About a year ago, I had a really bad day at work – so bad, in fact, that before I left work that day, I put an important event into my Google Calendar. I picked a date exactly one year into the future and wrote the following:
It was an audacious thing for me to write, but it’s not like it came out of nowhere. Over the past three years, this blog has become a really important part of my life, something that I’ve worked on pretty consistently in the free hours of my day. It’s added up to countless hours of my life and literally hundreds of thousands of words.
That’s a lot of work, but it seems to have paid off to some degree as this blog has built up a pretty sizeable audience. Importantly, the blog has also gotten to the point where it’s started to generate some regular monthly income – not enough for me to be rich or anything, but enough that for a while now, I’ve had to seriously consider whether writing was something that I could actually do for a living.
There’s a funny thing that I’ve been doing over the past few years that I think speaks volumes about my priorities. I don’t get sick too often, so I tend to accumulate a lot of sick days at work, and every once in a while, I’ll take a random sick day and then spend that day working on my blog at a coffee shop or coworking space. When I feel like a change of scenery, I’ll turn on some of my gig apps and go do some deliveries or walk some dogs.
Whenever I thought about what I wanted my ideal life to look like, I kept looking back at those sick days. Working on my own schedule, out in the world rather than stuck in an office, doing the things I wanted to do. That’s exactly how I wanted to live my life.
Instead of doing that, however, I was essentially doing the opposite – working for someone else, on their schedule, doing the things they wanted me to do, at the place they wanted me to do it at. I was following the clear, career path – a path that had been laid out for me long ago by family, friends, society, etc.
It always felt like such a shame that the best and most productive hours of my life weren’t being used in the way I wanted to use them. Work is such an important part of our lives – basically more than 50% of our waking hours. But the work I wanted to do – writing, creating, and building my own thing – was getting relegated to my off hours, an afterthought to my life.
That just didn’t seem right to me. So, about 6 weeks ago, I made a big move. I followed through with what I wrote a year ago and I quit my job.
Rejecting The Clear Career Path
I’ve now been officially self-employed since mid-March, working full-time on this blog during the day and filling my lunch and evening hours with sharing economy and gig economy apps. It’s been a liberating experience, going from set hours every day, stuck in an office, to now being able to work whenever I want, with no one telling me what to do. Those sick days that I enjoyed so much are now something that I can do every day.
In retrospect, I probably should have known that the clear, career path wasn’t going to make me happy. Back when I was interviewing for summer associate positions, interviewers would always ask me why I wanted to become a lawyer. Looking back at it, I realize I never had a good answer to that question and any answer I gave was pretty much a lie. There’s probably no surer sign that a career path isn’t right for you then when you need to lie about why you want to do it.
I struggled a lot at my first lawyer job, working as an associate at a big law firm. I found the environment very stressful and I knew pretty much from the beginning that I wasn’t going to last very long there. My plan though was simple. I was going to use my income and pay off my student loans as fast as I could, then get a different lawyer job that would be more fulfilling where I could really grow my career. I chalked up my unhappiness solely to the fact that biglaw is a tough job. My next job, I told myself, would be better.
But that didn’t happen. I ended up finding a job as an attorney for a state agency, doing legal work on behalf of the state. But that job didn’t make me happier either. I woke up dreading going to work each day. This idea that I had built in my head that working in government would be better for me just wasn’t true. With no student loans to worry about though, I made the move out of there a little bit faster.
And so I ended up at my last job, working in a non-traditional legal role for a non-profit. This job, I thought, would definitely be the one I could build a career on – with solid 9-5 hours and no stressful lawyer things to deal with. But once again, the same issues came up for me. I wasn’t happy with what I was doing professionally. Being stuck in an office, doing the same thing over and over, having to take vacation days to leave the office – all of that made me miserable.
Each time I left a job, I thought that maybe my next job would be the “dream job” that I could work in for a few decades until I’d saved enough money to retire. I kept telling myself that eventually, I’d find a place where I’d be happy and where I’d finally find that passion that just seemed to be missing in my professional life. After 5 years of working as a lawyer, it began to dawn on me that maybe I was going about this career thing all wrong.
