5 Criteria to go FULL-TIME in Your Online Business!

Hey lovely!

I get asked this question all the time… ‘When should / can I go full time in my online business?!’ Why? Because we want to SO BAD, haha! But, the reality is we have to be smart business women before we can be free.

It begins with hard work, consistency and a strategic long-term plan. Then, it moves to stability. Finally, we are able to scale.

In today’s episode I go through 5 criteria that will help you determine if you’re ready to go full-time in your online business. These are my own opinion so please take them up with the Lord and together, you and He can come up with a plan of action.

I pray this blesses you.

Enjoy.

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

0:00

What’s up sister-friend? Today I am answering the question, when can I go full time in my online business, Stef? I get this question often. And while I have certain clients and friends who have taken the leap well before the finances were in place, I also have friends who have stayed too long in their J.O.B. or their security blankets because of the fear of the unknown and of taking that big, audacious leap. So this is my two cents on. When is a great time to go full-time in your online business? I hope that you enjoy.

1:39 

Speaking of going full time in your online business girlfriend, if you do not have an organic marketing funnel yet, which is bringing leads in every single day, without spending any money to do so, you’re missing out big. And if you’re like what are you talking about? It’s this right here. It’s podcasting. Me sitting behind this microphone exploded my business in one year, one and a half years and I was making more than I ever had made in corporate or network marketing.

2:11 

And now three short years later, I am making more than I had combined, I am making a bigger impact. And I am doing it in less time because I’m literally sitting on my patio right now. Next to my little puppy Hugo drinking kombucha. I never say that right, kombucha. There we go. And hanging out with you. I cannot believe that this is the way that you guys hang out with me every day. Because it doesn’t feel like work. It feels fun, it feels freeing.

2:38 

And because I know how to set up the podcast correctly. I have all of the strategies in place. My podcast continues to grow and sell my courses and products every single day. If you do not yet have a podcast to grow and scale your visibility, you’re missing out. I am telling you, this is the way, girlfriend. I want you to go think about check out and do some research on my podcasting course, which is at podcastprouniversity.com.

3:08 

Take a look at the testimonies, read the reviews. Pray over it, see what you think because I know that podcasting is the catalyst to your online business. And I’m so excited to tell you that it has been completely revamped. Every single module has been redone, every single download has been spruced up. This is PPU 2.0. And it is officially ready, it is live, it is launched, it is in the world. And I haven’t raised the price yet. So you’re gonna want to run to podcastprouniversity.com get PPU 2.0. And let’s start your growth, girl.

3:45 

So today I’m answering the question that I get often, which is when can I go full time in my online business? What is your advice here? So I actually have five things that I’m going to cover with you. But the first thing I want to tell you is that this answer is going to be different for all of you. And you and God alone can make this decision.

4:04 

So please, you know, these are just my two cents based on my almost 10 years as an online entrepreneur based on being in a space of panic, and zero financial stability while trying to make things work and being on the other spectrum. And knowing what I know now, right? Hindsight is 2020 and here’s the other piece like it’s never going to be a great time to do anything uncomfortable.

4:29 

So I’m gonna lay all those cards on the table and you’re going to take this with a grain of salt and then you’re going to take it to God and you guys together are going to decide when you should leave your full-time job, and jump into your online entrepreneurial journey full time. Whoo. So exciting, though! Even to think about that, and to consider that it is possible for you to run a business 100% on your own terms, isn’t that blow your mind?

4:55 

The fact that you’ve been listening to this episode right now means that you are within arm’s reach of doing is full time. So cool. All right, number one. So here’s my first criteria. This is based on what I would do if I was starting all over and I knew what I know. Now, number one, you have hit or past your income so your job income wherever you work today, as a family or yourself three to four times in a row.

5:23 

Did you hear me? Okay? Let me repeat number one, you’ve hit or past your current income, the income that you’re making at your job as a teacher, as a nurse as a whatever you’re doing to bring revenue in as a family, okay, three to four times in a row. The reason is, is because entrepreneurship is a crazy roller coaster.

5:41 

If you hit let’s say, you have one great month, let’s say you have a 10k a month and in your job, you bring in $4,000 a month normally. And you’re like, oh man, Stef, I made it, I made 10k in this launch, this is amazing, I’m quitting my job tomorrow, I would actually lean the other direction and say, cool, I had a great month, I’m going to pocket that extra six grand. And I’m gonna set it into my nest egg over here.

