I Quit My Job: Here's My Plan for Passive Income
In about two weeks, I'm leaving my full-time day job. I will have the opportunity to make my personal business dreams come true in a matter of days. I'm leaving my job as a UI/UX Designer on the best of terms.
That said, I'm a little starry-eyed and a whole lot overwhelmed. The possibilities are endless. But I have a plan.
I'm not counting on freelance design clients for income
When I tell people I'm quitting my job to go solo, the first thing they say is: “Cool, I'll send freelance clients your way.” And I immediately tell them, “No, but thank you!”
I don't mean to come off as ungrateful. I just have another agenda.
I'll only take on a very select number of clients: either clients I've worked with in the past, or new clients that are a really good fit. My plan is to work on passive income streams.
My main focus will be teaching and ecourses
If there's anything I learned in the past year while I was building this blog and my presence on Skillshare and YouTube, it's that I love teaching. I've been dreaming of several ecourses for a while now, similar to what I'm teaching already on this blog: how to create your own fonts, how to digitize your artwork, how to learn Photoshop if you're a new blogger, and how to grow your email list (by the way, I grew my email list from 300 subscribers in January of this year to 1,860 today!).
Reading posts like this one from Sarah Morgan and this one from Melyssa have me confident I'll be able to find my teaching niche and help people learn valuable skills through teaching ecourses.
In fact, if you want to be notified of upcoming ecourses and future tutorials, please subscribe to my newsletter!
Selling products will be another source of passive income
I've been selling illustrations and fonts on Creative Market, and it's proven to be a decent source of income for me. I plan on creating and publishing new products regularly. In doing so, I anticipate learning more and sharing more with you on the blog! (Hint: one of my goals is to learn how to create script fonts!)
I will explore writing and ebooks more
I took a few months off here to write and publish my first ebook: Online Dating Done Right. In fact, yesterday was my official launch day! Download the book from Amazon, or share it with your single friends. I'd really appreciate it! Here's a picture from yesterday's launch:
I learned a lot while writing the book. Most importantly, I learned that I love writing, so much so that I'd do it even if I didn't have to do anything.
Now, while I'm not counting on income from writing, it sure wouldn't hurt. I've definitely dreamed of making a living from publishing a series of ebooks. While this isn't my main goal right now, it's definitely on the back burner.
My financial goals
I don't need to match my day job salary as a UI designer thanks to our new situation. But my goal is to doubly exceed that salary within a year, putting me well into the 6-figures. Why? I want to have money to live off of and help by taking part of the financial burden off my partner, but I also know I have some very real expenses:
Contribute to savings
Finish paying off my student loans (almost there!)
Contribute to a retirement plan
Pay for healthcare
Help finance a family
You guys, I'm scared. But so excited.
I have to admit something: the thought of hitting “Publish” on this post terrifies me. It makes it real, even though the job change and move are happening anyway. This is a situation I've only dreamed about for a very long time, and it still seems just out of reach. It also feels scary because now I have to put my money where my mouth is and make it happen on a much larger scale than I have before.
But more than anything, I'm excited for this new chapter in my life and my career.
Tell me—now that I'm back, what would you like to see more of from me?
Cover photo by Luca Bravo
