Hey guys,
Little bit of a long post. But any advice would be appreciated.
So, the income I earn from my side hustle (not an online business) has surpassed my full time job's income. It has been for quite a while. Around 6 months.
Recently I've taken a paid leave for 3.5 weeks. And a couple of days before coming back to work, I decided to tell my manager and let him know that I've decided to resign. And I've sent an email to HR as well.
My last day of work will be on 18th October.
This week I came back from my leave and my team leader suggested that I can still recede my resignation and maybe consider going part time (3 days per week; 2 days in office, 1 day work from home).
One of the reasons I didn't ask for anyone else's opinion prior to making my decision to resign is that I didn't want anyone else to influence my decisions.
Now here are the numbers:
Side hustle income: just under 8k take home
Time spent on side hustle per week: close to 0 hours most week and 2 hours at most in some weeks.
Full time job income: 5k take home
Time spent on full time job including commute times: 40 hrs per week + 5 hrs commute time (5 days a fortnight in the office, 5 days work from home)
If I recede my resignation and go part time: around 3k take home
Time spent on part time job including commute times: 24 hrs per week + 3 hrs commute time (2 days in office, 1 day WFH)
My plan after resigning was to double the income I get for my side hustle and at the same time start an online business (for scalability).
I've asked 3 of my closest friends about what happened today (about my team leader's suggestion on receding my resignation and going part time). And all 3 said that's not a bad idea.
I've had this job for almost 2 years and I love the company, the work environment and the people that I work with + love the social aspect of it all.
What would you do if you're in this situation and why?
Side hustle income has surpassed my full time income. Need advice
byu/Funny-Statistician29 inEntrepreneur
Posted by Funny-Statistician29
30 Comments
does your primary job give any benefits like medical or retirement that you would not be receiving once you quit and what would be the fibancial cost of paying for that with your side job?
It depends on the business. How’s the job security from this business for the next 5 years? Is it sustainable or just seasonal?
If I were you I’d take the offer to do the old job part time. The transition will be gradual, and from risk management perspective it’s quite favourable.
If things go well in scaling your business and you want to commit full time, you can always resign again.
I would still stay for the benefits and perks if there are any.. Trust me it’s always better to have 2 than 1 even if your side hustle has surpass your full time income. Nothing, but gains in my opinion. I’ll gladly milk it dry if it isn’t a toxic work environment.
It’s awesome that it Sounds like the company likes you and wants to keep you. Having said that, I think sometimes opportunity knocks,and we have to make a quick risky decision to cash in on that opportunity, or at least seize the tempo.(“chess tempo”) for me, I’d probably ask myself what the bigger regret would be… missing out on side hustle development, or leaving the 9-5? 18 months ago I was faced with a similar dilemma. I took the leap. (Mine also involved moving “cross country”) it was the scariest thing I’ve ever done,and so far mine has paid off in spades. Congrats for even being presented with this opportunity! Many people live an entire lifetime without receiving a chance like yours. Good luck!
Sounds like you’ve got a great dilemma on your hands – congrats on the side hustle doing so well!
Ever heard of Tim Ferriss? He’s the guy who wrote “The 4-Hour Workweek.” Tim talks about how he was making a ton of money, but he realized he was missing out on other important things. He started focusing on what made him happy and productive instead of just making money.
Your side hustle seems to give you a lot of freedom with pretty much no hours spent, which is amazing. If I were in your shoes, I’d think about what I value most. Do you need the social aspect of the job, or would the extra time to build your online business be more valuable to you?
Just my two cents – you already seem to be crushing it! Good luck with whatever you decide!
Coming in to work a few days a week for the socialization, and also just in case for income sounds good. having some variety might give you clarity or insight into what you want to do next. Congrats on your hustle.
On the days you’re off, either continuing to grow the hustle, or starting another might be a good idea, in case one income stream dries up.
Adjusting your standard of living, or spending a lot of money, would be a bad idea unless you have a ton saved up.
Whats ur side hustle?
I would avoid making big hard changes. Not sure how secure in the long term your side hustle is, but in case something goes wrong it’s better if you take small changes over time so you delay going behind the point of no return.
From experience, and mistakes I’ve made, I can confidently tell you to stay in your job for now as a part time. Use that time to really save all that money and stash it away for another year if possible. Within that time, depending on your business, use it to solidify client’s loyalty and really fine tune your business. In the field of entrepreneurship, anything can happen at any time. Establish your business more, build unbreakable connections and then you quit and expand on a platform that you would have been creating for the year.
Taking the part-time option could really empower you. It gives you some stability while you figure out how to scale your side hustle. Think about what that looks like for you—are you going to lean on your network, invest in marketing, or try something else? And don’t forget to visualize where you want to be in a few years. Who do you want to be around, and what kind of people do you want to learn from? Keeping your long-term goals in mind can make a big difference.
