4 Things You Need To Know Before Quitting Your Corporate Job
Quitting your corporate job to do something new—or even taking a breather to figure out next steps—can be intimidating at best and paralyzing at worst.
If you’re one of the committed few, I congratulate you. It takes courage, conviction, and grit to take the leap…and even more once you've leapt.
Is Quitting Your Corporate Job Right For You?
I’ve had a lot of conversations lately with people curious about my own experience leaving corporate:
"What are the ‘right’ steps?"
"How do I know when to leave?"
"Is it better for me to dip my toe in or should I jump in head-first?"
All good questions.
I've spent 20 years helping people get more comfortable with change. The biggest takeaway? It's really freakin' hard.
That said, change is going to happen regardless, so we might as well steer the ship ourselves.
These conversations forced me to reflect on the biggest lessons learned from my transition from corporate lackey to business owner/coach/writer.
4 Things to Remember Before Quitting Your Corporate Job
Here are 4 pieces of advice I’d give myself if I were making the transition again. If you’re thinking about quitting your corporate job, these tips will help you make the leap successfully.
1. Keep What Serves You, Discard the Rest
My first rule is that you get to set your own rules.
This applies to this very blog post. If my advice works for you, great. If it doesn’t resonate, ignore it.
As I progressed in my corporate career, I found it increasingly maddening that there was a set of rules I was expected to follow—whether they made sense or not.
I felt stifled, like each day I had to choose between toeing an arbitrary line and being the leader I wanted to be. I couldn’t do right by my people and carry out the organization’s priorities.
So when I started my business, I was unpleasantly surprised by how many people told me I had to do xyz to succeed as a business owner. Worse, everyone was presenting their set of rules as the only way.
One of the biggest motivators for me to quit the corporate grind and start a business was that I wanted a successful career on my own terms, one in which I could be authentically and unapologetically myself.
If someone’s advice helps me do that and aligns with what I’m looking to create, I take it. If their advice feels weird or incongruent with my values, I leave it.
It’s YOUR career. It’s YOUR life. YOU GET TO MAKE UP THE RULES. Keep what serves you and discard the rest.
We live in a wonderful time where you can make money doing just about anything. Why not have it be something you love?
There are so many ways to create a career and life you can’t wait to jump out of bed for every morning.
Quitting your corporate job isn’t just about changing your job title; it’s starting the rest of your life…and committing to something significantly BETTER.
So watch out for people who say you have to do things a certain way. Those “rules” are simply thinly-veiled limiting beliefs that keep you stifled and playing small.
Whether you’re leaving corporate or simply transitioning into a different phase of your career, identifying—and then honoring—your vision, values, and principles will help you create a career that’s 100% you. All the other steps will fill themselves in.
2. Mind the Gap
In 2017, I changed everything about my life.
Am I grateful for this period of exponential growth? Definitely.
Was it awesome to go through? Not particularly.
It was a rocky road. While all my friends were shockingly supportive, I leaned the hardest on the ones going through their own transitions because they understood first-hand.
One thing I’d do sooner is proactively seek out people who were slightly ahead of me in making the same sorts of changes.
I found myself ricocheting between people who had already crossed the finish line and those who were in the early stages of their transition. I couldn't relate to either.
It's helpful to have a point on the not-too-distant horizon to pull you forward to something markedly better yet still attainable.
When people are too far ahead of you, the gap can seem too wide. When they’re in it with you, it can be tough to see the way out. Either way, it’s easy to despair.
The practical steps are the easy part. The hard part is the barriers you’ll put up for yourself.
You’ll need a support system and role models for when your limiting beliefs threaten to get the best of you.
3. Look Before You Leap, But You Gotta Leap
There is no “right” time to leave.
Everyone has a different game plan and timeline. I refer you back to #1.
Plan, plan, plan. Then plan again. Then plan some more.
But no plan can accommodate every scenario, and eventually you have to put it in motion. (See also: Leaping Before You Look)
If you like, use your corporate gig as long as you can to bridge the divide. But when it’s no longer fueling your ultimate career goals, move on.