When I think about it, all of the moves I made were based around a basic framework that a lot of us live in where a good career means going to a good school, getting a good job, and working that type of job for the next several decades. It never once occurred to me that there were other ways to make a living beyond a regular job – even as I was going around making money in different ways each month.
The interesting thing is that when you look at the work history of a lot of attorneys my age, you often see a pretty similar looking resume – lawyers jumping around from job to job and from firm to firm. I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of lawyers are like me, unhappy with their careers and looking for the next thing around the corner that they think might make them happier. But instead of looking outside of their career, they keep working in the only framework they know, finding another lawyer job doing basically the same thing. I know that’s what I was doing for a long time.
So How Will I Make A Living?
So now that I’ve made this move, how exactly am I going to make a living?
First, my hope is that this blog continues to grow. I’ve struggled the last few weeks to write this post, wanting to get this post done before writing anything else (so my bad for sucking on the content this month). My goal in the coming months is to get on a more regular publishing schedule and publish more often. I have a backlog of 200+ topics in my notes app just waiting to get out there. And I’m thinking of new topics every single day. The beauty of this blog is that there’s no cap on how much it can grow. I know what I make now. If I keep working on it, I should be able to keep making more just with the natural growth of this blog.
Second, I’ve got a nice benefit of pretty much being able to support my lifestyle with all of my side hustles that I’ve been doing over the years. As silly as many people think it it is to go around walking dogs or delivering food on my bike, there is actually money to be made there – enough that it can actually hold you over while you pursue your dreams and passions. Over the past few years, I’ve consistently been able to make between $1,000 and $3,000 per month while working an inflexible, full-time job. That alone can pretty much cover my life, as most months I only spend between $2,000 and $3,000 for the month. And if I have more time on my hands and more flexibility in my day, I’m pretty sure I can make even more.
Of course, while I do advocate chasing whatever dreams you have, I definitely have to recognize that not everyone can make a move like this. I’m super privileged compared to most people and not everyone will be in a position to just quit their jobs and go all-in on their dreams and passions. After all, I have no kids yet and no one relies on my income. I was fortunate enough to make enough money when I was working that I could pay off my student loans, so I don’t have a lot of bills to pay. And, most importantly, I’m married and my wife makes enough from her job that we’d be totally fine living on just her income (although to be fair, my wife is a business owner and has to earn her income on her own using her own wits, not from an employer – in other words, she’s hustling and taking risks too).
I’ve been working on this blog for years now, and for most of that time, I thought all this blog could really be is a side project. I always said that I’d like to blog full-time if I could, but I never really seriously thought that was something I could do. I was so ingrained in my clear, career path thinking. And even though I couldn’t find that right job, I kept working in that framework, telling myself that eventually, I’d find the right job, even though I had a job that I’d been creating for years right in front of me.
I know this isn’t an original post – there are lots of other bloggers out there that have done the same thing to the point where the “I Quit” post is pretty cliche now. What I hope this post does do is inspire you to think a little bit about what you’re doing with your life. Too often, I think we get stuck in our own heads about what we’re supposed to do and what’s possible. We work in the framework that friends and family and society give us, rarely venturing outside of that framework. My overarching theme with this blog, I think, has always been to challenge yourself to think a little bit differently.
At least that’s what I’m trying to do. We’ll see what happens.
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Congrats! I wish I had your courage!
Thanks! It might be courage, or maybe it’s stupidity. It’s a fine line 🙂
I wrote the following email to the BC law society people as well as the Attorney Generals of BC and ON. The reasons lawyers are constantly unhappy about what they do, is that we participate in doing injustice. We are made in the image of God. In justice is God’s heart satisfied. If we do the opposite, ie. trying to satisfy ourselves in injustice we will definitely collapse. It’s interesting that I found your blog post by searching what a lawyer could do after quitting the profession. I’m facing the same problem. I spent the last year drawing Bible Verse Comics: https://picture.scripture.xin/en
Thanks for letting me publish the email here. I want to leave some trace of the message on the internet so that ppl may, by any chance, get to read it. I really did not want to preach to them and as a result I procrastinated for over a year.
