How To Prepare For Transitioning Into Self-Employment

We all have to make an income.

Not all of us can rely on the government taking money from the working and give it to the nonworking members of society.

Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 2:10b-12 that “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now, such persons, we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.”

So when I hear about people that are putting off self-employment because “I need my day job to pay the bills,” I applaud them; hesitantly.

For many American Christians, we live more as Americans than we do as Christians.

We work to “keep up with the Joneses” and live at or above our means.

The fact that people can “afford” the monthly payment is very different than being able to afford the purchase.

Before I went into full-time self-employment, my wife and I paid off all our debt with the exception of our mortgage. We continue to pay off credit cards every month and do our best to live below our means.

We do this in part because we want to live a particular lifestyle.

Growing up, my wife desired to stay at home to raise her children. When our first daughter was born, we were able to accommodate her desire.

We were a 1.5 income house for 9 years before I joined my wife as being self-employed.

She was (and is) a math tutor. She was able to care for our daughters from birth until the went to elementary school. She also was able to volunteer in their preschools and elementary school.

After 9 years of doing this, I made to transition to self-employment. This, and the fact that our children were all in elementary school, allowed her to pick up additional hours of tutoring and move us to the equivalent of a two-income family.

So the need for income to pay the bills is a double-edged sword.

If we were living above our means, recovering from bad decisions, or dealing with the lack of the correct insurance, we might need to put off venturing into the world of self-employment; no matter how much we felt called to do it.

Then again, if God is calling you into self-employment, you best answer that call and follow Him.

The Lord declares in Psalm 50:10-11 “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.”

So God is able to help you financially if you need it. Being obedient to His calling and will can lead to unexpected gains.

10 Actions To Take Now

1. Create A Budget: tell your money where you are going to spend it. Be intentional.
2. Stick To The Budget: be sure to budget $25-$50 for each adult to have as a “slush fund”
3. Pay Down Your Credit Card Debt: If you carry a balance, stop using that card and pay it down. Focus on the smallest balance and pay the minimum on the rest until it is paid off. Then repeat on the second one and repeat.
4. Create A $1000 Emergency Fund: Recent studies found that a large portion of Americans could not pay for an unexpected $400 emergency.
5. Sell Your Excess Stuff: Most Americans have more “stuff” than they need. Sell off that 3rd or 4th TV. Look through your basement or attic for things you no longer use and sell them. You can do this via eBay, Craigslist, etc. Use that money to pay off debt or create that $1000 emergency fund. Who knows? This could become a side business for you.
6. Eat At Home: There is no easier way to cut out expenses than to eat at home. When my family of 5 goes out to each at a sit-down restaurant, it is easy to spend $100 on the meal, plus tip. We can eat like royalty for 3-4 meals on $100 of groceries
7. Learn To Cook: It is hard to eat at home if you don’t know how to cook. There are plenty of recipes and tutorial videos online. If you can read recipes and directions, you can make a good simple meal.
8. Shop The Circular: Most grocery stores have a weekly circular that advertises their sale items. Plan your meals around that.
9. Check Your Services: Do you need to spend $150+ on cable and internet? We looked at our bill and saw what channels we were paying for and dropped cable and went with higher speed interest. Even paying, on average, $5.99 per additional channels (Disney+, 1 screen of Netflix, Hallmark Channel) we were able to save $700+ per year.
10. Shop Your Insurance: Home owner’s, auto, and health insurance can be shopped around. Talk with an independent insurance agent. They are often able to search multiple companies compared to a captive agent.