Advice: Making the transition to full-time

I set up an S-corp in March of 2009, when I was pulling in 25k a month or so. During 2009 I did low-middle 6 figures, but I kept my job. I wanted to quit my day job, but I didn't. The health insurance was decent and I have a wife and 3 kids depending on me. Good thing I didn't.

Because of my noobishness, I didn't withhold anything for taxes. I started paying taxes around the middle of the year, dropping 15k here and 20k there for tax payments so I'd get current.

Because of eBay's retardedness, my AF income dropped considerably in the last part of 2009 - right now it's about a quarter of what it was at my high. If I'd quit my day job back when things were good, it wouldn't have been all that easy to make ends meet now.

We're not hurting by a long shot, but it's not like we can just pick up and go to NYC at the drop of a hat, either.
 


yep, good advice. i should say for the record that even if the decision is "definitely quit my job" the time frame would be at least a month or two.
 
Sounds like you have a great situation to enable your choice. so ...

Have you asked yourself "What makes me happier, my day job or AM?"
 
Threads like this can be scary. I quit my day job six months ago, on a leap of faith. I'm the guy who plans everything, and decided all that planning wasn't getting me anywhere I wanted to be.

Best of luck AffAppentice, if your skills have brought you to the point your at, I doubt it'll fall apart tomorrow. You obviously know a thing, or two about diversifying.
 
i'd never quit my day job solely from doing paid traffic, it's super unstable.

most campaigns never last longer than 4-6 months... and also, think bout the google slaps, fb bans, fluctuating conversion rates on cpa offers, etc...

now i'm starting from scratch to build a REAL biz on concrete, not straws, by
building a list, creating a product and setting up my own aff program so OTHER PEOPLE can do the traffic getting for me. much more stable i'd say.
 
I just put in my 2 weeks Monday, but I dint quit until I passed the $1,000 day mark. It all depends on your working habits and discipline because I know no matter what I am going to work harder now that I wont have a job to depend on. I started getting to dam comfortable making so much money and working 9-5 I started getting lazy doing both, and spending to much money on weekends. So I decided to quit to put my focus 100% on AM like I was when I wasn't making any money.

Also helps if you leave in good terms, my company loved the work I did for them and would take me back any day, any company I use to work for would. If you are a hard worker I say fuck it, theres always work.

If you need that extra push and motivation listen to this

YouTube - Jay-Z "My First Song"
 
Wow amazing !! I,m just curious how could you make 1K/month after less than 5 months of experience. I'm struglling since 2 years and I didn,t reach th 10Th of it.
Can you tell us your recipie :jester:
 
insideout said:
Wow amazing !! I,m just curious how could you make 1K/month after less than 5 months of experience. I'm struglling since 2 years and I didn,t reach th 10Th of it.
Can you tell us your recipie :jester:
Click to expand...

So you want us to tell that you don't make $100/month after 2 years.

1) you suck
2) you are doing it all wrong

Probably it's some adsense site about arcade games. But...hey... OP said he makes $500/day in profit, and you are talking about $1k/month. You really need to learn how to read properly. It's biggest "recipie" for you and obstacle to overcome on a way to $1k/month
 
Healthcare and taxes have been mentioned above and are big considerations that many people going into self-employment seem to forget. You'll be paying all of your "contribution" now, instead of half, of stuff that is typically split between employer and employee. eg. with FICA, for this year that's 15.3% of the first $106,800 of your income (income over that mark exempt.)

Self-employed are expected to file taxes quarterly rather than annually, also a basic fact of self-employment that seems to escape a lot of people going in.

Outside of practical and technical stuff, what is your family situation? Family commitments can make focusing on work and getting quiet time extremely difficult, and if you have a big family they suddenly think you're the one that is pretty much on call for errands and such since you "aren't working." What I'm trying to say here, and I totally do not mean to imply anything about my family at all, seriously, at all, is to make sure your goddamned fucking family isn't acting like it wants you to go fucking bankrupt and that everybody is on the same page with regards to when your designated times to make some motherfucking money are so that they can fucking amuse themselves for a couple of hours. YA RLY.

So -- healthcare, taxes, family. Make sure you have an understanding of these potential issues. If you're consistently making the sort of money you mention above, then I'm assuming you already have an accountant, and if you keep making it you might want to consider an attorney. Outsourcing headaches is expensive and completely worth it.


Frank
 
mediaaff said:
i'd never quit my day job solely from doing paid traffic, it's super unstable.

most campaigns never last longer than 4-6 months... and also, think bout the google slaps, fb bans, fluctuating conversion rates on cpa offers, etc...

now i'm starting from scratch to build a REAL biz on concrete, not straws, by
building a list, creating a product and setting up my own aff program so OTHER PEOPLE can do the traffic getting for me. much more stable i'd say.
Click to expand...

That basically sums it up. Nevertheless, I'd take the plunge and start working on what he said. It seems like you have enough "cushion capital" to do so.

Traffic brokering (for 99% of people) can't and won't be a lifetime sustainable source of income.
 
I'd speak to your employer about a flex schedule, maybe you can work part time and keep your benefits.
 
If you have a wife and kids, make suuuuuurrrre you work where you won't be interrupted. Or, set the rules clearly. Just because you are home doesn't mean you aren't working!
 
"most campaigns never last longer than 4-6 months... " do you think other online and offline business don't make any fucking change during such period of time ?
 
Once again, I'm very pleased by the great advice I'm getting on this thread, especially re: things like taxes and business entities -- sounds like I really need to do my homework here. To be clear, I'm in my mid-20s and don't have a wife or children, so no worries there.

And yes, AM definitely makes me happier than my day job. I can't stand working for other people and dealing with the day-to-day bullshit of a regular job.

My plan for the next month is to watch my affiliate profits to make sure they're fairly safe, figure out whether to set up an LLC or S-Corp, and make sure I have health insurance covered. If everything looks OK at that point, I'll give notice and write a cathartic post on this forum. Thanks, guys.
 
don't forget to plan for taxes. Most of us here pay 40%+ of our income to the goverment. I got fucked this year not planning ahead enough like the idiot I am for how much more my taxes would be. Not fun.
 
Yeah, I need to talk to a financial planner or one of my friends who works in Finance, but I'm thinking I'd just set up a CD or something and transfer ~35% (or whatever I determine my tax burden is) of my profits to it every time I get a wire. That way, I can just operate as if that money is off limits, and it can accrue some modest interest until Uncle Sam starts picking my pocket.
 
In this business you can go from making $1k a day to nothing the next.

Are these niches stable?

Are you dependent on 1 traffic source?

Are you dependent on 1 advertiser?

Remember, competition is always just 1 click away...
Click to expand...
^^ Make sure your niches, traffic sources, and revenue sources are strong and diversified before quitting.

The stronger foundation (niches,traffic,revenue sources) and more savings you have the better. Otherwise hang on for a roller coaster ride which can wreak havoc on you and your family's emotions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom