First, it was the Great Resignation, which took place at the height of the pandemic, with everyone chucking up the deuces to their 9-5's—especially if they couldn't work from home. Now, it's Quiet Quitting, where people are apparently doing the bare minimum and not subscribing to hustle culture?! With 3.5 million and counting mentions on TikTok, this new buzz term has everyone in a frenzy. I'll be honest, I quiet quit my way into entrepreneurship by disengaging first at my Marketing job and nanny position, respectively, before I completely left those roles. In both cases, I wasn't happy, and neither a bonus nor a title change would get me to stay in roles that didn’t fulfill me.

If you're unknowingly or intentionally engaging in this new phenomenon, use this as an opportunity to work on your side hustle. 

Here are 7 Tips on how to successfully transition from quiet quitting to loud side hustling: 

1) Develop Your “Why”

Once upon a time, you probably liked your job—even enjoyed the potlucks, the birthday shout-outs, and being a Secret Santa; however, something changed. Perhaps, there was a shift in management and morale, or increased workload, which made longevity in your role no longer an option. Hating your job or boss is not a good enough reason to become an entrepreneur because this lifestyle beckons its own set of concerns. If your why is, “I think I could flourish in an environment where I make my own decisions,” or “I’m looking to monetize my gifts or talents on my own terms,” then you have an excellent foundation to embark on entrepreneurship. Because honestly, maybe a salary increase or change in departments might be just what you need to help enhance your job satisfaction and longevity. Remember, entrepreneurship isn’t a panacea to a toxic work environment—removing yourself is.

2) Plan Your Exit  

Do you know that one coworker who's constantly checking Indeed.com for new roles while on the clock? Don't be that person (the streets are always watching). However, during your lunch breaks, you can brainstorm how you plan on exiting your job for good. Write down your strengths and weaknesses, your current budget, things you could outsource or do in-house, and licenses and certifications you may need. "Write it down and make it plain."  

3) Do Mindset Work

Perhaps you manifested your current role, but unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. That’s alright—there’s no cap on manifesting. It’s time to speak into existence a side hustle that will be successful and bring you the fulfillment you desperately seek. Manifestation works when you create room in your life to accept the things you want. Make a habit of writing down your daily affirmations and see if the universe won’t deliver just what you need.  

4) Start Thinking Like a Boss

Quiet quitting might be counterproductive to preparing yourself for entrepreneurship. Your workplace is where you should hone your soft and hard skills. Build your communication and problem-solving skills by actively listening, using the resources at your disposal, and making decisions based on facts, not emotions. You’re going to need these skills when dealing with clients. Your workplace is where you can indeed identify your strengths and weaknesses. Use this fact when figuring out what business tasks you can outsource or perform yourself. 

5) No More Happy Hour With Coworkers

Happy hour is a time for bonding with your coworkers and sometimes your boss outside of work. It's a time for forming ally ships with your coworkers and hopefully get on your boss's good side while their guards are down. Now that you're quiet quitting, there's no real obligation to "play the game" just to get a promotion or gain recognition. As an entrepreneur, time is one of your biggest commodities. We won't try to hammer this point with the notoriously out-of-touch quote, "Beyoncé has the same 24 hours you have." Meanwhile, she has a team behind her-- don't come for us, Beehive. LOL. But having enough TIME to work on your side hustle often yields exponential results. 

6) Create A F*** You Account

We get it--you're fed up with your job. However, while you're doing the bare minimum to keep your job until it's time to make that exit, budget and save your way toward creating your F*** You account. This account helps to alleviate anxiety if your boss is done with you keeping your camera off during Zoom calls and threatens to fire you. A F*** You account basically says, "I know my worth, and you can't gaslight me with money." As a future entrepreneur, you should be budgeting anyway. Begin to reduce your spending on lunches and carpool with coworkers to save money on gas. If quitting your job to focus on a side hustle full-time is your ultimate goal, increase your 401K contribution if feasible. You can borrow from your 401K to help fund your business. Please note there are fees associated with borrowing from your 401K, so you should consult with a financial advisor.

7) Take a Course

When you're running a side hustle, there are certain concepts and tools that you can develop by watching a few YouTube videos or reading blog posts. On the other hand, some sophisticated and complex topics, such as running Facebook ads and optimizing your website to increase sales, may require more in-depth learning. There is no shortage of platforms such as Udemy and LinkedIn Learning that offer entrepreneurial-related courses. Now, since you aren't picking up extra shifts or staying late at the office, you can go home and log on to a self-study course that will be beneficial to starting and maintaining your side hustle.

How to Prevent Quiet Quitting in Your Own Business

As a future entrepreneur, aim to create a work environment where your employees or independent contractors won't feel the need to practice quiet quitting. By encouraging feedback and listening to workers, you can discover unspoken grievances that could lead to work dissatisfaction and disengagement. However, you’ll learn soon enough that sometimes even when you’re the “perfect boss,” you’ll have workers who will never be satisfied. And in those cases, you can let them go quiet quit somewhere else. 😊