” If you work hard on your job, you could make a living. If you work hard on yourself, you could make a fortune. Your income is primarily determined by your philosophy, not the economy. Success is something you attract by becoming an attractive perso…

Sometimes I make out a ‘worst case scenario plan’. And these plans always end up being fun. If money starts getting tight, what can I do? It sounds like you could teach a cooking class, host a tele-class or seminar, teach online or at a local community college about finances, do more consulting, the list goes on. I once transcribed dozens of interviews between a grad student and aspiring pro wrestlers. It was fun, lucrative, informative, and I made a great friend.
http://www.theinnovativetraveler.com

http://www.memwg.com/the-uneconomics-of-book-publishing/

Can you stay at your current employer part time? Would they be willing to take you back if you left and wanted to come back?

As a part time worker and spouse of self employed artist, I’ve struggled with the benefits issue for years. Not fun, but can be managed.

Best of luck on your decision. Don’t doubt your writing–it’s incredibly readable and clear. You explain the inexplicable to folks like me who have no mind for finances. I’ve appreciated your words…

Good luck in your soul searching as that is where you key to your problem is. Basically as I see it you could either:

a) Do it and write more and take all the risks that go with it. If you do this get a huge income stabilization fund build up to help the swings in income (6 to 12 months worth). Also remove most of your debts.

b) Don’t do it and write less. Really I like your work, but your producing more than you need. I actually skip about half your posts because I don’t have the time to read that much.

Best of luck and remember to be honest with yourself.

Tim

Don’t try to decide this weekend. There’s no reason you can’t wait six months. Use that time to get to know the field. Publishing is one of the most hotly competitive markets in the world. What do you have to offer? How can you get it noticed by publishing houses? And if you do, will it sell?

You have time. Learn.

I think your best bet is to pay close attention to the advice of people who have been there. There are lots of good comments from people in the publishing industry. Give those comments precedence. It’s true that you should follow your dreams and spend as much time as you can at home while your children are young. It’s also true that you shouldn’t risk the stability of your family while your children are young. From experience, living in a storage unit with electricity for a few years does a lot more damage to a young psyche than living in a real house with parents who don’t have time for you does. Yes, time is short. But you are still young. You have at least a year to stockpile savings and consider the decision from every angle, network inside of the industry and prepare for the shift. Take your time to ensure your success the first time around, not the fifth.

I also seriously disagree with the criticism of the cooking blog idea. Plenty of people do not know how to cook from scratch. In fact, I would say the people who are able to make their own bread and do so on a regular basis are the exception rather than the rule. Especially people in their early twenties like me. I don’t have anyone to tell me whether I can still make that muffin recipe even if I don’t have baking powder. No one ever told me what baking powder is or does. I had to do quite a bit of digging online to find out that my muffins would be cookies instead if I did that. And that was not just a quick search, either. I think you would be filling a serious need and I would subscribe to it immediately.

I thoroughly enjoy reading your Simple Dollar blog because your advice is so straightforward, organized, easy to read, and genuinely helpful! If your cooking blog is anything like that, I will be ecstatic, as will my tummy. We’ve already tried your advice about bread, and it has reminded us how fun making things in the kitchen together can be. Thanks, and good luck with whichever Major Life Decision you choose.

Please keep in mind that there will always, always be people who will criticize your writing. Best-selling authors have their work trashed all the time. Joe Schmoe from Arkansas telling you your writing “sucks” doesn’t negate the millions of hits you’re getting on this site.

The people I know who have successfully transitioned to freelance writing have followed this rule: don’t quit your regular job until you’re already comfortably replacing your income. It will be a struggle to balance your time, but if you can show yourself that you can make a living this way, the confidence boost will accelerate your success when you do take the plunge.

Best of luck.

Go for it! I just moved from East Africa to Vancouver, Canada for the simple reason that there are many opportunities in this part of the world. Things have been a little rocky but they are easing up now, due to God’s grace and faith in God. I strongly believe that all things are possible.

Take a step of faith and everything will be okay. Get out of the comfort zone and the paralysis of analysis. Trust in God and all will be okay.

Victory

I stumbled onto your blog a few weeks ago and find myself coming back regularly. Its easy to see why its popular – your writing style is unpretentious and honest. You pick topics that are relevant and relatable to most middle class people who are trying to juggle saving for the future with our everyday lives and expenses. I think you ultimately have a future as a writer, but I would offer the following advice:
1. You need to build up a much bigger emergency reserve since your wife will now have the sole STEADY source of income, shoot for 12 months living expenses.
2. The ideal solution, as others have mentioned, would be for you to arrange part-time or job sharing with your current employer, but that may not be possible and it doesn’t reduce your day care expenses.
3. I don’t believe your day care expenses will fully disappear as you are assuming…you may still need to meet with clients/editors/business partners during the day, and will need to think through child care for these times.
4. What is your fall-back plan for if this doesn’t work, or your family situation changes and requires you to earn more income (e.g. your wife loses her job, or is medically unable to work)? Can you to return to work in your field? Plan to maintain as many work contacts as possible to facilitate this if it becomes necessary.
5. Can you supplement your writing with other work that is related? For example, H&R Block and others hires tons of seasonal tax preparers for Q1 of each year. This could be one way to supplement. Or, community colleges will often post for adjunct faculty spots that pay per class – you could teach on personal finance, or other areas that you meet the qualifications for. Or ask your local community center if they need instructors to teach various enrichment classes (cooking, personal finance, etc)…this could also help you promote your other activities.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I hope you do decide to give it a go, just think through it from all angles so you don’t compromise yours or your family’s financial future in the process.

Good luck, and thanks for the great blog site.

You can always go back to even a part time job if you feel burnt out or for whatever reason your writing doesn’t bring enough to cover the bills. A friend of mine quit her job to work full time on her website (www.aswearemagazine.com), and is now looking for something outside home again. It’s not a do or die situation… there’s lots of room for cushion. :)

Good luck!! My dream is to be able to drop back to part time at my “day job” and have my photography be a stream of income. One day… one day… ! :)