Below is the email message:
…………
Dear colleagues,
This is XZ Joy Yan, I’m a former BC lawyer. I’m writing this message to you as a Christian.
The western legal system has done so much evil. And all of the lawyers and judges as participants, add to its evil daily. The Lord says “you shall not kill” and “you shall not steal’. Yet this legal system sentences murderers to only 10 years or less, and protects trust instruments where people store stolen monies in there.
You have also achieved the above by writing too much. You can easily write hundreds of thousands of pages for any trivial case. A simple financial fraud case for example, can take 8 years to adjudicate and cost millions of dollars in legal fees. You are not punishing crimes, rather, you are all participating in the crime.
The textbook says the idea behind trust law was also “from the Bible” – the Lord-servant trust relationship is something worth legal protection. How dare you compare these two? Where you protect a “trust” relationship between a trustee and a beneficiary where both are co-offenders of financial frauds, what’s so noble about that?
“You shall not steal” is a rule of law over and above “trust law” (if there is any need for a trust law in the first place).
On a second note, the mere existence of the legislative branch of the government is blasphemes. All laws are given by God in the bible already, and all laws that were given are necessary and sufficient. For example, Deuteronomy 22:8 “When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.” This rule of law covers all product liability cases. Why should it differ if someone dies from falling off the roof because the construction worker failed to make a parapet, or someone dies from food poisoning because the cook failed to check the expiry date of an ingredient?
Our law over-writes, and over-complicates all things. “You shall not steal” would cover if someone sold worthless shares, or a spouse transferred away properties, or a company stole another company’s patents, or a contractor provided faulty goods, or someone commits bankruptcy frauds. Why is it necessary to draft so many laws, and in turn for lawyers and judges to draft even much much more? I’ve heard in simple murder cases that there can acuumulate 20,000 pages on file. Let me ask you this simple question – if your son or daughter is murdered, will you calmly sit down and write a 20,000-page file?
“So then, the word of the Lord to them will become: Do this, do that, a rule for this, a rule for that; a little here, a little there– so that as they go they will fall backward; they will be injured and snared and captured. ” Isaiah 28:13
I have been wanting to write to you. Now it’s time to demolish our idol.
There is something else I would like to put in my message – I did lie to the auditor from the law society when I was audited. There were some cash payments that I received and did not pay tax on. I forgot the exact amount. I now pay it back by not collecting some entitled CERB. My apologies.
I have other “Christian” lawyer friends mocking me: “if you don’t like it here why don’t you go back to China?” I guess they are right. If I write to blame the Chinese governments like this I may be killed. In here at least you wouldn’t kill me. You have more hope.
The Lord says: “But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ” Leviticus 26:40-42
If any of you would like to talk to me, please write back.
XZ (Joy) Yan
(Former BC lawyer)
Congrats and all the best. It’s good to take a break from work. You’re still young with no kids, little risk with leaving. If one day you had to return to work, take a look at compliance roles at online banks or fin techs, a law background is very beneficial to have in compliance.
It was your blog that got me thinking about renting my 2 rooms out on AirBnb and then whole house during vacations. I was able to earn $6000 last year. It may not seem much but an extra $5000 a year goes a long way. The AirBnb money came so handy for home maintenance or emergency without even have to touch the emergency fund.
Way to go! I had no idea until you link back to this post in your latest post.
If there is one person I know who will make it, it’s you. You’ve always had the determination and joy to do the side hustles.
I’m sure you’re gonna do great. Congratulations!
Sam
Thanks so much Sam! Appreciate the support.
Hi Kevin,
Best of luck on this new venture! I agree with some of the concerns about lack of structure. I’d try to schedule your days in blocks, especially at this early stage will help you stay on top of your goals. And you may want to consider doing some freelance legal work–but for something much smaller scale (small business? church?).
It’s nice to keep those skills sharp just in case and you might find that kind of legal work (where you can see the direct impact you have on others) more rewarding. I’d also recommend this site for some small business financial advice: https://thehellyeahgroup.com/
Thanks Christine! Yeah, structure is key. I have a coworking space that I go to every day now to keep structure around my day (plus I work better when I’m out in the world compared to working from home).
