- Common wisdom, and lyrics from a "Grateful Dead" song.
I have news for you: as long as you keep your day job, your night job will never pay.
But hey, I'm not crazy.* I know (from experience) that unless you have a sweet cushion or a lot of funding, you've got to do something to pay rent and eat. Our business has made money since day one (ok, about day 60), but the profit hasn't been (and still isn't) enough to sustain us.
In the early days of our business, Russ picked up extra handyman work. When we were getting ready to move to Colfax, I got hired by Mozilla so that Russ could stop doing handyman work and focus on soap. The Mozilla work is helping us out tremendously. Plus, I just picked up some writing work from GoDaddy and am actively pitching articles to other places.
And now, woo hoo, I am leaving to do Mozilla work in Berlin on Friday, and the business is doing well enough that we hired two people! I can work from pretty much anywhere, which means I've worked while camping and everything.
Because it turned out that the Mozilla gig is basically my dream job.
So what am I saying here?
Didn't I just say that as long as you keep your day job, your night job will never pay?
Well, yes. See, the Universe works in mysterious ways (caution: new-agey stuff ahead).
I believe that if I had kept my day job, Russ wouldn't have found as much handyman work (actually, we tried that, but he couldn't get much work in LA).
And if we hadn't moved out to Antioch, the Mozilla gig wouldn't have materialized.
And if we hadn't moved out to Colfax, a lot of other amazing stuff (Mozilla and GoDaddy, plus Whole Foods regionals, and some pretty major orders) wouldn't have happened.
Side note: while I was writing this, two major payments from GoDaddy came in from separate departments, for separate jobs... coincidence? Mayyybe... but... pretty darn coincidental if you ask me.
If you're starting a business, and someone you work with gave you the sage advice of "Don't quit your day job until your night job pays," thank them for their opinion (after all, they're saying it because they care), and ignore them.
Kick ass and take names,
Danielle
P.S. To get this inspirational mug, you can order it here.
* Ok, I am clinically "crazy," but I'm still functional.
