I Quit My Job and How I’m Making Money 14 Days Later – Phase-1

You probably are reading this because you want to know what happens after you walk out on your job with no plan B (i.e. another job). Even if you know that that path is not for you, it’s one of those things like when someone dies on the operating table and comes back- you want to know what it was like.

Well, that’s awesome because that’s going to be the function of this website. I want to show you that relying on just your wage isn’t the only option. And it shouldn’t be your only income. I lived that way my whole life and was somehow always broke. 

I’ll be the guinea pig. I’ll submit to death on the operating table, with the risk that I have no guarantees, so that I may return and tell the tale to you.

Let’s recap:

• I was pretty boss at sales.
• I went on some cool trips. Some motivational signals got crossed. I walked out on my job.
• My bosses asked me to return, with some gracious offers, and I declined.
• I was blindsided by anxiety.
• And then I went ghost for a little bit but I had to dig in and get my author website (www.realkylemilligan.com) running and get my novel, Hang-Ups and Hangovers ready for pre-order.

Tuesday, March 1 marked 14 days without an employer and it has not been all rainbows and flowers, though I never expected that it would be. But there has been a lot of cool stuff going on and I have solid results to report.

The Move To Quit – Phase 1

You probably aren’t as dumb as I am to just walk out on your job but have you considered what would be the first things you’d do if you were?

The first things I did when I quit was consolidate my cash, eliminate cash outflow, give myself breathing room, and then make money (form new income streams).

Consolidate my cash – What do I mean by consolidate my cash? I had cash kind of scattered about. I had a FanDuel account. I had some money held in other online accounts. I had a couple bucks in PayPal, Venmo, etc. I had two retirement accounts. All that stuff is sort of liquid (accessible) but not really. I emptied those online accounts of the few dollars they had and put them into my checking account. I rolled over one 401(k) into my individual IRA and consolidated the two of those.

I also have cash tied up in physical assets. Like FURNITURE and appliances. I have had a mini-fridge as my bedside nightstand since 2006 when I was in college. It’s the COOLEST. Water, booze, food, all right beside my bed and my alarm clock and lamp on top. I sold it. I’m selling everything, really. As fast as possible. I really don’t need all that junk for phase-2 of my plan anyways but more on that later.

Eliminate cash outflow – No more paying anything monthly that I can stop. The first thing I went after was the biggest: Student loan payments. As a man without a job I can defer my loans for twelve months at a time, so I did. I will write an article telling you exactly how I did it and what the terms are. No Netflix. No monthly subscriptions, yada yada, you get the point. Cut that shit off. You don’t need it. I’m keeping my gym membership for now. I also kept the Internet on at $14.99/month (split with roommate). I have 3Mbps with Time Warner and I own my own modem and router. If you’re paying for cable TV this day and age just stop.

Give myself breathing room – This part is a little more risqué to recommend so this is not a recommendation, rather a recount of what happened. I applied for the largest 0% APR-term credit-card I could find. I found one for 21 months. What that means is I only have to make minimum payments (usually $15-$20) with no interest for 21 months. It’s as good as a free loan for 21 months. (This is very dangerous thinking and gets people into a lot of trouble with credit debt and that’s why the card terms are structured like that- to trap you) The card was Citi Simplicity. As a frugal man who is good with his money (usually), I qualified instantly and my limit allows me some breathing room if I find myself in a serious jam.

Make Money

Form new income streams – They say the average millionaire has seven streams of income. I’m no millionaire but I’m definitely building multiple streams of income. I spent the second half of February (I quit Feb 16) laying the foundations for what I hope will be my income streams for a lifetime.

1. all99life.com – I said in this article that I was hoping to generate just ONE dollar with all99life.com in the month of February. My readership was small. I had no real revenue generating operations. I was optimistic that I could probably fetch a dollar somehow. I actually earned $3.28 in less than two weeks with hardly any readers (and beat my ambitious $1 goal by 228%!). Basically I did this by listing Amazon’s products on my site. It is zero cost to my readers and I don’t have to put up sleazy ads. I’m a regular person just like you – I hate ads. That income blew my mind and made me very hopeful about the potential with this blog. I just have to expand my readership.
2. The Selfie Princess – Through the growing awareness of my books via my social-media presence and this blog, I generated $4.51 off Selfie Princess royalties. Modest, sure. But Selfie Princess also earned another 5-star review on Amazon which will really help propel more sales. That puts us at $7.79 for the month total of February revenues (14 days if you count the day I walked out). This kind of income will not keep me off the streets but it shows me opportunities are available.
3. Hang-Ups and Hangovers – The book was available for pre-order on Feb 29. I earned about $12. Since then I have earned about another $12. I’m okay with that. I’ve been spending so much time getting everything ready for launch I haven’t really promoted it. (Talking about it on Social Media is not promotion. You get maybe 1 buyer for every 400 or so friends. I just share because I’m hyped. However, almost all my reader engagement comes from social media. Virtually no one comments on my blog, they DM me. This makes me a little sad because I’d like my readers to engage and learn from each other as well.) You can get the first two chapters of Hang-Ups and Hangovers FREE at realkylemilligan.com and find a link to pre-order from there as well. This puts our total around $20 in revenue for month of February and about $32 to-date (today is March 2), for those counting at home. I am very very pleased with that.
4. I have a couple other streams on standby but those are phase-2 oriented.

What This Means For You – Phase-2

So outside of just following along with my story, what does this mean for you? Right now – I’m sure very little. It’s probably a neat little story for you to check on but inapplicable to your life. Or so you think.

You’re brain is probably rattling off excuses as you read through this post: “But I’m not a writer. I don’t have books to sell. This will never work for me.” Fear not, that’s where phase-2 comes in. This post is about how I am approaching this venture and making it work for me. And it might not work for you, directly, but the principles can. My story is just one of zillions. Some of my friends are very quietly doing similar things and keeping their 9-5 gigs.

Phase-2 is about exploring the vast arena options out there for you. We’re going to be meeting with my friends and sharing their stories on how THEY are generating revenue outside of their daily wage in their own unique ways.

They are what all99 represents and they will inspire you with their stories to live an all99life.

Get excited folks. Phase-2 is right around the corner…

Please offer feedback with your thoughts and questions, and share!

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