'Quit Your Day Job Is Garbage Advice' (cnbc.com)

An anonymous reader shares an article: While Daymond John was building his clothing line FUBU, which would evolve into a $6 billion brand, the entrepreneur was living on the tips he made waiting tables at Red Lobster. "I was working at Red Lobster for five years as a waiter as I was running this business," the Shark Tank star said at the iConic conference in New York City on Wednesday. At first "it was 40 hours at Red Lobster and six hours at FUBU. Then it was 30 hours at Red Lobster and 20 hours at FUBU, because money started to come in." Even after FUBU started to take off, John continued waiting tables. He wouldn't do things any differently if he could, he told the audience on Wednesday: "Don't quit your day job. [...] Let's say I was making an average of $40,000 a year," he continued. "After five years, that's $200,000 of salary. I would have had to sell $1 million more worth of FUBU product to bring home the $200,000, but I didn't have to do that. I just had to sacrifice time."

Comments

it's not IF you quit your day job it's WHEN

[green1]

The summary says you shouldn't quit your day job, but obviously he did because he doesn't still wait tables at Red Lobster. It's about WHEN you quit your day job.

This will be a fairly personal decision, but a bunch of factors come in to play. first of all, if you can't survive on the money your startup is providing, then obviously you need to keep your day job. And once you can make more money running your own company than spending that same time at your day job, it's a no-brainer to quit to focus on your startup. The real challenge is the in-between states, and that's going to depend on your opinion of your existing job. Is it something you enjoy? and does it provide you the flexibility to work on the other project that you're passionate about? in that case stick around. Is it something you despise? Do you absolutely detest going to work each morning? is it interfering with your passions? In that case it may be worth taking a pay cut to work on your startup.

Re:Good advice if you work at Red Lobster

[EvilSS]

1. You can pick your hours and change them on a moment's notice.

I'm guessing you never worked in food service if you are saying this. While it's true these types of jobs offer some scheduling flexibility, they certainly don't let you pick your own hours or change them at a moment's notice. At most restaurants shifts are usually scheduled a week or so out and if you don't like it you better find someone to trade shifts with or you are most likely SOL.

Re:Good advice if you work at Red Lobster

[farble1670]

1. You can pick your hours and change them on a moment's notice.

Ah, so you've never worked in a restaurant (or probably in the service industry at all).

You don't get to pick your hours. Restaurants need staffing at particular hours. If you decide not to work at your scheduled time, they are screwed and you won't be around for long. Clearly he didn't do that if we worked there for 5 years.

Arnold Schwarzenegger use to give bad advise

[rsilvergun]

to his competitors. When he was competing the competitions were pretty friendly and it didn't occur to anyone he'd lie to them. He gave them a routine that was massive overwork. They tried to stick to it and of course burned themselves out.

What's the old saying? Never ask a man how he made his first million. Odds are if someone didn't inherit it or win the lottery they did something awful to get it.