36: Your Financial Transition Plan

You don’t become successful by accident.  You don’t get to work that you absolutely love by accident.  Being successful requires focused effort.  One of the things you need to focus on if you’re going to be successful is your financial transition plan.

Having a financial transition plan will allow you to prepare for changing jobs or starting a business in order to follow your dreams and move to work that you love.

Here are the key steps to your financial plan:

Get Your Spouse on Board

If you don’t have a spouse, feel free to jump to the second step!

The very first necessity of your financial plan is having your spouse on board with your goals and plans.  If you are married, you need to communicate with your spouse about your goals and plans.

If you do not get your spouse on board you will make your plan, your life and your family’s life much more difficult!  Here are three things to think about regarding getting your spouse on board:

1. Your spouse wants you to succeed.  Every spouse wants their significant other (and their family) to be successful.  Don’t get caught in thinking that your spouse just wants you to fail.  Approach your conversations realizing that your spouse does love you and does want you to be successful.

2.  Prove it to me.  Often when a spouse says no, or tells you that something can’t be done, what they are really saying is “prove to me that it can happen”–they just don’t know how to say it in those words… Don’t take your spouse’s complaints, negativity, etc. personally.  Take it as them asking you to help them see and understand that it really can happen.

3.  Overcommunicate.  you will have to “paint the vision” 4, 5, or 6 times probably to help your spouse understand what you are wanting to do.  Do not get annoyed or frustrated at this.  You need to patiently paint the vision, answer questions and help them understand why if they are going to support you.

Determine Your Budget

This implies that you know what you want to transition to.  If you haven’t signed up for the free two-week email course to help determine what you want to transition, Click here to sign up (for free).

Begin planning out your budget several months prior to your planned transition.

Why is budgeting important for your career?

The decisions you make.  If you are spending every single cent coming in now, it will affect the decisions you make about your next career change.  You will place a much higher focus on what a job pays, because it pays more…not because you really want to work at that job.

Pay periods.  When you transition to a new job, you might find that you end up with an extra week between pay periods.  Making sure that you have budgeted properly so you can make that change even if it means you have to go another week or two between paychecks is absolutely essential.

In Episode 034 we talk specifically about how to budget and get some more ideas.

Budget for longer periods of time.  Often times you will need to plan further ahead and have more financial cushion.  Planning your budget out for 6-12 months will allow you to take those steps today that will get you where you need to be in 6-12 months.

Increase Your Income

Another way to expedite your financial transition plan is to increase your income.  As Mark says, “If there’s a leak in the tub…turn on the water more!”

Here’s a few ideas to increase your income:

1.  Just start.  If you want to start a business, begin doing it now.  Get your business off the ground late at night, or early mornings.  Negotiate with your employer for some more time to work on your side business.  Remember that you won’t be doing this for the next 20 years.  It is short term to get things going!

2.  Sell so much stuff that the kids think they’re next! (h/t Dave Ramsey) Look around your house…what can you sell?  Craigslist, ebay, etc. make this so easy these days!  Find things that you can part with to make a little extra $$.  Last week we heard of Joel Fortner financing his dog…this week Scott talks about how they sold their dog.

3.  Work on the side.  Do you have a friend that owns a business that maybe needs some help on a Saturday? Often times you know someone that you could work with once every couple weeks to make a little extra.

4.  Ask for a raise.  Get more $$ where you are currently.  If you are doing a great job at your job, and you’ve got a great relationship with your boss, you can probably negotiate a raise.  Scott’s product “Get a Raise Guide” will be released soon.  Scott picks a fight with Biggie Smalls… if you have a financial plan “Mo money” does not equal “Mo problems…”.

When an opportunity presents itself, you want to be ready…and in a position…to take advantage of it!