versus the full 30,000 if the family expenses are more than covered on a monthly basis by a partner’s income? Can we make decisions like waiting on home renovations for a year or two while the business is being built?
I can’t answer these questions for you, but I know that these are important questions to ask out loud. And if you’re a single parent, it’s definitely worthwhile to speak to a financial advisor to get a second opinion on both of the landscape and trajectory of your finances when considering a big career change. I mean I recommend having these conversations whether you’re a single parent or in a partnership with a professional. But especially you want to be having these conversations regularly at least with the partner in your household.
There’s also a really brilliant strategy I learned from a fellow mom entrepreneur that combines saving with a real world test drive of your new financial reality. And she did this, and it makes so much sense, so I definitely want to share it. Six months before her planned exit date, she started direct depositing her entire paycheck into a separate savings account. She and her husband lived solely off his income during that six month time. This approach was genius for her for two reasons. It supercharged her savings in those final months, and it gave her a taste of what life would be like on a reduced income.
And this allowed her to identify areas where they might be able to cut back, adjust spending, or be able to say, “Wow, it’s not possible for us to live off of one income. I need to save more.” If you find that it’s not possible to completely remove your income and feel comfortable as a family with the finances. So, I’d love for you to take action this week and maybe open a dedicated Freedom Fund savings account. Set up an automatic transfer, even if it’s just $50 to start. And I want you to begin building your nest egg if you want that to be a part of your transition plan.
As you learn more about your financial landscape, find ways to increase the amount going in and maybe even find places that you can redistribute funds into that account. Let’s say you have a streaming service that you basically never use. Maybe you cancel that and put the extra $10 or $15 a month into the Freedom Fund. Maybe you’re able to sell a bunch of old clothes or baby toys and put the proceeds into the Freedom Fund. Get creative, but start building that financial runway today but again, it’s only if you need it. And we’ll talk about how you can decide whether you truly need it in just a few minutes.
Now, I can already hear some of you saying, “Jenna, I don’t have time to save for months or years. I’m burnt out now. My kids aren’t getting any younger and I’m missing out on bedtime and summer fun now.” Don’t worry, I’ve got another powerful strategy to share, what I like to call the side hustle solution and here’s the beautiful truth about side hustles. They are not just about making extra cash, although that’s a fantastic benefit. They’re about proving to yourself that you can generate income outside of your corporate paycheck. That mindset shift is absolutely crucial for new entrepreneurs.
And I want to be clear that even though we call it a side hustle, it does not mean that you need to be hustling. You can make money without hustling and killing yourself in the process, but I also know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, between my demanding job, the kids’ activities and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life, where am I supposed to find time for a side hustle? And here’s my tough love moment.
If building a life you love is truly important to you, you will find the time. It might mean waking up an hour earlier, working during your lunch break, or dedicating a few hours on weekends to it. But remember, this is temporary discomfort that will benefit you and your family in the long term. And trust me, it can also be fun along the way. Lord knows us moms need more fun in our lives and something that we can build that has nothing to do with being a mom or a partner, but some other badass identity that we’re creating for ourselves.
And the good news is that in today’s digital age, the options for side hustles are virtually limitless. You don’t need to launch a full-fledged business right away. You can consider platforms like Fiverr or Upwork for freelance services. There’s Airbnb for renting out rooms, Uber or Lyft for flexible driving gigs, Amazon, Etsy for selling handmade or curated products and there’s tons of other things beyond that. The possibilities are limitless.
And I know that I talked about a ton of other options in episode six. So go back and listen to that one for a refresher or to get the juices flowing. And also check back to episode number five for the how to create time and energy to actually build your business. Take those tips and tricks and apply them to the side hustle.
One of my dearest friends recently shared that she’s started monetizing her TikTok account. I had so many questions about it, but it really is that the possibilities are endless, money is everywhere. And like I said in episode six, you might be pleasantly surprised by what skills or assets you already have that people are willing to pay for.
A fellow mom entrepreneur that I’ve had many wonderful conversations with and would love to have on the podcast for her expertise in social media, started offering social media management services when she was laid off from her full-time job. And as she was looking for that next stable thing, she was also building her business Oh Snap! Social. She ended up finding something that felt more like a stable paycheck, but she kept the clients and business she started on the side.
And her and I have talked at length about the illusion of security at corporate companies because of the rate at which layoffs happen. So, I’ll definitely have to invite her onto the show to talk more about her entire journey and that since I know it’s an unfortunate reality for so many moms. She describes herself as incredibly risk averse, even to this day, where Oh Snap! Social is her full-time role. But there was a period of a few years where she was both working full-time and running her business and all the income that she made from her business was put towards her nest egg.
