Don’t Leave Your Job for Content (Here are 5 Reasons Why)

Be careful. You might quit your 9–5 job for the wrong reasons.

The complete freedom dream has always poisoned our minds. So we started multiple side hustles and projects to achieve financial independence, and we keep creating content only for this reason.

But this dream is causing us more pain than satisfaction. Most times, we are not ready to leave our jobs and pursue our dreams, but we do it anyway. So we fail at things that might have worked with more patience.

5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Leave Your Job

In the past few years, I’ve seen many content creators talking about their 6-figure income and solopreneur careers. And they pushed this dream so much it is impossible not to think about going all in.

But a side hustle is called that way because it usually remains a side income. It doesn’t become a job for everyone. And in most cases, it won’t.

So should you give up?

No, of course not. But at least don’t leave your job for content creation as soon as you make some money from it. Keep it a little more, if you can.

I won’t leave it. On the contrary, I am changing jobs to advance my career, so I will always have a place to return if my side hustle fails. So here are five reasons why you shouldn’t do it either.

1 — Your side hustle may need more time.

Nobody says you can’t leave your job and pursue a life of passion with your side hustle. But before ending up under a bridge, think about the stability of your side hustle.

• Does it give you a reliable monthly income?
• Can you survive for a few months if it fails or it underperforms?
• Or do you need a little more time to reach that point?

You may think increasing your working hours will also increase your income, but does it? Try to experiment and answer that question so you can understand if your side hustle is ready to become a job or if it needs a little more time.

Thanks to my audience, for example, my worst articles make 3–4$ on average in their first month. And publishing daily, I would gain around 90–120$ monthly income. So excluding referred members, compound income from other articles, external clients, and viral articles, I could never leave my job for this side hustle at the moment. But if I consider all the other variables, I may.

So here is an infographic to calculate your projected monthly income and understand if your side hustle is ready or if it needs more time.

2 — You may like it less than your job.

The 6-figure entrepreneurs never say you might not like your side hustle as much as you do now. There is a big difference between working eight or two hours on a project. And even if you chose your side hustle out of passion, you might still end up hating it when it will burn your family time because the servers are down, you are making $0 per month, and you don’t even know how to solve the problem.

So don’t leave your job if you are not willing to work on your side hustle as much as you are working at your current job or even more. And try to understand if you will survive more than a few days working at your side hustle.

Last year, I booked a holiday I had to skip. And since I was already home, I used that time to work on my side hustle and improve my blog. But I couldn’t be productive for more than 4–5 hours a day. So if I ever decide to leave my job, I need to consider 4–5 hours of content creation a day. I could spend some time on the maintenance, scheduling, and promotion, but not on creating content.

3 — You quit because of personal problems.

Many times, we leave projects for the wrong reasons. But it is not our fault — the digital society taught us. As soon as you have a problem, here is your solution. And when nobody has one, you are lost.

Unfortunately, real-life problems don’t have ready-to-use solutions. You need to work on your issue, understand why it makes you uncomfortable, and evaluate the alternatives. But you also need to stick with that problem and give it a second chance, trying to solve it.

We are losing this ability.

So don’t leave your job only because there are some problems you need to address, and you don’t know how. Leave it when you handled all those problems, you grew, and you are ready for the next challenge.

And don’t leave your job for content creation only because you want to work less or make more money. You will work more, and you will even make less money for a while. So leave it only if you enjoy sharing your experiences with others and helping them reach their goals.

4 — You have false expectations.

Perhaps you estimated all the risks and the benefits of leaving your job for your side hustle and taking the risk. You evaluated the clients and projects you might work on and discovered you could live thanks to your side hustle.

What happens if some of those expectations are false?

Maybe some clients cancel the projects that would have made most of your income. How will you deal with failure? And are you strong enough to keep going? Or will you freak out?

Everyone expects the best outcome when making a significant change in their lives. I am switching jobs right now, and I hope it will be better, but I can’t know. I will do something I enjoy more, be closer to home, and they even pay me more. But I don’t know if the team environment will be better, for example.

So how will I manage failure?

I will try to be friends with everyone and work at my highest level. And if I fail, I will try again for some time. But what if I keep failing? Will I regret my choice?

Ask yourself these questions if you want to leave your job. You might create false expectations and achieve a bunch of failures. So how will you deal with them? For how long can you keep trying? And how much can you endure before regretting your choice?

If you don’t have a plan that answers those questions, don’t leave your job for content creation.

5 — You will work alone.

Online side hustles and content creation allow you to interact with many people daily. Fans, haters, clients, and even mentors — you must talk with all of them. But you won’t have that many personal contacts. And this might hurt your social life and your mental health.

Working from home for almost two years, I know what pure online interaction means. It isn’t pretty, and your social life suffers from it. And even if you have friends external to your job, you won’t have anything to tell them when you meet. The situation will become awkward, and they won’t hang out with you anymore.

So before going all in with your side hustle, try to understand if you can take care of this social loss. Do you have any systems to deal with it? Do you practice any external activity that will give you arguments to share with your friends? Or will you only listen to them without having anything to say back?

Keep your life interesting because side hustles are not appealing to most people. So start some courses or sports if you want something to share. Or be prepared for a long lone social life.

Final Thoughts

A few months ago, I was making nothing with content creation. My income averaged $30 a month, and I was working only for the sake of sharing my ideas.

But things changed fast. And I gained some tractions as well as some money, for once.

After two years of consistent work, I finally got in contact with a few companies. Clients appreciate my ideas and pay money for them. But I haven’t left my job, and I suggest you don’t either. Not yet, at least.

There are five reasons why you should not leave your job for content creation:

1. Your side hustle needs more time.
2. You may like it less than your job.
3. You quit because of personal problems.
4. You have false expectations.
5. You will work alone.

So if you fall under any of those reasons, don’t leave your job. Wait a little more.

Cover photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash