I am still on my journey, and I will tell you, don't quit your job unless you can survive at least six months without it, even then, that's risky. I left my job and jumped right into starting my business, and that led to some hard lessons, some might say are necessary but for someone who has been through it, I wish I could go back and start differently.
First, pretend you don't have a job, how are your finances today, what are you spending on, what do you truly need. I'm someone who would order out all the time, buy food that would sometimes sit in the fridge so long I had to throw it away. Movies, games, heck even just doing simple things like giving someone a ride, you need to start questioning every cent you spend. I got a chest freezer in the garage, I buy bulk from Costco now, if I want fast food on very rare occasion when I am not cooking then I pick it up. You need to discipline yourself like you have no money, because at some point, you may not. Build that muscle memory now, not when you are in the thick of it.
Your business, do it first while your employed, not just as some hobby, but as a second job, where you are on the clock and people expect results. You don't know the pressure of those first jobs, are you spending too much on materials, are you doing the right steps, are you sure you even want to do this. To get those first jobs you have to find the customers, that trial and error you want to do while you have the cash flow to do it. Calibrate on those, how much did that customer cost you trying to find them, how fast did you find them, what was your actual profit. Then see how you get the next 9, use that information to help understand your cashflow, your actual material cost and usage, and get reviews from actual customers.
Paid leads will help you get those first customers, but you don't want that to be your only avenue. You want google, its free, its organic and you are not competing with other contractors who paid for the same lead, who will most likely bid lower as they want the job, not to spend money and get nothing. Google is a combination of length you been around, your reviews and your website SEO. The number one is reviews, you need them, not just reviews, but 5 star reviews with pictures. I cannot stress enough about reviews with pictures, the ones with pictures are 10x more important to google then those without.
One last tip, this is just how I got my head around costs. Make a debit account for the business, even if you don't have your LLC yet, just make a personal one you just use for business. Put your starting capital in there, everything you do for the business, you take from here, everything you earn for the business, put in here. It's a pipe dream when you think of profit, what you calculated in your head is not the number, its less. Gas, sundries, toll roads, you name it, it all pecks away at that account, and nothing shows you better on how much you actually spent and made then that month end account balance.
It's a struggle, but now that I am past my major ones I am glad I started my business, and I wish you the best with yours.
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