How To: quit your day job (and start working for yourself)

Who is your daddy and what does he do? Kidding. A little Kindergarten Cop humor there. Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Maura Gauthier of The Paper Guppy. Basically I’m a graphic designer specializing in custom invitations.

Okay, so you quit your job. First I want to know why. What made you decide to do it?

Speaking of my daddy – my father has always said “Two things you need in life: a good mattress and a good job” and sure friends and family are nice too! But the basic theme is that, throughout your adult life you spend most of your time either sleeping or working (sad, but true). So, my mattress was great, but I hated my job. Yes it was in my field and the pay was decent, but over time I grew to hate it. When you dislike something that is such a large part of your day it definitely starts to wear you down. So I started looking for different options; and it was around this time that my friends started getting married and I began designing their invitations.

Now I want to know how. Did you do anything to prepare – save up, take out a loan – anything like that?

I’m not a huge risk taker (think chicken tempura instead of sushi) so I took the shallow-end approach instead of diving right in. I worked a full-time job and did my invitation business on the side for a number of years. The job that I worked at didn’t know I was starting The Paper Guppy. Words of advice – keep yourself squeaky clean and don’t run your business at your day job, especially on their computers. There are lot problems that go along with doing that if you get caught. I did most of my work in the evenings and on weekends, so I never personally had any trouble, but I’ve heard a few horror stories. After a while, I found another job that knew about The Paper Guppy so I was able to work on invitations during down times and openly go to client meetings. This helped relieve a ton of stress and it opened up my nights and weekends again for a bit, but eventually I became too busy doing both things and my free time was gone again. Lack of free time can make me a little nutty so I knew it was time to consider being my own boss.

Was it scary?

Hell yes, it was scary. I mean, financially my husband and I had been preparing for a few months so I knew we could do it – but leaving the security of a regular check behind was a little nerve wracking.

What was the biggest challenge you faced?

Finances. Definitely. The idea of quitting your job and working for yourself comes pretty easily, but realistically, can you do it financially? There is always a way to get it done, it’s just a matter of figuring out what it is. For me it meant waiting a bit to build up a solid client base.

Where did your support come from?

My number one supporter is my husband. He has pushed me from the beginning to be out on my own. His encouragement means the world to me. Also, financially, he provides a lot of support. He manages our finances and so he was able to budget everything in such a way that it would work for me to be on my own (multiple spreadsheets were involved, I’m pretty sure). And of course, I couldn’t have done this without my friends – they’re the ones who had the idea for me to design their invitations in the first place.

If someone were to ask your advice would you encourage them to follow your lead? Any regrets?

Right now I don’t have any regrets. I do what I love to do AND we just got a feather bed so check! and check! Sure some days are better than others, but for the most part I’m pretty content.

Five things someone should consider (or things they need) before going into business for themselves?

Oh my – just five?! Okay, here goes:

Number one – hire a good accountant! Seriously. An accountant will know how to properly get your business set up (sole proprietor? s-corp? a bunch of other categories that only an accountant understands?) so that you and your business function as two separate entities. This is important because if something ever goes awry, it limits the amount of action that someone can take against you personally. Another reason to have a good accountant? Filing taxes for your business can be a little scary.

Try to determine how much competition you’ll have. This can be a little tricky, but basically you need to figure out if there is a hole out there that you can fill. Are you aiming to do something unique? Do you think you can do something better than it’s already being done? There’s a lot of business out there to be had – but you’ve got to know that you can get enough of that business to actually make a living.

Maintain an 8-5 schedule. So you may think – now you’re your own boss – maybe you finally get to sleep in?! Nope. I don’t recommend it. First of all, if you keep your day structured you will be much more efficient. Second, remember most of the world works like this: daytime for work, nights and weekends for fun. So, if you spend your whole day procrastinating, watching Judge Judy and Oprah, you won’t be able to join your friends at happy hour.

Find an office space to work out of – be it an office at your house or someplace else. Work/Life balance is important. Especially when you work for yourself; it’s even easier to get caught up in doing work all of the time. But an office space will at least help you “keep work at work”. A space to go to also makes maintaining a schedule much more achievable.

Finally, if possible, work at a job doing what you eventually want you to do for yourself and get as much experience as possible. It’s easier to learn the ins and outs of your profession in a company setting. Learning on your own can lead to a few costly mistakes that you’re ultimately responsible for, because, remember, you’re the boss!

Maura Gauthier is the creative force behind the custom wedding invitations at The Paper Guppy. Originally from Cleveland, she calls Denver home. In her spare time, she feeds her internet addiction, watches reality TV (much to the dismay of her husband) and daydreams about meeting Jay Z in person.