I quit my job to follow my dream by Alice

I don’t know when I decided I wanted to be a writer, I just know that it was a long time ago. There was a time before that when I wanted to be a palaeontologist, and then I wanted to be a zoologist, and then I dabbled with the idea of becoming a professional animal rights activist. Yet, I settled on writing. You see, I'm not much of a talker, so writing is something that has always appealed to me.  So, I might as well try and make it a career in the future… it's my dream job, you might say. I toddled off to university to study English and Screenwriting, ready to hone my craft and prepare for a future of penning award winning novels and writing Oscar-worthy screenplays.  

Whilst working ever so hard (mostly) at university, I had a little part-time job in a clothes shop. I had a great discount, even better friends, and just one small complication… I hated it. Don’t you think shopping brings out the worst in people? The words “I’m afraid this item is non-returnable” can turn the sweetest old lady into the devil. I have the upmost respect for anyone who can make a successful career in retail, because it just about shrivelled up my soul. But hey, it wasn’t forever! I was going to graduate university and become a successful writer and earn millions…

Fast forward to a year after graduating university… yep, still working away in a clothes shop. And, guess what? I’d been promoted and was actually pretty damn good at my job. I had a decent, steady pay, and a few decent employee benefits... But, my soul was still shrivelled and most likely carrying a "50% off" tag by this point.

In May of this year, I finally decided that enough was enough. So, I took a risk. I quit my job to pursue my dream job. With three or four months of savings in my pocket, I was free and ready to find out what the world of freelance writing had in store for me… 

And here I am now, pursuing my writing career. But, after a few months of experience, I have just a few words of wisdom for you today about pursuing your dream job. Because, if you're going to take a risk like I did, you should know now that isn’t not going to be easy...

You’re going to have to work twice as hard

Like me, you've probably stayed in your boring, dead-end job simply because it was easy to do so. Working towards becoming a success at your dream job… it’s going to be hard. There’s twice the pressure and expectation. Sometimes I work ridiculous hours, and I’m constantly thinking about the next step and ways that I push myself further. As a consequence, I’m always pretty damn tired. But at least my brain’s working, right? Which is more than I can say about my old job. Dreams don’t work unless you do.

Sometimes your dream job will suck just as much as your old job

There’s always something about any job that you’re going to hate, and the job of your dreams is going to be no different. For every exciting and fulfilling moment, there will be at least one or two tedious and mundane moments just around the corner. Be prepared, because even your dream job isn't going to be completely perfect. 

Sometimes your dream job will suck EVEN MORE than your old job

You might even have days when you’ll wonder whether you were better off at your old job. For me, I miss the people that I worked with and sometimes it sucks working alone. But, you've got to take the highs with the lows. At least you know that the high points of your dream job are going to be twice as awesome as the high points of your old job. 

Your sucky job probably paid better

When you start out, you’re probably going to be right at the bottom of the ladder of success. Which, most likely means that you’re going to be paid very little. Working as a relatively new freelancer, there are times when I might as well be unemployed. Which is why it is important to plan financially and have plenty of savings before you even consider quitting your old job.

It will all pay off eventually… right? 

There's no way of knowing for sure whether all this hard work is going to pay off. For me, the jury is still out. Do I know that one day I’ll finally be earning a full time wage for the full time hours that I’m working? Unfortunately not. It might take months or even years. But hey, the founder of McDonald’s was selling paper cups and milkshake mixers until the age of 52, and J.K. Rowling was a single mum on benefits until she was 31.

I have a just one more piece of advice for you... JUST GO FOR IT! All I know for sure is that if the risk I took pays off, I’m going to be the smuggest girl around and it would have been a risk worth taking. But, if it doesn’t? At least I tried! Life is short and we spend so much of it working, so I think it’s worth a shot trying to have an awesome job.

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Alice is a freelance writer and editor of Wonder Magazine. You can find her over on twitter. Find more posts by Alice here...