To be honest, I about 99.9% sure I’m done with any legal work. I gave it a shot and really learned that I don’t like doing it. I like pondering the law. I just don’t like doing it.
If you like pondering the law then perhaps teaching law might be more your cup of tea? And not only would you be able to ‘ponder’ about the law as much as you want with your students, but you would also make a personal effect on future lawyers and how they think. My pre-law professor has definitely made an impression on me and I will forever be grateful.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be against teaching. Only real issue is that being a law professor is pretty much the most desirable legal job in the world besides being a judge. It also requires a very specific pedigree – extremely elite school is pretty much a prerequisite, which makes my chances pretty much zilch.
That said, maybe something at a community college is possible. I’d also be up for clerking and probably would want to do that at some point.
Congratulations on quitting your job! Your side hustle income reports inspired me to build additional income streams outside of my job and I’m glad that your side gigs have got to a point where you could live without a conventional 9 to 5. I’m sure it was a very difficult decision esp with your income potential as a lawyer. Look forward to seeing more posts from you.
Thank you!
Sorry I tried to read a few of your blogs but due to all the ads I could only read one section for a few seconds before the screen changed and then needed to find my place again. Way too annoying to really give your site much of a chance. Moving on. Thanks
Sorry about that Darrel. Appreciate you trying to read some of my blogs and for taking the time out of your day to post this constructive feedback. I’ll check with my ad manager company and see if they have any thoughts to address this issue. Hope you’ll give my site a chance one day, but if not, I definitely recommend checking out the myriad of personal finance blogs out there on the interwebs. Thanks.
Good Luck! I’m excited to see your next chapter – you are inspirational.
Thank you Jenn!
Great post! This is truly inspiring me.
Awesome!
Thank you for this post, Kevin.
Glad you enjoyed it Henry!
I’ve been a long time reader of the blog and always try to use your affiliate links though this is the first time I’m posting. I appreciate the clear, concise way in which you explain things. Congrats on the big leap and good luck with everything! I’ll continue to support you!
Thanks Cat! Really appreciate the support and glad that I can help however I can.
FP, I am happy for you in making the life choices that you believe in. As time move on, you may need something more so I wouldn’t necessarily throw the skills you developed as a lawyer out the window. You might consider how you can lawyer on your life terms OR apply the skills and talents it took to become a practicing lawyer in a new way that does fit your life.
I agree that your decision is also not irreversible either. It can suit you for now. Beware of filling the time and getting less efficient (been there and done that post retirement). Also, with this new freedom, you may find you don’t really need all the 40 hrs/wk you freed up needs to go into the blog. In that case, this choice can really be a gateway to other opportunities. So one example, you might find you could take your AirBnB experience and also become a host for others who have the space but neither the time or inclination to run an AirBnB business and do that for other physically near you. All you may need extra is to hire another flexible gigger to do turnovers but you already have all the other skills down.
It will be interesting to see how your view of gig work changes and the direction you take.
It’ll definitely be an adventure – and we’ll see whether this type of lifestyle is sustainable. I’m keeping my lawyer license up-to-date, and worst case, I’m sure I can get a job doing something or I’ll go to library science school. Or a coding bootcamp or something. You’re definitely right, I don’t think I’ll always need 40 hours or more per week to do stuff on this blog.
Congratulations! I’ve been a math teacher for the last 6 years after having tried financial planning, and I’m in the same boat about seeking more flexibility in my life. However, I have 4 kids and a wife who home schools them, so I need to make sure I make an income that supports our family. Last summer, we bought the Christian bookstore in town that was going out of business, and we’ve done a lot to improve the financials for the store. This summer, I’ll be completely redoing the website and marketing to churches within an hour of us. While I feel like I could increase our revenue to cover our personal expenses, I want to wait until the basics can definitely be covered before I make the switch full-time.
I was going to teach for one more year, but the school I’m at is closing after summer school. So I’m looking for a database management, application administrator, efficiency expert, testing coordinator, or math tutor opportunity in the mean time. I’ve been networking and letting people know so that even if I pick up a few contract jobs or part-time things that will pay the bills, I’m okay with that. Like you said, we don’t have to fit into the full-time career mold!