6:05 

And I’m going to do it again until I consistently hit that four grand a month three to four times in a row. Why? Because you need the ceiling of your current job, career, J.O.B. to become the floor of your entrepreneurial business, okay, the ceiling of your job at 4k a month, or whatever that is for you needs to become the floor of your entrepreneurial journey. Why is it well, because guys, we don’t launch every month, right?

6:34 

When you’re building and scaling, you’re using podcasting, it’s very organic, it’s the long game. So you’re gonna have really great months, like a 10k launch, for example. And the next month might be 2k, I would definitely not want you to leave something stable, that’s creating stability and consistency for your family. Not to mention, your job has benefits most likely. And some of you absolutely need those, you have to take that into consideration.

7:00 

Before you leave as an entrepreneur, you don’t get benefits, you don’t have a 401k match, honey, it is all on you. So you need to be making enough to cover all of those additional expenses. So for me, that rule of thumb is three to four months in a row I have hit or past that income I’m making in my job number two. Number two, I have an organic visibility plan slash really great profit margin. So what this means is your organic visibility is growing every single month.

7:39 

And all you can do is compare this to yourself, right? But if you take a look at your podcast statistics, is it growing? Is your superfan number consistently growing. If you are in a rut or a decline, that would not be the best time to make the leap. You want to make sure that you are in a momentous season, you are seeing that growth, you are seeing that consistent growth because if not, you may have some work to do on your branding, your messaging, etc.

8:04 

So make sure that your organic visibility is growing slash your profit margin is consistent. Now, what is profit margin? This is when you take your revenue, what you’re earning in your business, minus all your expenses. What do you have leftover that is your profit margin? Now the great news is all of us running the Stef Gass business model have profit margin of 60-70-80%, which is amazing. But the question is, is that profit margin consistent, right?

8:31 

When we’re new, our profit margin is going to be lower, because we’re investing more in our business, then what we are making, we want to make sure you are out of that phase out of the growing phase of your business and you’re into the stability phase. All right, number two, I kind of touched on this earlier, but sorry, number three. Number three is that your insurance, investments and benefits are accounted for.

8:56 

So for us, that was a little bit easier because I am married, my husband does have a great job and we are all as a family under his health care. We are all together under his investment accounts, his insurance, his benefits, okay. So you before you take the leap, if you are single and you have a job, you are going to forego all of that stability, you do need to take that into account, right? So if you have that 4k job plus benefits, plus healthcare plus 401k match and retirement accounts, and all of those things, what is that total dollar worth?

9:28 

I don’t know how much health insurances, but let’s say that’s another, whatever, 500 bucks a month and then let’s say you have a $500 401k match, like there’s other money that you don’t see as money that they’re supporting you with so that needs to be accounted for in your entrepreneurial income, net income.

9:49 

So that’s number three is that you are taking those numbers into consideration when you look at point number one which is hitting your income three to four months in a row. Number four is, I actually recommend an ease out plan, a part-time patty plan. Can we phase out, instead of going cold turkey, one of the hardest seasons of my life was when I quit network marketing.

10:19 

And I didn’t have the other business where it needed to be, it was not hitting the revenue even close, I definitely did not have organic marketing locked and loaded, my profit margin was all over the place. I quit. And while I did that, for personal reasons, and I had to do that for my own mental sanity, and because I heard the call of God to do it, which is why I said, you and God are gonna make the decision. It was so stressful not to have any of that revenue, that consistency, let alone like the political battles you go through when you leave a network marketing company.

10:59 

And I mean, it is crazy town, believe me. So what I like to recommend is cool. I’m hitting that revenue, three months in a row. Awesome. What’s my phase-out plan? Can I go part-time for six months? Can I quit one day a week and then go down to four days a week, can I begin to work virtually? Is there a phase-out plan so that it doesn’t feel so finite, and so that you kind of ease-out, the hardest part of leaving was that the financial stability was gone.

11:35 

And it puts so much pressure on you to be successful. And when you have pressure on you to be successful. That is when you make mistakes, that is when you lead from ego and self instead of from God. That is when you stop listening to what He wants for your business, in your life. And you start panicking, trying all these new things and quitting and starting and stopping and throwing spaghetti at the wall. This is when it doesn’t work out.