Get crystal clear on what you want to accomplish there, set a date to achieve it, and honor that date.
Three to nine months is usually a good timeline--long enough to accomplish something meaningful but not so long you get sucked back in for “one more year.”
The goal here is "yes, and" synergy, where your day job is furthering your longer-term career aspirations (versus an either/or situation where your corporate gig is competing with them.)
There will be so many temptations to talk yourself out of leaving. I know because I succumbed to most of them.
I originally went part-time in my corporate job thinking I’d do it for six months, tops.
I finally left 2.5 years later. Some of that time was intentionally-focused on furthering my business goals; some of it was fearful clinging.
As my last gasp, I created a proposal for a women’s leadership program, thinking I could effect real change for high-potential mid-level women and insinuate myself into the program as a coach.
I enlisted a senior sponsor, and we shopped it around. No takers.
At that point, I knew there was nothing left for me there.
Every day I worked for someone else would be time spent away from working on the career I really wanted.
Create your plan, set your date, then get the heck out of dodge.
4. Baby Steps To Happiness
Patience is not one of my strong suits.
Never in my career have I had to practice more patience than as a business owner.
When I was in corporate, people used to say, “It’s a marathon not a sprint.” I was like, “See you later, suckers!” as I scrapped and pushed and clambered up the ladder.
That approach is exhausting, and it simply doesn’t work when you’re building new patterns and habits. It takes time and patience.
Once you start to see all the career possibilities beyond the path you’ve been on, it's tempting to try to do everything at once. This can lead you to take on too much or discourage you because you're not moving “fast enough.”
Especially when you want results NOW.
Part of what’s so scary about quitting your corporate job is the incorrect assumption that quitting needs to be this super jarring, disruptive change to everything you’ve ever known.
Who would want to sign up for that?
Remember that this is your career path. You have plenty of time to build, tweak, and evolve.
In fact, most people that end up coming to me for career coaching do so because their careers have been a series of short-term decisions that may have brought some initial excitement but weren’t aligned with what they truly wanted long-term.
I know it’s hard. But it’s so so so worth it to take a breath, zoom out, get clarity, and take a little extra time. You’ll end up with far better opportunities and FEEL a heck of a lot better along the way.
Avoid the urge to artificially cram everything into a few weeks or months by reminding yourself of what’s possible in 1, 2, or 5 years.
Then design the baby steps to move steadily forward.
You’ll make much better choices from a place of alignment versus timeline.
Soon your goals are impossible NOT to achieve and often don't take as long as you thought.
Quitting Your Corporate Job Has an Upside
There’s so much fear around quitting your corporate job, yet I know no one who’s left that wants to go back. Ever. That says something about what awaits you on the other side of that fear.
If you don’t like what you’re doing, there’s no reason to tolerate it for longer than it takes to develop a plan to change it.
My career and life transitions have been hands-down the best moves I’ve made.
They’ve not always turned out as expected but always got me to a better place.
And I wouldn’t trade for anything the feeling of having tried.
It’s normal to be nervous about quitting your corporate job. Remember the upside.
Committed to quitting your corporate job but feel like you have to take a pay cut or start over? Please don’t do either! How To Change Careers Without Starting Over
Know your current career isn’t working but not sure what you want INSTEAD? How To Change Careers When You Don’t Know What You Want To Do
If you’re looking for concrete steps and a path forward, grab your free 4-step roadmap.
It outlines the components of a successful career roadmap—the same process I use with all of my clients—whether they’re looking to make a significant career change, step into more leadership and influence, or simply find more time and energy to enjoy life outside of their career.
Author Bio:
Before becoming a coach, Caroline worked in management consulting and financial services. She's made it her mission to help people grow, contribute, and get wherever they want to go.
She’s also a tennis fanatic, aspiring Minimalist, FIRE (Financial Independence and Retire Early) enthusiast, and Aloha Spirit seeker 🤙. She loves to share stories from her unconventional life and career focused on freedom, creativity, fun, health, family, and community. If she can do it, you can, too.
The life and career you want is possible once you have the roadmap. Take the first step by downloading your free career roadmap.