By the time she went all in on Oh Snap! Social, she was able to build a pretty substantial business. She had a number of dedicated clients that she could depend on and a nest egg of about 25K. And though she admits the process of doing both for a stretch was hard, she’s the first to advocate for and celebrate the flexibility that the hard work now provides for her. Her business is incredibly successful, and she has multiple employees who work for her now.
If you have been thinking about a side hustle, something that can get you warmed up in the entrepreneurial world, I want you to take time and maybe write down five potential ideas that align with your skills, interests, and available time. Choose just one and take a concrete step towards making it happen. Remember, the goal here isn’t to replace your full-time income or build a six figure nest egg overnight. It’s to prove to yourself that you have valuable skills, and that people are willing to pay for them outside of your corporate role.
As we dive deeper into this financial journey, it’s crucial to address a common misconception that success in entrepreneurship means immediately replacing or exceeding your corporate salary. Let me be clear, that overnight kind of success is rare. Most entrepreneurs, even highly successful ones, take a few years to match or surpass their previous income, especially coming from leadership positions like many of us did. But the exciting part is that the potential for growth is limitless when you’re building your own business.
If you truly believed in that for yourself, not just that it was something that unicorns other than you can do, how would that change your actions now? But more importantly, we need to expand our definition of success beyond just dollar signs. When you transition to entrepreneurship, you’re gaining so much more than just a paycheck. You’re gaining flexibility, which is the ability to structure your work around your life and not the other way around. You’re gaining time, more precious moments with your family and for self-care.
You’re probably gaining purpose, the deep satisfaction of building something that aligns with your values and truly contributes value to the world. And you’re growing, constant learning and personal development as you navigate new challenges. It’s incredibly hard to put a dollar sign on those things, but they are worth their weight in gold, whatever that means. I’ve never really understood that saying. But honestly, sometimes you also can put a dollar sign on these things.
I want to share a personal example of how this plays out in real life for me, and I know I’ve shared a little bit about this before. My husband and I are both entrepreneurs and we have structured our work week so that I don’t work on Mondays, and he doesn’t work on Fridays. This arrangement allows us to have our son Adley in daycare only three days a week and that has a positive financial impact for the family. We’re saving about $1,000 a month on childcare costs. And the real value goes far beyond that.
I get to spend Mondays at the pool or botanical gardens with my son creating memories and adventures. My family can also easily take five day weekend trips without scrambling for childcare. And earlier this year we spent a month in Argentina improving our Spanish skills and exploring Patagonia on the weekend which was literally priceless. Granted, we paid for childcare there so my husband and I could continue working, but childcare costs in Argentina were a lot more affordable than in the US. But these experiences, this flexibility, you can’t put a price tag on them.
And I know there are things in your life you can’t put a price tag on. Maybe it’s being able to visit family out of town more often. Maybe it’s being able to take care of your body more consistently. There are things that flexibility and freedom will allow for you when it comes to how you spend your time and how we spend our time is what creates our life. So, this leads to a question about success and how you measure success. What is success for you? Does money and income define success for you in your household or is there more to it than that? What experiences do you want to have? How do you want to spend your time?
To what degree does your life align with those visions? As we wrap up our strategies, I want to address perhaps the most crucial element of all, your money mindset because here’s the truth. All the practical strategies in the world won’t help if you’re still operating from a place of financial fear and scarcity. And I want to share another more personal story that illustrates just how powerful and limiting our thoughts about money can be.
So back in 2015, my husband and I decided to quit our jobs and travel for a year. I had been saving religiously since I was 14, squirreling away every penny I could, and I even lived with my parents the year before we left. This was, of course, pre kids, and we had a detailed budget, tracking every single expense down to the cent. And one day in Thailand I remember my husband gave 40 baht, which was equivalent to 50 cents at the time to a man who was begging. And I’m embarrassed to say that I completely freaked out. In my mind that 50 cents was going to be the difference between us making it through our trip or running out of money.
We argued about money constantly on the trip, me fighting for us to stay in the cheapest accommodations and advocating for the lowest cost itineraries in every location, all 19 countries. And him being more realistic and being the one who kept reminding me that this was a once in a lifetime experience and we had saved enough money to enjoy ourselves. Looking back now, it’s laughable.
We ended up spending just $28,000 for the entire year. That’s $14,000 per person which is less than what either of us had been paying in rent alone in Baltimore before we left, and well under what we had been saving for the previous decade for emergencies and a rainy day that never came. But in that moment, or the many moments of the trip, my scarcity mindset was so strong that I couldn’t see the bigger picture. I couldn’t trust in our ability to be resourceful, to figure things out, to create more money if we needed it. And it wasn’t like we were draining our entire savings.
