This post is the entire reason that I have been so bad about updating my blog lately. For the past few weeks, change has been brewing in my life, and things finally came to a head on Thursday evening when I received a job offer, punctuated by my acceptance yesterday and informing my current employers today. Not only that, but I told my landlords that I want to move out for May 1st, and hopefully it’ll rent, since if it doesn’t I’ll be on the hook for the rent money for May, since I never gave 60 days notice.
I don’t want to go into too many details about everything that’s happened, just in case, especially because things are so fresh still and frankly quite uncomfortable for me at my current job. 
Giving my two weeks notice was terrifying and horrible. No one wants to look an employer in the eye and say, “peace out.” What made it especially worse was that the bosses didn’t think that two weeks was long enough; in fact, one of my bosses claimed that I had agreed to 30 days notice (wtf?!) when I took the job. But here’s the kicker, kids – I never signed a contract for this job. We’ve only ever had a verbal agreement and a loose one at that, which I think they actually did to protect themselves. Frankly, it worked my in my favour, because I sincerely do not remember agreeing to 30 days notice, and there’s no contract that I signed that can prove I did agree to that. Even if there were a contract, the labour laws would make it null and void, since it supersedes any agreement.
However, here’s another doozy, my bosses warned me that if I left after two weeks that it would “damage my reputation,” and if I were to stay 30 days, it would “enhance my reputation.” They claimed its a small industry and if word got out that I had screwed them…
FML.
On top of this, my new employer wants me in as early as possible, and 30 days absolutely won’t work for her. I also know that if I stay and work another 30 days, it’s going to reflect badly on me at my new job, since it’s going to look like I didn’t have enough backbone to stand up to my current/now former bosses.
Double FML.
So now onto the money specifics. Surprisingly, this job actually entails a very significant pay cut. As in nearly a third of what I have been making, over a $12k per year cut. BUT, I will be receiving a large bonus in six months, AND I will be handed leads to begin my own business on top of what I’m doing to support my new boss. We talked very specific numbers and exactly how our arrangement will work with regards to referrals, which was refreshing, since I never was able to comfortably discuss numbers where I currently work. We crunched the numbers, and conservatively speaking, I look to make over $80,000 this year.
The problem is that until I start making that additional business for myself, my take home pay will be cut nearly in half. I’ll be in a lower tax bracket (yippee!) but the first two or three months are going to be tough.
SO. What I’m going to do is cash out half of my stocks, about $4000. I’m going to start just with the $1000 that I have invested in RY-T (Royal Bank of Canada) and have it at the ready. I’ll fall back on this money while I work my butt off to make the deals come in, create a sustainable business, then try and pay it back as soon as possible.
It’s terrifying. All this time I’ve been saving money, and now I’m leaving behind a relatively stable job with higher pay for a job with significantly lower salary and the promise that if I work hard and apply myself, I can potentially make six figures.
Here are the hard and fast numbers:
Current job – approximately $38,000/yr, plus approx $5000 in bonuses and additional deals
Current mood at job – depressed, anxious, nervous, over stressed, bitter
New job – $25,000, plus $5000 bonus after six months if she thinks she wants to keep me on the team, plus solid leads to do additional work with to start founding my own business and career.
Potential for earning after numbers crunched: $92,100/yr
Mood when I’m speaking to new boss – hopeful, motivated, energized, eager, intimidated (she has very high standards, so I want to exceed them)
So here it is, the biggest investment of my life so far. I’m pulling out my investments in the bank and instead investing in myself and my own success. There’s a possibility that I’ll fail and not make nearly as much as I need, in which case I will need to search for a new job. But, there’s also a very strong possibility that I’ll flourish in my new environment, build an amazing reputation and client base of my own, and be able to leave my money woes behind permanently. And wouldn’t that be a nice thing to accomplish by 24 years old?
In the meanwhile, I’m stopping my weekly “What I Spent,” because the last thing I need to be doing right now is arguing with myself, “Did I really need that coffee?” If I have any more stress I will explode … my eyeball has already started twitching (no joke, it actually has). I can’t be second guessing every purchase at this point; I will continue to be frugal, but I can’t be worrying about every buy I make, I will go insane.
I’m very scared, but behind the fear is a fiery determination to make it happen. I truly believe that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Every day that I showed up to work, I felt like if I just held on, it would get so much better. But it never did. So in one fell swoop, I’m starting an entirely new life in a new apartment and a new office. Change is terrifying, but it’s the only way to break the mold. And even if I fail, I’ll be grateful that I tried, instead of wasting away at my old position in my old basement apartment, hungry for greatness but too afraid to go out and get it.
It’s go time … what would Buffy do?
Answer: Kick Ass.
Have there been any times where you’ve taken a huge risk for your career? Or a time when you’ve given your notice and your bosses reacted completely differently than what you thought?
