
Ask HN: How to quit your day job with bills to pay, mouths to feed - thefutureisnow
I have a mortgage, car payments, student loan payments, two kids, etc. I work a comfortable job, but I cannot be fulfilled until I work for myself. Working on startups &quot;part time&quot; doesn&#x27;t work because I cannot invest the necessary time without sacrificing time with my family.<p>My plan so far is to reduce debt, figure out ways of passive income, and maximize my time. The journey of a thousands miles begins with a single step. I spend 1 hour a day researching and exploring, but I&#x27;d like to devote more time.<p>Advice? Brutal honesty is appreciated.
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panjaro
Honestly you seem to be struck by the 'Startup' hype. You feel like you're
falling behind in the race.

Forget about start-up. Enjoy your life. Be happy. You won't regret not doing
startup when you turn 70. But you will certainly regret not enjoying your
life.

Believe me. I was in your situation. You work, you get paid. Go home, spend
life with joy / happiness.

And you know what, you can live without that startup. There are people who
would do anything to get the comfortable job you have, good food you eat, warm
bed you sleep on.

Please don't ruin your and hence your loved ones life just for the sake of
technology hype.

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angersock
If you can't be fulfilled until you work for yourself, clearly the issues here
are debts and obligations.

So, pay off the student loans (because they're practically inescapable), sell
the car, default on the mortgage.

At this point, divorce your spouse, and let them have custody of the kids--
with you being in such dire financial straits (see previous step), you
shouldn't have trouble convincing the judge you aren't a capable parent. File
for bankruptcy during this process if you don't have joint accounts, otherwise
wait until after.

Congratulations! You're now free to work for yourself and be fulfilled!

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logfromblammo
Take a look as Maslow's Hierarchy
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs)).

Esteem and self-actualization are way up there at the top. Those may be
pursued only after you see to the baser needs.

So you have two options:

1\. Increase your income.

2\. Reduce your expenses.

Paying off debts serves both options. You do not have permission to quit
working for The Man until you no longer owe Him anything. The Man, of course,
employs plenty of dirty tricks to keep the debts going; you'll have to avoid
them.

Live in the cheapest home that fulfills your needs, and resist the urge to
indulge your unnecessary desires. Note that this does not always mean that you
should own that home. At the point where you are now, that hour you spend
researching would be better spent planning your grocery shopping, with
specials and coupons.

That single step you take to start the journey of 1000 miles can't fall at the
500 mile mark. You have to start at the beginning. Get out of debt.

Don't waste time researching business opportunities until you actually have
enough capital to jump on one. Otherwise, you're just going to end up working
for your creditors and investors, rather than yourself. And they will flog you
harder than any boss you have ever had.

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informatimago
You don't. You have to pay the bills and feed the kids, and foremost, to
eliminate debt.

If you can, you may work on your project in the evenings and week-ends.

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omnivore
Don't quit your job with bills to pay and mouths to feed? I totally get the
whole desire to do what you read people successfully doing all of the time,
but my own personal experience has taught me that it's a fools errand to try
to fit other people's roadmap into yours.

It might take you longer than you want, it might not map out how imagined but
at the end of the day, you can't sacrifice everything for what amounts of a
lottery ticket ESPECIALLY when it involves the quality of life for other
people.

There are ways to do what you want incrementally, but think less about the
scratch off ticket of startup homeruns and just do something simpler and grow.
Build things that have an audience, do stuff that's closer to your current
base of work and build a community around your work. That's not even a
guarantee of success, but it's a much closer route and would enable you to
make time to do what you want.

But yeah, don't jump out with a plane with a parachute because you only get
one.

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Dredaily
It seems like your question is more, how to create passive income so you can
pay off debt faster? I suggest posting to Quora and looking there for options.
Also, you have to have support of your spouse or it will never work. You have
to get rid of what you don't need and yes, sell a car and the house. It will
take huge sacrifices to be able to have time to work on your own projects, you
can't do both. It's not easy and it takes commitment and creativity. With kids
it's harder, I have two and am a single mom, but it is possible. You have to
get organized and keep daily visual lists to remind you of your priorities. I
don't think you are in dire financial straights but like most people these
days just living with a family.

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thefutureisnow
Thanks for the useful comments.

Family is always first for me. They support me and I support them. Anything I
plan to do and have been planning is incremental: reduce debt, learn as much
as a can, optimize my time, start small and grow. I think having the big goal
of "work for myself" as a driver, I can then incrementally move myself into
that position.

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ijmccallum
Downsize - smaller house, one car (or none!)... maybe even to the extreme of
living in a tiny house!
([http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/](http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/))

Or. Emigrate somewhere where living costs are much lower.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
It's called "being an adult and doing what you gotta do for the people who
depend on you. "