Hey Ken. Check out Chelsea International Education (link to our review: https://sidehusl.com/chelsea-international-education/) They have the highest-paid tutoring positions we’ve found to date. But they only hire teachers because they want everyone pre-Lifescreened.
Thanks, Kathy – I’ll check it out!
Hey Ken, buying that bookstore seems like a great adventure. Really exciting. You’re definitely in a different position with more people relying on your income, but the great thing is, there are so many ways to cover the bills in the meantime while you continue to build up your business. Looking forward to hearing more about it in the future.
Wow, congrats on the big leap! It sounds like this is just the right move for you. With your expenses being covered already by your side hustles, you’re in a great position to get that to grow and spend your time as you want! I’m jealous, and this just gives me motivation to create something on the side that generates income so I can do this someday too!
Wow what a bold move! Best of luck with your blog and future endeavors. Keep us posted! 🙂
Thank you Ms FAF! Will definitely keep you posted.
#goals.
Haha, thanks!
I am impressed with your courage to go against the mainstream and follow your heart. It must have been an incredibly difficult decision given the amount of effort it took to go through law school. I have a lot of anxiety that my job (9-5) will not always be there for me, but if anything should happen and one day I am suddenly unemployed, I hope I can follow in your footsteps and find income through alternative means. I have been a long time reader and I look forward to your upcoming posts. Take Care!
Thanks Kathy! Appreciate the support. And you make a good point about the jobs – we think they’re safe, but you never know. It’s always good to have backups just in case.
Good for you! I’ve been a long time reader and have enjoyed watching the blog evolve! Please keep doing what you’re doing for all us lawyers out there that can sympathize.
Thank you Teja!
Congratulations, my friend! I have to admit, I’d wondered last year if this was in the works for you, especially as your side hustle income grew and grew.
I’m definitely feeling those same burnout feelings, and tomorrow marks 1 year for me in this job… It has surprised me how quickly those feelings crept up already. It’s a good gig, and I work with good people, but it has solidified in me the resolve to FIRE. The whole commuting/cubicle life isn’t for me!
Thanks Josh! I mean, when you’re around all those FinCon people, gosh it makes it really hard to be an office worker.
Congrats Kevin,
I totally understand where you are coming from. I went the consulting/banking route, but it was very similar back then.
In the late 90’s, my I and my peers in banking/consulting/lawyers would commiserate whenever we had a little free time.
The more adventurous of us joined dot com companies for the foosball tables and free food, but then got laid off in the tech bust. It made the rest of us too afraid to do anything but the set, safe path.
Now, I really do think alternative paths are as viable as the traditional route.
Cheers!
I mean, for sure the internet has really changed things. But even those people that ventured off to the dot coms and failed. It’s not like they’re unemployed and homeless today, right? There’s always room to pivot and figure things out.
I’ll be contrarian and say “I don’t know about this.” From my perspective, your issue is job satisfaction. You probably never should have gone to law school. You have made statements implying as much. Once you completed law school, you were left with a large debt and it would have been folly to not put your law degree to use. So you had 2 or 3 jobs where you practiced law and this final job.
Now you are quitting your full time job and will work gig jobs. First of all, I wonder if these side jobs will be mentally stimulating to you. If you can get through law school and pass the bar, your mental abilities far exceed what is required to walk dogs, charge electric scooters and pick trash. When these were your side gigs, they were a counter-balance to your full-time job. W/o the full-time job, I assume you will have to work more hours at these “side gigs” which may become your “main gig.” Essentially, I wonder if you are suited to work more hours at these less mentally challenging jobs.
As for the blog, I think you will find producing original content on a regular basis to be the hardest job in the world. You need to feed the blog with interesting & original content on a regular basis in order for your numbers to grow…even then growth is not assured. I also think you will find that when the blog was escape from work, it was one thing. Now that you will be focusing on it, it is something different…something more difficult.
