I Quit My 9–5 Job 18 Months Ago. Here’s What Happened Next
You never know what’s waiting for you!
On the evening of November 05, 2020, I quit my 9–5 job.
I explained why I did that in the article ‘Why I Quit My Job While Others Were Busy Saving Theirs.’ You can look at it if you are interested in knowing the reasons.
Now in this post, I will tell you what happened after quitting and what changed in my life during these 1.5 years of joblessness.
To some other land, To some other sea…
“I want to enjoy at least 2 months; free from all kinda jobs or anything. I will just travel, and do some writing,” I told my boss when he asked me what I would do next.
And I did exactly that.
I spent a month exploring a few cities in my country (due to covid restrictions, I couldn’t go abroad). I visited Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world.
I paid a visit to my native village as well. It was a different experience.
I went there after almost ten years. So it was not the same village I left ten years ago. I found so many things changed. But I met some of my childhood friends there and spent a good time together.
Then I went to the beach of Kuakata and stayed there for a week.
It was a long, lovely, refreshing tour after my five years of hectic job life.
During my travel time, I continued writing and publishing on this platform though I never thought I would become a regular writer here and, at some point, start earning a decent amount of money.
I decided to become a freelance writer
The first two months went super quick and I realized that I like this job-free life.
There’s no hurry in the morning to catch the bus to the office, no waiting in the traffic jam, no responsibilities to take, no boss to report to, no boring office meetings, and no office politics.
So I told myself — ‘Why should I rejoin the same boring 9–5 life? Why not explore something different!’
As I’ve always loved to write (though I’m not very good at it), I wanted to give it a go. I decided to do freelance writing for at least one year.
I opened an account in Upwork as a freelance writer and started finding suitable clients. But you know, the writing market is already saturated and it’s hard to find the right clients.
No wonder it took me a few weeks to get my first client. It was a $50 deal, and I was very excited and nervous.
Within a short period, I got a few other writing deals. Though I was not enjoying all of those deals, things were going smoothly. That means I loved the freedom of when to work and when not. It’s like being your own boss.
Now I am a top-rated writer on Upwork. But, honestly speaking, I don’t love working there. Working for clients with fewer or no flexibilities hardly excites me.
I got involved in a business
In October 2021, one of my childhood friends informed me that he would start a shrimp business. He asked me for some financial help.
But when I was informed about the whole business, I decided to join in. Instead of giving him financial help, I became his business partner with equal investment.
We took a land lease for five years and started working together. Everything is going well so far. Hopefully, we will start getting the return from that business the next month.
My father is a govt employee (he is still in service). I was also a 9–5 job holder. I never thought I would ever be involved in the business.
That’s very new, scary, and exciting for me at the same time.
My first $10,000 month
In April, May, and June 2021, I got a total of $1500 readers engagement bonus from Medium. At that point, I was making around $100/mo from this platform. So the bonuses were a great boost for me.
Then in October, something crazy happened. One of my stories went viral. From that single story, I earned over $19,000. The story got more than 525K views and 21K claps.
Thanks to that viral story, I made more than $10,000 in November 2021. It was beyond my wildest dream.
I bought my father a motorbike and my mom a gold chain to celebrate this success.
I became a cat parent
I adopted a cat in February 2021 to figure out why people have pets like dogs and cats and how it helps them deal with loneliness. I wanted to see whether having a pet (cat or dog, or else) makes us happier or not.
And you know what happened!
My cat Mini radically improved my life and made me happier. Now Mini is the center of our universe.
If I sum up my last 18 months after the quitting, here is what happened in my life —
- I have gained more freedom and control over my life and work (though I’ve become a little lazy and unproductive. LOL!).
- I earned more than $30,000 from writing which was beyond my expectation.
- I started a shrimp business with my childhood friend (thus, I stepped outside my comfort zone).
- I adopted a cat, Mini, and became a cat parent.
But none of those would ever happen if I didn’t quit my 9–5 job.
From my experience, I’ve learned that we all must come out of our comfort zones and do what we love to do. Only then will we become happy and content.
Thank you for reading.
PS: In case you are wondering, — I am 32 and single. So I have way fewer responsibilities than a married man with a family to maintain. I’m telling you this because no one can guarantee that quitting a job can turn your life around. So make your decisions wisely.
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If you want to read more of my writings, do check out the following articles.