maximillianos - 8:13 pm on Feb 2, 2010 (gmt 0)

Congrats! You have done something that takes a lot of courage!

The good news, you have saved up some money for this leap of faith.

I've been on my own for 3-4 years now. My best advice is to not try and accomplish too much at once. Be organized in your tasks and goals. Pick something, one task, and focus on it. The next day, pick another task. Don't jump around too much because you will never get anything done. And in this world that leads to a bunch of sites that don't earn and have no traffic... ;-)

Life on your own is very different. You may miss the social aspect of office life. I did (and do). You can balance it out by getting out of the house once in a while. Take your laptop to work at a coffee shop for a few hours, or get lunch with some old work buddies. Seeing them will help you appreciate the leap you made, and motivate you to succeed.

Some mistakes folks make... they under estimate the time it can take to build up an online business to the point of where it can financially support you. It can literally take years regardless of whether you spend 2 hours a day or 10 hours a day. Throwing more man hours at something doesn't necessary mean you will get there faster. You will need a lot of patience and dedication. I spent years not making a dime. 4 years to be exact. Then I finally started pulling in a few hundred bucks a month. That was 7 years ago. Now I make 2-3 times what I use to make in corporate america from my sites. But it took me 7 years to get here.

My last bit of advice, don't spend too much time on here unless you are researching or trying to get help! I'm backlogged with work right now yet here I am posting on this thread! ;-)

Good luck. And if you find you can't make and need the money, there is no shame in going back to work for a company until you get your business back on its feet again.