I am going to give you the same advice I have given many people and have tried to follow myself. Find a job you enjoy and that you find mentally challenging…and pays the bills. Often you have to trade-off those two: job satisfaction vs. salary. If either one gets too low, you will be unhappy. Was the problem you had working for someone else as you state or the work itself? I can’t help but think your career is rooted in what was essentially a mistake so why would you expect the resulting jobs to be satisfying. This is very common. Usually people have some idea after a few years in the work force and go back to grad school. You went from undergrad to JD degree so pressing restart now is a little tougher.
I do not recall your finances but my impression is you are nowhere near Financially Independent so you are not retiring early but rather reducing your income in the short-term for an uncertain future.
Hey Dan, I always appreciate your thoughtful and honest insight. Absolutely, job satisfaction is an issue I’ve had – I haven’t been professionally happy in the past five years, which also happen to be the only 5 years I’ve worked real jobs.
Definitely, gig stuff might get boring if I’m doing it as my real job, but that’s why I’m still trying to keep it more as a side thing so that I don’t lose my love for them. In other words, I’m not going to be putting in 40 hour weeks on gig stuff.
Instead, I’m looking at this blog as my actual job – so if someone asks me what my job is, I’d probably say, “I’m a blogger…” and then cue the laugh or puzzled look.
I don’t think I shy away from hard work. In fact, I don’t think it was that work was hard that made me hate being a lawyer. I think it was other things – the fact that I didn’t get to control my life that bothered me so much.
Here’s the great thing about trying things out when you’re young though. I’m 32 right now and deeply ingrained in this whole financial independence movement, which, if we’re to believe what we read, means that any of us can retire in 17 years or less so long as we can save 50% or more of our income right? If we believe that basic assumption, doesn’t that mean my worst case scenario is I eke out a subsistence living for a decade, realize I’m never going to make it and then just go back to school or get a job. Then just go back to doing the traditional path to FI for 10 to 20 years? I’d then be in my late 50s or early 60s, retiring “early” by any traditional metric.
I guess my thought is, life is very long. If we FIRE people believe it takes less than 40 years to become financially independent (i.e. most FIRE people would say you can do it in 20 years), then it seems like there’s a lot of time to get back on the FI train if everything fails.
That’s my thought anyway.
I remember talking with you at our MN blogger meetup a couple months ago – and you mentioned that you had made the decision to go full time with the blog and side gigs. I was happy for you, and as a fellow blogger i completely understand how attractive of an idea it is to go full time with the blog. A lot of people think about doing it, but i don’t think that many actually can or do. Kudos for taking the plunge my friend!
I’ve been blogging for 11 years now, and for many of those years I’ve thought what it would be like to go full time. I have never made the plunge, however, even though my blog income has surpassed my day job income at this point. Beyond the fact that I have 2 kids with a wife who’s a stay at home mom – I personally like the security of having a full time job with health benefits and 401k, and then having a good strong side income. Also, I actually enjoy my day job to a certain degree – and they’re making the plunge to being a remote workplace where we work from home – which will be great. I may take a slight pay cut too so that I can work 3-4 days a week as well, we’ll see.
We should meet up some day at a coffee shop somewhere, work on the blogs and talk shop! 🙂
I think a lot of us were shocked that you still work full-time when you have a huge blog too! Some jobs may be more amenable to blogging and working full-time too. But for sure, life circumstances also play a role. My wife happens to work and is likely to earn a lot given her career choice, so the risk for me is really low with doing this. That’s a privilege that I feel like I’ve got to take advantage of now while I can.
We should definitely meet up again soon.
I too worked for smaller and smaller employers for shorter and shorter periods of time, until I eventually became self-employed and then FIREd.
Good luck to you, Kevin. Carry on writing, and I’ll carry on reading.
Thanks Luke. Interestingly, when you were self-employed, I assume you were doing what you loved what you were doing (otherwise, why would you do it, right)? In a way, you might have been FIRE (minus the RE) when you hit that point right?
