Should you quit your job?

If you follow my writing, I'm willing to bet two things.

The first is that you often wonder whether you should quit your job and start something of your own.

The second is that you immediately worry, "What if I fail?"

I would never advocate anyone to play this game outside their means, but let me ask you this. Do you think this person has failed?

• Amy quits her $300K/year FAANG software engineering job to become a solopreneur

• She sets aside $120K of runway

• Her living expenses are $60K/year and her business expenses $2K/year

• Three years later, she runs out of money

Is Amy a successful solopreneur? Was she ever?

• Amy stared with $120K and finished with $0

• Her living expenses were $60K * 3 = $180K

• Her business expenses were $2K * 3 = $6K

• Her total expenses over 3 years were $180K + $6K = $186K

• She started with $120K, so her total take for 3 years was $186K - $120K = $66K

• Spread over 3 years, Amy made $22K/year as a solopreneur

So, the question is: is Amy a successful solopreneur?

I say yes.

Amy had unfettered independence for 3 years. She attended no pointless meetings. She experienced no toxic office politics. She had no performance reviews. She never had to justify her work to an executive with no context 6 rungs up the chain. She was never forced to work on something she didn’t believe in.

She worked harder than her FAANG job, yes, but in return, she:

• acquired rare firsthand experience bringing a product to market

• dramatically expanded her network

• can leverage all of that to command a significantly higher paycheck elsewhere

That sounds like a success to me.