I’m Taking a Big Step…[and the Future of Bright Cents]

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As you may have noticed, I haven’t been updating this site as regularly as I had in the past. I was previously blogging about paying off debt, putting every extra dollar you could towards getting out of debt, and making smart money decisions along the way. It was what I was doing, so chronicling the challenges I faced and things I learned while paying off debt came pretty naturally to me.

But last year, I started embarking on a different journey. One that was very important to me but also something I couldn’t share publicly just yet.

And because my goals had shifted and changed so much from the original reason for publishing on this site, I felt like I couldn’t write about it. In addition to that, I couldn’t share this secret with some of the people in my life, because…well you’ll find out in a minute.

Because I wasn’t actively paying off my loans and writing debt reports, it felt inauthentic to pretend like I was, or to publish articles about how important paying off student loans is while I’m saving money – so I didn’t end up publishing much of anything. It killed me to just leave you guys wondering for that long but I really couldn’t publish a post about this.

But the time has come where I can share that journey with you all.

So what have I been up to for the last several months?

I’ve been preparing to quit my full-time job and take my “side business” full-time. So I stopped paying off debt and started saving money instead. I was saving up enough money to quit my job and go full-time with my side business and I needed to have some cash on the side in case I don’t make any money the first year.

Now of course, I already have clients and money coming in from this business so I really doubt that will happen, but there are also emergencies I can’t predict and who knows what can happen in a year.  

Why couldn’t I post here about this journey?

Well my boss and other coworkers had been amazingly supportive in my journey to pay off debt and many of them were also reading the blog.

Since I wasn’t sure exactly when I’d have the money saved, it wasn’t like I could give a date of when I was planning to leave. So I couldn’t just tell them I’d be done in 6 months and that was that, it was a little more difficult.  

I’ve Saved Enough Money to Quit My Job

It took me this long, but I’ve saved up a good chunk of money that will last me for 8-12 months as long as something grave doesn’t happen.

So, in late April, I handed in my resignation letter. Even after saving money for so long, it was still an extremely hard decision to make. I had been with the company for over 7 years – it was my first “real job” out of college.

The company taught me a lot about relationships, business, and marketing, and I’m forever grateful for the people I’ve worked with along this journey.

But I have the itch to try and make this work on my own, and I’ll never know if I’ll be successful at it until I try. In my eyes, I can always go get another job if I fail – marketing isn’t going away. And if I can’t find a job in my field, I’m more than willing to try other industries and do what I need to get by.

This is a big risk in many people’s eyes, but at the same time I’ve tried to mitigate the known risks as much as I could before leaving.

In addition, no job is “stable.” And if it seems that way today, tomorrow could absolutely change that. I want to do what I can to get closer to the lifestyle I want to live and take control of my “stability.”

With all of that said, moving forward this blog is going to cover what it’s like to prepare to leave your day job, the challenges I faced and will face along the way, and other entrepreneurship/side hustle related topics. Of course, having written and learned a lot about personal finance in my life, that will likely come out in the future of this site.

Thanks for being so patient and understanding this huge shift in my life.

If you have any ideas for articles, have experience with this and want to share it here, or any words of encouragement, please comment below or submit them here.

Thanks,

Chenell

9 thoughts on “I’m Taking a Big Step…[and the Future of Bright Cents]”

  1. First and foremost, congratulations to you, Chenell. You did what most of us dream about or are currently striving towards. Just believe in yourself and you’ll be fine, similar to how you believed you could get to this point.

    Expand your content to a broader range of personal finance topics to reach more demographics and don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know or understand” to the PF community of which you can always leverage. Lots of interesting and smart folks out there who are ready to help out. My humble two cents…

    All the best to you!

    Reply
    • Thanks @Church! Yes, the PF community is and has always been a huge help to me over the last 3 years. I appreciate your input, and wish you the best in reaching your goals as well!

      Reply
  2. You are an inspiration and I’m so excited for you! I’m starting to create my own “exit strategy” with my current career so that I can do Ghost full time. Going out on your own is so hard when there is a safety net of a “real job,” but like you said, marketing isn’t going anywhere (or in my case, teaching), so we can always come back. I have no doubt that you’re going to do great!

    Reply
    • Thanks lady! So happy to hear that you’re planning an “exit strategy!” – please let me know if you have questions, I need blog post ideas so I don’t bore you all to death 🙂 Hope everything else is going well!

      Reply

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