Don’t Quit Your 9–5 For Writing On The Internet (It’s Bullsh*t)

A smarter way to make 6-figures

Image by the author

The internet loves to talk about how to quit your 9–5 job and go full-time online.

This stupid advice doesn’t work for 95% of you.

I’m not a hypocrite. I’m a realist.

Here’s why you should keep your job if you want to make 6 figures from your content.

I don’t have the time to create content

This is the classic excuse.

It’s a lie.

You have time. The real issue is you don’t want to make time. It’s not a time problem. But a priority problem. If you don’t agree, spit out all your hate in the comments.

Stop whining and complaining.

If you don’t want to make time to create content, that’s okay. Just admit the truth. Everyone has the same 24 hours. It’s a choice.

At one point in my life I had to wake up at 4 AM to get things done. I just did it.

If you want to make 6-figures from your content, you’ll find the time.

You’ll :

• Wake up early

• Work on the weekends

• Or write your next piece while you’re on the toilet.

If you’re not prepared to do that, you won’t make the time even without a job.

Content creation is ugly

Humans are impatient.

They think content creation is a get-rich-quick lottery ticket. They expect to make six figures in their first year.

So they quit their job and go all-in.

That’s a mistake. The best way to make six figures from content is to do it part-time while you have a job. This way you can fund your content and not worry about it making $0 for the next 12 months.

Six-figures is a long-term goal. It takes at least 2 years of consistent work to achieve. If you think it’s going to happen in 12 weeks you’re going to be disappointed.

Disappointment leads to quitting.

Stop making stupid decisions

With a steady job, you’re not forced to monetize your content immediately. So you focus on something else like becoming better every day.

But when you quit your job and go all-in on content, it’s a disaster. You have to make money from it or you’ll starve.

This pressure leads to bad decisions like:

• Chasing virality

• Posting affiliate links everywhere

• Selling old-school PDFs nobody wants to buy

• Focusing on spamming people with ads instead of building an audience

Keep your job that pays them to think, write, and create. Use your content to make even more money.

It’s a win-win.

The skill nobody teaches you

When you’re working a 9–5 job AND want to create content you can’t mess around with your time.

Problem: nobody teaches you how to be productive when you’re working from home. That’s why most people spend 10 hours a day in front of a screen scrolling social media and wonder why they feel like a piece of feces by the end of the day.

You have to be organized. Otherwise, you’ll end up with a bunch of half-finished projects and nothing to show for your time.

The best part is the skills you learn from your job translate to your content. You get better at:

• Immersing yourself in deep work

• Saying “no” to time-sucking tasks

• Managing your time

• Building habits

All of these skills are required to make six figures with your content.

6-figure content creators are masters of time

Prolific creators master their time.

When you’re neck-deep into your job, you use Parkinson’s law to your advantage.

Work is like water: it expands to fill the time you give it. So if you give yourself 2 hours to write a LinkedIn post, it’ll take you 2 hours. If you give yourself 2 minutes, it’ll take you 2 minutes.

Being ruthless about your time is the best thing building your content on the side of your 9–5 can teach you.

Don’t let it expand like a balloon. Put a time limit on everything.

Use your boss as rocket fuel

I’ve always hated the idea of working for someone else.

It’s why I started my first business 15 years ago. It’s why I’ve never been able to hold down a job for longer than 30 days.

• I get bored.

• I get sick of the politics.

• I don’t like being told what to do.

If you feel the same way, your 9–5 will be the best motivation to make content creation work.

You’ll be driven to escape the rat race. You’ll be fueled by the desire to make a living on your own terms.

Content creation is your escape plan.