11:58 

Because we are under so much pressure and stress to pay our mortgage and be able to afford groceries and be able to afford that doctor’s visit that we go into absolute panic mode. And that is not a situation that you need to put yourself in. If you have the opportunity to phase out, it’s going to alleviate some of that pressure. Okay, last but not least, is to be sure before you go full-time in your online business.

12:26 

To be sure, please, this is so critically important that your eggs are not in someone else’s basket. Please, for the love, Lola, make sure that your eggs are not in someone else’s basket. This was me again also. And this is the reason that we had that huge Britney Spears breakdown years what I call it in 2016 is because all of my eggs were in someone else’s basket. What does this mean, Stef?

12:55 

Well, you’re building a network marketing Empire, that’s fine, but you don’t own it. You do not own it, you must diversify, you must create a personal brand and create some other revenue streams that are 100% yours. Hi, I’m Stefanie Gass and I coach on that if you need help, okay, please do not do this. If you are partner with someone else, and they own the rights to whatever you’ve built, the podcast, the courses, etc.

13:21 

I never recommend actually co partnering with anyone in your business. I think that that never works out I mean, I’m sure maybe one in a million works out. But I have seen so many of those relationships go awry and all of my clients you would not believe is very difficult to get two people to have the same vision and goals long term. Does this mean we shouldn’t do short-term plays with people that we truly trust and believe and are yoked up with in business? No.

13:47 

But like actually building something that is long-term forever with another human? It’s a risk. So just think about that those eggs are not in your basket. So do the egg check. Do I own this brand? Yes or no? Number two, do I own the way that compensation and profit margin is dispersed? Yes or no? Number three, do I have to get buy in and permission from anyone other than God in order to make decisions in this business? Yes or no? And last but not least, if I decided to scale this, quit this, sell this business? Is there anyone or anything in my way?

14:29 

That’s how you know if you own it, right? And then the very last question to ask yourself is have I built this in such a way that no one owns my content. So if you have built something exclusively on Instagram or TikTok or I don’t even know if Clubhouse is still relevant at this point, whatever the newest one is whenever you listen to this because there will be a new one. Those are not sustainable because you do not own them. Again, it’s the egg test. Do I own it? So you own podcast content, you own video content, you own the writings that you create and publish on a blog, you own those pieces of content.

15:09 

That’s what you can own, you own your courses, etc. Now, while whatever Kajabi may go under, Teachable may go under, you still own your course content, and you can simply move to a new platform. So you have to make sure you keep, maintain and organize all of your content. So there you have it. Let me recap for you real quick, when to go full time in your online business, five pieces of criteria that I would personally recommend praying over and thinking about and implementing.

15:39 

Number one, you have hit or past your job income for three to four months in a row. Number two, you have a proven organic visibility play that is working aka your podcast is actually growing and in momentum, your superfan number is growing, your profit margin is stable. Number three, your insurance investments and benefits are accounted for either by your spouse or by that extra revenue, that extra income that you are making as an entrepreneur.

16:07 

Remember, the ceiling in your job has now become the floor in your business. So don’t forget all those extra costs that come with being an entrepreneur. Number four, you have a phase-out plan, you are not going cold turkey unless you have been commanded by the Holy Spirit, you are doing a phase-out hopefully ease-out plan. And last but not least number five, you’re doing the egg test, your eggs must not be in someone else’s basket.

16:35 

I pray that this found you right on time, that it inspired you to keep growing, keep pouring into your business and keep pursuing the potential of being an online entrepreneur full time because, girl, it is the best feeling in the world to be able to wake up on your terms. Work on your terms, set your own prices, hire people to support you and be able to afford that work on your patio, in your PJs with your pug by your side. Okay, life is good.

17:01 

But it doesn’t take that if you don’t get this without doing the hard work and playing the long game beforehand by investing in the courses and the coaching and the mentorships that you need to invest in to get your business where it needs to go. And lastly, by partnering with God and being sure that he is positioned as the CEO in your business, so that He can lead your steps, directs you, bring you the right people, bringing the discernment over what you should be creating and the content that you need to be pouring out into the world. So keep showing up. Keep believing and keep growing, girl. I’ll see you back here real soon. God bless.