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Gordo, this piece comes at a pivotal point in my career trajectory. Wondering if you can share some guideposts or insights on how to quantitatively/qualitatively evaluate when the side gig becomes the main gig. I think about your finance career and how that pivoted to the world of endurance athletics.

As always, appreciate your continued transparency and guidance.

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Once I made my exit from working for someone else, I never went back. Thought about it a couple times but ended up managing expenses, rather than aiming for full-time income.

With my side gigs, I've tended to keep them part-time as that maintains my ability to control my schedule.

The exception was 2009-2013 when I unexpected lost my main line of consulting income (late 2008). In that case, out of necessity, I ramped an income stream up to full time.

Once I got my finances sorted (post Great Recession) I sold that business to one of the partners.

--

Coming back to your question...

Have a look in my Core Capital series.

Once I knew I had a low cost place to live, I didn't need much cash flow. So I was able to exit full-time without stress.

Roll forward a few years -- married, young family starting... I had to ramp earnings up to get through a cash squeeze. That meant back to full-time work (for myself, at home).

Look at... Current expenses versus net assets to see your wealth in time.

Consider... Core cost of living.

Balance core cost of living against all different sources of income. That gives a feel for cash shortfall risk and income diversification.

I've written a ton about this process as I blogged through my transition back to full-time work then out of it (again).

https://feelthebyrn.blog/tag/family-financial-review/page/2/

I tagged all those posts in my archive blog "Family Finances" and "Family Financial Review"

If you can't find what you're looking for then let me know. Some years, I published my entire review as a series of posts.

G

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This is excellent. Grateful for the timely, thorough response. Will dig in...

Cheers,

PB

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