It’s a gloomy Monday morning (I know it’s Friday today but just fast forward for me ;-)).

Rain lashes your bedroom window. In the dark street below the first commuters are firing up their engines.

Time to get up and go to work.

The boss is waiting.

It’s been the same for years. Wake up, go to work, come home from work, go to sleep and do it all over again.

But not today…

Today is different.

Today, you go into work and walk past your tired colleagues, and go straight to your boss’s office.

You stand in front of their desk and you tell them this:

“You’re sacked.”

Then you turn and walk away from your job forever, smiling at the amazed and envious stares on your colleagues faces.

Ever had that kind of fantasy? Or something similar?

A lot of people do, even if it’s a job they love and which they’re good at.

Because even if you have a great job, it’s still a job.

You work hard in order to line the pockets of the business’s owners.

You get allocated strict working hours, holidays and responsibilities.

You are at the mercy of people who could fire you, make you redundant or pile on more responsibilities.

And you have to wake up on gloomy mornings and get yourself to work.

I know how you feel.

I was Head of Publishing for the UK division of an international publishing powerhouse. I had great bosses. I got to hire people I liked. I got to travel to the head office in the USA. I was helping to create products and services.

It was a good job and I loved doing it. My husband Nick was also in the business, working as a publisher and copywriter.

But it was tough….very long hours, high pressure and no flexibility and while I thrived on that for a while it all changed when I got pregnant with my first child.

While I had plans to go back to work after (and as this was a US company they expect you to come back sooner rather than later) but I didn’t reckon on my son being born prematurely and all the different emotions that would stir up.

I knew I had to do something, I just couldn’t face the idea of leaving my new born and also knew that I would love to have more children which would mean disruption for me, my employers and my team…

I buckled down while I was on maternity leave, I set up my first information product, a review service called What Really Makes Money, helping people to avoid scams and find workable business ideas.

I made sure I let my immediate boss know and it wasn’t in a competing area (so I wouldn’t upset my employers)

You need to make a judgement on whether you should do the same.

I felt very loyal to my company as I’d worked for them for over 10 years and didn’t want to cause an upset…I also knew they encouraged their employees to be entrepreneurial.

It may not be the same where you work – so I’ll leave it to you to decide whether you declare your side project or not.

Anyway, that was the test. A way of establishing that there was a market for the product – and it showed me that I could risk leaving work!

So I took voluntary redundancy.

My husband Nick was my business partner, but he remained working for another few years until we were confident that we had a steady, growing income from our own business.

Again it would have been great if he could stop working straight away and come into the business but that just wasn’t practical.

With this in mind I’m sure you don’t need to guess what my advice is going to be…

DON’T give up work to start your home business.

You might think the business idea you’ve researched is a no brainer, win-win, 100% no-fail, sure-fire thing. But as joyously tempting as it is to resign and tell everyone you’re now the CEO of You Inc, it’s almost always a bad idea.

First off, it’s highly risky. However fool-proof it seems you don’t know yet if your business will work, how much income it will make or if you will enjoy it.

Secondly, it’s too much pressure. The wonderful buzz of waking up and sitting at your computer instead of going to work will soon wear off. You’ll soon feel the crushing responsibility of having to generate your own income, month after month. That pressure can make you act rashly or carelessly in order to speed things up.

Thirdly, it’s not economical. Your business might not make any substantial money for 6-12 months. In that time you’ll be living off your savings or, worse, money that you’ve borrowed. If you have savings, you need to invest them into the business itself, not into living costs while you try and get it off the ground.

This is why I advise that you start a part-time home business first.

Find a strategy that makes money, and which you can repeat. Prove that the business idea works with real money coming in before you make any attempt to leave your job.

Use the income you make to re-invest and grow your business, rather than frittering it away on living costs.

Make sure that this business is something you enjoy and find fulfilling. After all, this could be the rest of your life.

Now, I won’t pretend that this approach is easy.

And you might be thinking that I had it easy because I did this on maternity leave.

Actually no! My beautiful boy was the world’s worst sleeper and I was literally a walking zombie on 2-3 hours sleep a night.

I actually wish I’d started the process while I was working full time (but before a newborn) when I had far more energy and free time.

Looking back I don’t actually know how I did it but sometimes you just do!

Whatever your situation is, you can find the time…if you want this badly enough.

It could be that you sacrifice a hobby, delegate some duties to a spouse or partner, and maybe or cut down your social life. It can feel for a while like your life has got harder and more stressful.

But always keep in mind the end goal – resigning from work to run your own business, choosing your own hours, deciding who you work with and knowing the profits are all going into your pocket.

So schedule your home business hours into the week, almost as if you have a second job. I’d recommend using a Google Calendar or similar to set precise working hours in advance. Tell your friends and family that you need peace and quiet in these periods.

This does take some willpower and discipline. Because I can tell you in advance that you’re going to feel tired at times when you sit down after a day’s work to do MORE work.

You’ll get frustrated. You’ll procrastinate. You’ll hit dead ends. You’ll doubt yourself.

That’s all natural. Part of the process.

This is why you need to set yourself deadlines and profit targets. Have an ultimate “leave work” goal and schedule your tasks so that you will progress towards it, step by step.

As you make your first sales, reinvest them and grow your business until you eventually make enough income to live off comfortably.

THAT’S when you can walk triumphantly into work and tell them that you quit.