The Day I Announced My Retirement

I have been contemplating quitting my offline business and retiring from the workforce for about a year now. For those that are unaware, I have a small painting company with 4 employees. At the age of 35, it's seems like madness to think I'll never work for another boss again. Even with my own company, I was never the boss. The builders and the clients were in fact my boss.

Anyways... Today was the day!. I had been planning to close down my somewhat successful painting business in 2017, once our house was built. Because of the high expense of paying rent and a mortgage at the same time, I wanted the reassurance of a offline income.

2 days ago I walked into our paint shop and noticed a brochure on their desk. It said something like "If you are not happy where you are, MOVE. You are not a tree!!!". Immediately I thought about how my offline business was making me miserable and really hating my trade.

"You Are Not A Tree"

That saying had been repeating over and over in my head since I read it. I knew I was close to quitting. But today I hit the point where I had enough. I paint new houses/units etc and at handover, painters have to do touch ups. This is where you fix any small defects in the paint work.

But this 1 particular job of 18 townhouses was more then just a few touch ups. It was a disaster. It made me feel disgusted inside that every other trade had no respect for the painting trade. The paint job was destroyed. Holes in all the walls, ceilings, muddy marks all over the walls, carpet layers banging their hammers into the skirts etc..... x 18 townhouses.

At that moment, I was 100% sure that I hate my job!. So I thought about everything for the rest of the day. At the end of the day I rang the builder and said "I'm closing down my business, find new painters".

WOW what a weight off my shoulders. What a relief it was to get that out, something that I had been thinking about for a year now and have finally taken action on.

4 Hours On.....

So right now it is about 4 hours since I broke the news to my builders and it's a very strange feeling. While I still have bout 3 weeks to finish the job I'm on, the reality of working from home is hanging over my head.

Scared, Excited, nervous, fearful, relieved are all the feelings I'm feeling right now after essentially quitting my job to put my faith in my online business.

Will my monthly income evaporate overnight now that I've quit my job?. Oh no what have I done?. These are thoughts running around in my head still. But still somewhat smiling on the inside. Such a strange feeling.

Their Reaction?

I was expecting an angry response or for them to throw more money at me to make me stay. But it was never about the money, it's always been about having freedom, having no boss and not working until I can barley move at 70.

But I was blown away at how happy they were for me. Then they wanted to know how do I make money online. Naturally I told them to check out my WA site. "To be able to make money without leaving the house is amazing, good on you!". So it made me happy that they understood why I was leaving and not just trying to screw them around.

This Is My Dream!

It appears dreams do come true. Normal people, even tradies can make a living in the comfort of their own home. Deep down inside I never believed that it was ever possible. But I stuck with it, grinded away day after day, month after month. Year after year and will never stop :)

Is this what you want from Wealthy Affiliate?

I'm just your ordinary guy who learned internet marketing from WA, I took action and never stopped. I never spend money on ads or traffic or anything like that. I make my whole online income from organic traffic which is taught here at Wealthy Affiliate. I love organic traffic, its simply the best. Plus it's free :)

So I saw how excited the people I told were about making money online. Are you willing to give that opportunity away when SO MANY people don't even know it's possible to make money online?.

We are extremely fortunate to be here at Wealthy Affiliate and live in the internet age that we live in. 20 odd years ago, none of this was ever a possibility. So lets ALL embrace it and don't stop until you reach your dream. This can and will be possible for you too. I heard someone in chat say once "the only way you can fail, is if you quit". This is so true.

Whats Your Experience With Going Full Time?

I would love to hear from other members who have kicked there jobs to the curb and made internet marketing their full time jobs. What should I expect? For some reason I anticipate boredom from less social encounters (work mates). How have you found working online for a living?.