Sometimes even when we have a cushion, we create stories that prevent us from using it to benefit us long term. And that experience taught me a couple of powerful lessons. The first is that money is just a tool. It’s to be used and while being intentional with how it’s used is of utmost importance, it’s a resource that will help us create a life that we love and experience life and the world in a meaningful way. But none of that can happen if it just sits squirreled away as a safety net, as a cushion.
And no, I’m not advocating for draining your entire savings and disregarding the need to put money towards retirement. But what I am advocating for is using money as a tool to start a business so that you can make more money down the road. No good comes from a scarcity mindset. We want to think about money in our lives as abundant.
The next thing that it taught me is that money is neutral until we assign meaning to it. Whether I had 100K in my savings for that trip or 14K in my savings for that trip, it was not going to be enough. I know that now after many years of thought work around money, the number itself is completely neutral until I have a thought about it. And if that sounds hard to digest, go back and listen to last week’s episode where I talk a lot about mindset and perspective.
The truth is that, while we might tell ourselves that there’s a specific number that will help us to feel secure. I find that for most of the people I work with, who all generally struggle with money beliefs because it’s almost universal in this society, no number truly brings security. The goalpost keeps moving once we reach it because we realize that the number no longer feels secure once we get there. And why does that happen? Because security comes from how we’re thinking about the number, not the number itself. And it’s really hard to change our default thinking. Again, revisit last week for some deeper dives on this.
More security is going to come from a belief in your ability to be resourceful and create money than in a number in your bank account, I promise. How we think about money can absolutely empower us or it can absolutely hold us back. But the beautiful thing is that we can change how we think about money, and we can change our beliefs around what we need in order to feel secure.
So, here’s some mindset shifts I want you to start practicing. Instead of thinking I can’t afford to leave my job, try thinking how can I create the financial conditions to make this transition possible? Instead of what if I fail and run out of money, consider, what if I succeed beyond my wildest dreams? Instead of, I’m not good with money, maybe say I’m learning more about my financial landscape every day.
Remember, your ability to make money doesn’t disappear when you leave your corporate job. In fact, as an entrepreneur, your earning potential is limited only by the amount to which you succumb to various fears and doubts that spring up along the way. You can make money on your own terms. So many moms have figured it out and you are no different. I like to remind myself of that and I remind all my clients of that all the time because it’s true. You’re smart, capable and determined. You just need to get out of your own comfort zone.
So, moving forward, in order to create this financial blueprint, I want you to do a few things. I want you to get crystal clear on your current financial picture. Knowledge is power and understanding your true financial situation will help you make informed decisions.
The second thing is, this week I want you to start building a Freedom Fund if building a nest egg before you leave is part of your strategy. Determine how much runway you need and start saving strategically. Potentially even practice living on a reduced income like my good friend tried before leaving your job.
The third thing that I want you to do, I also would love for you to explore the side hustle solution. Prove to yourself that you can make money outside of your nine to five and build confidence in your entrepreneurial skills. Remember, just because we call it a side hustle does not mean it has to be a hustle. I also want you to think critically about redefining what success means for you, beyond just financial metrics. Consider the value of flexibility, of time, of purpose, and personal growth in your new life.
Lastly, I want you to go back and listen to episode eight and work on transforming your money mindset from scarcity to abundance, challenge limiting beliefs, and cultivate an empowering relationship with money. What goes on between our ears is the difference between staying stagnant and miserable and taking action towards building a life we love, so this is the most important piece. Remember, building a financial runway isn’t just about the numbers. It’s about creating confidence and security.
And honestly, it might be the case that you can be confident and truly secure right now without a lot of time and effort invested in building a financial runway. For some of you, it may just be changing the way you think. By implementing these strategies and shifting your mindset, you’re not just preparing financially, you’re setting yourself up for long term success and fulfillment. I know this journey can feel overwhelming, but I want you to know that you’re not alone.
Each episode of this podcast is designed to give you the tools and strategies and mindset shifts that you need to create the life and business you’ve been dreaming of. Your homework this week is to take one concrete step towards building your financial runway, whether that’s sitting down to review your finances, opening that Freedom Fund, brainstorming side hustles, take action. No step is too small, and every action builds momentum.
Remember, this isn’t about making a reckless leap. It’s about building a strong foundation step by step that will support you and your family as you transition into entrepreneurship. Trust the process, and stay committed to your vision and keep tuning in, of course. So, until next time, keep dreaming big, taking bold action. Your future self will thank you for the steps you’re taking today. And I will see you next Wednesday.
Thanks for listening to this week’s episode of How to Quit Your Job: A Mom’s Guide to Creating a Life and Business You Love. If you want to learn more about how I can help you stop making excuses and start making moves, head on over to www.jenna.coach. I’ll see you next week.
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