Seems like the job income is secure, and the new schedule would still leave you with enough time to double the amount of time you’ve been spending on the personal business
I’ve been in your shoes. Probably needed he stability of a steady paycheck more than most people. I still left my job.
I vote for: Leave.
Even being part time means you’re either in incurring opportunity cost in your business and/or taking time away from other fulfilling things.
Imagine what you could be doing to grow your business further or have more fulfilling life if you didn’t have to work your job at all.
Opportunity cost is hard to gauge. Who knows what you’re missing out on. You’ve managed to do something in your business that’s very very very hard to do. Why on earth would you turn around and dedicate time to your job?
It’s a trap.
The notion of “well I can stay part time and the business will always be there and I can resign later on if I still want to…” is flawed. Your business is either growing or dying and isn’t waiting around for you to be ready.
Edit: seems like most of the other commenters are saying to stay for security of a paycheck. I think this is a sign to leave the job completely. You’ve got something going with your business that most ppl in this sub have never done and will never do. Plainly put, why take their advice?
After seeing your responses to other comments, it is clear that you live in Australia or New Zealand. If you are in one of the major cities, it may be worth staying in your job for another year to give you a head start with a house deposit.
Do the job parttime. Work a little harder/longer on the side-gig (now full-time gig). When you’re 3x your original salary, then quit.
Am I correct that going PT with primary job would provide security and still give you more side hustle time to see how hard or easy it is to scale? If that’s accurate, I’d split time because sometimes there are barriers you only realize once you’re in the process of scaling.
Look side hustle gives you the opportunity to build a nest. If u slog for say 2 years and save the side hustle income untouched you would be years ahead with your savings. Unless there is a real issue with job or office would suggest to think about continuing.
With Jon and side hustle you can save 5k a month after taxes extra. 50k a year extra. With that growing in 3 years more than 150k extra.
Maybe drop your day job when it becomes too much to juggle and you need to drop your job. Those benefits and extra income can benefit your business.
What about health insurance?
What’s the side hustle?
I would love to know what the side hustle is.
If your side hustle takes so little time then why quit your job?? I would have honestly done the bare minimum at the job along with the side hustle. Have you considered the tax implications of your side hustle? You need to at least set aside 20-30% of the side hustle income. Because you’ll probably owe that at year end. Your side hustle could be variable. You’ve only been doing it for 6mo, it could go down or up do to circumstances beyond your control. I would do everything you can at this point to keep your job. You need to at least do it for a year ideally 2 to understand all of your tax costs and accountant fees and other business expenses.
Fuck the part time job bro, just go full in on your business. I also read a post lately that said, people are afraid to take risks work for people who do.
If possible, consider trying the part time arrangement for a few months to see how it feels.
You can always reassess your situation later.
This way, you maintain your income while testing your side hustle’s scalability without the immediate pressure of being fully self employed.
Don’t get cocky. You’re making some decent money & that’s great. Sometimes people get lucky.
Online businesses are far harder.
“Scalability” makes me think you’re earning towards drop shipping. Really dumb. Don’t do that. More competition & harder than you could ever imagine.
Waaaay harder to be successful than just opening a small business that offers handyman services on Taskrabbit & steals clients from Taskrabbit. Handymen can earn 200k a year at capacity, no problem.
Similar situation, I’m glad I kept my job. Side hustles can take very large hits. Not everyone can hold their jobs with side hustles, not everyone’s side hustle just grows and grows. Mine didn’t, took a big hit as well. Keep the job till you literally can’t anymore. Not because you don’t want to, till you literally don’t feel it’s worth it anymore. You will know that day.
Rescind your resignation with requirement that you keep full time benefits, which often don’t extend to part timers. If the board doesn’t accept for some reason, you’re no worse off than you are now. I don’t know why they wouldn’t allow you to remain employed, if you have the recommendation from your manager, someone they likely respect and whose opinion they should value.
Okay….lemme get this straight because I think there’s a typo here….
You work between 0-2 hrs a week for 8K a month? Did you mean 10-20hrs?
Side hustle success! Your full-time job can’t match $8K take-home pay for 0-2 hours/week. Consider scaling your hustle, but part-time offer merits thought. Weigh freedom, social benefits, and stability. What’s your priority.
January 2019 I started a business on the side of a full time, secure job.
By June of 2019 I was making full time money doing 2.5 days a week. I quit the full time job. I have an in demand skill and experience, worst case, I get another job. I have a wife and two kids under 5 years old at the time.
Fast forward to 2024, I’m going to do a million dollars this year, have 3 staff and a business that is close to being on autopilot.
I go part time. That makes 11k a month and do that one year. Then quit.