I was a self-employed copywriter. I enjoy writing, but the work I was getting was same old, same old, and I wanted to try new things, like learn computer programming. In the past I worked in the financial services and public relations fields, and that’s where I earned and saved my future nest egg. So yes, although I hadn’t really thought about it at the time, and had never heard of FI, I was probably FI when I started my self-employment, back in my 30s. I’m 46 tomorrow.
Wow congratulations Kevin. Quitting your job is a bold move and takes a lot of courage. I am in a similar situation to yours. I’ll be sure to continue to follow your blog more for future updates!
Thanks Andrew!
Congrats Kevin! That is so awesome… I actually just found this blog and was very impressed by your hustle and passion for this blog and your side gigs. You have inspired me to try out Door Dash and Wag.
I’m even more impressed that you are recognizing this early in your career, and now, you can pursue writing full-time! This blog will be even better, and I’m happy that are you chasing your passions.
Thanks so much Jeff! I really hope that the extra time gives me more time to work on this blog. Of course, I still keep doing deliveries and dog walking and all that other stuff, which I find way too fun, haha.
Congratulations! I’ve just started my blogging journey, but I hope that one day I can arrive at the same decision (albeit a hard one) where I can decide to quit my 9-5. I hope I can do it within 4 years, ideally 3. I know lawyer friends who started at big firms and didn’t like the environment and moved on to non-profit or in-house and seem to like it better (for now). It’s definitely tough, but I hope your decision works out for you!
Thank you Jonathan! I hope things work out too – it’s scary to put yourself out there like that. Keep hustling and play the long game with your side hustles.
Good for you! I’m retired and work part time with Rover and my own Petsitting biz. I realized a long time ago tbat 9-5 wasn’t for me. I’m so much happier now. And less stressed. The really great thing is I can take off on vacations whenever I want to! And plan my work around my life. Not my life around my work.
That last line is great – plan your work around your life, not your life around your work. I feel like so many of us do it the other way, even when we don’t necessarily have to.
Congrats!
Thanks Nick!
Congrats man! I’m really happy to see you take the plunge and do what you want! I think I’ll be in the same spot as you eventually. This really inspired me to keep building the income streams outside of my day job that I actually love doing! Hope all goes well and good luck with the blog growth.
Thank you Nathan!
Good luck! I hope it’s everything you ever wanted. It’s funny how we’re all such different people and yet we all get put on the same script in life. Good for you for saying No More!
Thanks Gwen! I told you a year ago that I wanted to do exactly like what you did last year. The beauty is that even if it doesn’t work out, you at least learn something from it and learn a little bit more about who you are.
Wow! Congratulations my friend! I will continue to tune in and look forward to witnessing the great things that God has in store for you, all while living in your purpose of inspiring others to think outside of the box!
Looking forward to your next post!
Juniata Ford, Esq.
Thank you Juniata!
Kevin – this is awesome! Congratulations! I can tell you first hand that other young lawyers feel the same way and are bouncing around from firm to firm looking for a fit that will make them happy. I’m so thrilled that you found your minimum viable audience and are propelling yourself into a future of adventure. Best of luck!
Oh my gosh, this is huge news! Congrats Kevin. I’m excited for you, and wish you all the best on this new chapter of your life.
Thanks Chrissy!
Thank you Greg. It’s a scary move, but the great thing is, I’m still young. The way I tell myself, if literally the worst thing happens and I can’t figure out any way to make money, I can just go back to school or go get a job.
think a little differently. there you have it. that’s all i ever hope to provide for my readers: here’s an idea for your smart people. chew it over with your wisdom teeth and see if it might be something you could utilize. it’s good to be an iconoclast. good luck.
Congrats Kevin!! Super excited for you! I love how you clearly defined your ‘ideal day’ and the intentional steps you took to make that your new norm. Very inspiring!
Good for you, Kevin! Happy to see you made the transition. One thought: What about freelance legal services for freelancers?
Wow, very inspiring story and I am sure great things will come. Can’t wait to continue to follow along.
Thanks Eric!
Onward!
I must say, I’m really happy for you!
This is truly inspiring Kevin. I took think a lot about my future going to college for accounting at the moment. I would enjoy office work but I also adore coffee shops.
Great update and I’m glad you could make this post. Hope to read more soon!