Should I quit my job when my Adsense earning goes up?

I come across an excellent forum thread – someone asked a question of whether he should quit his job so that he can concentrate on his websites and Adsense. For those of us who blogs after office hours and monetize it on the side, I am sure we are very tempted to quit the day job to concentrate to increase the earning potential. To leave or stay?

The person was having a number of sites with 15 million viewers, discovered Adsense and added into his sites.

And viola, he watched the earnings just roll in. He loved his job and the benefits and it drives him crazy thinking about all the potential income that he may be losing out on.

Here are some opinions given by the helpful folks:

Those who encourage him to go for it:

• Financial security is overrated and this believe made many people cling on to their job
• If he can attract so many visitors, he must be good at what he is doing- there should be no problem in getting another job in future…that is if he needs to go back
• Someone told him about a true story of 2 foreigners- it tells a lot about not being afraid- it’s a beautiful story:

I have a friend, much older than I. We’ll call him Bob. Bob came to this country 30 years ago with absolutly nothing. He worked in a widget manafacturing factory for 10 years and saved. Perhaps due to being an immigrant, he was treated harshly by his employer, sweat shop type conditions, no bathroom breaks, etc.

20 years ago he decided he had enough and wanted to start his own widget manafacturing out of his garage. People, including family, told him he was crazy. “How are you going to compete against a fortune 500 company out of your garage”.

He asked his good friend, lets call him Sam, who also worked at this factory to jion him in starting a widget manafacturing company. My friend Bob offered to put up all the money, Sam’s input would be only his time and hard work.

Sam decided that he didn’t want to take the risk and was worried that if things didn’t work out he would be unable to get his job back. He declined the offer.

My friend started that company in that garage. Two days making the widgets, two days delivering the widgets, and two days selling the widgets. Sundays was church and spending time with a tutor learning english.

Today my friend Bob, owns the biggest manafacturing company of these widgets in the Country. He has the type of wealth which enables him to own a private lear jet, several homes, and anything else he would ever desire. Amazingly he is still the type of guy that will do the dirtiest job in his company, from cleaning tiolets to mopping the floor.

Several months ago we were chatting on one of his loading docks when a delivery truck pulled in. The truck driver, who’s lucky if he makes $600 a week, was Sam.

It was a strange experience to view. Here are two guys later in life, with the same backgrounds, both uneducated blue collar type guys.

One gave up a future for a sense of security, the other, gave up his security for a chance at a future.

Those who ask him to keep the day job and why:

• His earnings fluctuates every month instead of being consistent- and if one day he got banned or his website rankings drop, he will watch his income dropped to zero virtually overnight
• Don’t quit unless he can find a few income stream instead of relying on Adsense alone- be it like consulting, or having multiple income stream from each websites
• He can try to live frugally and save up some money to last him for 12 months- so that he need not worry about money and have a longer time frame to concentrate on his blogs. He should sit down and work out his expenses carefully to determine how much to save
• Keep the job and instead of slaving over the blog without enough sleep and energy, sub contract out the job to another freelancer or college student
• Another contributor mentioned that even though she did not earn that much, she still quit her job and do it full time but she still advice him to keep his job because Adsense policies may change and that will affect his livelihood.

Those who suggested the best of both worlds:

• Negotiate with the boss to reduce working hours or turn the full time job to a part time one
• Take unpaid leave to work on the sites to see if it can work out.

Of course, in the end, a few suggested that he will have to figure out for himself because no one could give him an answer. He has to consider the pro and cons, his commitments, backup plans (in case Adsense does not work for him) and if he is the kind of person who enjoy working alone, ie is blogging suitable to his personality.

It’s really a good food for thought and even though the forum thread was in 2006, much of the concerns and relevancy still holds true till today.

Access the potential and risks and decide if it is worth your while to leave or stay.  If you like your day job, negotiate with your boss to work on a part-time basis or reduce the hours.

Else, address the concern- what’s the worst that could happen if you were to resign? Realistically address those fears:

• Worried that you cannot find another job should you decide to go back? Well, are you willing to wait on tables while getting back the job?
• Worried that you don’t have enough to survive on? Sit down and list down all the expenses- is there enough savings? If you have a spouse, can the spouse’s income help to cover?

Should you decide to leave, set yourself a target to see how long you will want to work on your blogs to earn that income. By the way, plastering advertisement may not be the only way for you to earn money. Your blog could well be your good vantage point to launch your freelance or consulting career.