How The First Month After We Quit Our Jobs Went.

In January 2024, we made the bold decision to quit our jobs to pursue our passions in videography, photography, adventure, and storytelling. This is the full story of our first month of being self-employed.

I. Why We Quit Our Jobs

Envision this: You just graduated, you’re through with school, and you’re completely ready to leap into adult life and secure your first job. That’s exactly how we felt. After several years of studying, we were eager to put our knowledge and skills to use in the professional world. But that did not turn out as we had hoped. Soon we realised that the new rhythm was not for us and that we craved more freedom and independence.

Our Previous Jobs

Roddy got a respectable position as a recruiter, and I began my career as a PR Officer. Merely a few weeks into these new jobs, we found ourselves constantly complaining about everything. We were suffering mentally, had problems getting any rest at night, and could barely get up in the morning. On top of that, we were both constantly feeling stressed out, and even when we had a minute to ‘relax’, we weren’t relaxed at all.

For Roddy the reasons to quit a job were glaringly apparent: his job was all about performing and getting good numbers. The more overtime hours you work, the better, the higher your call stats, the better, … It was very clear that this type of ‘perform-or-leave-environment’ was detrimental to his well-being.

My experience was completely different. I worked in a small team, had the flexibility to work from home several days a week, and was surrounded by very compassionate coworkers/bosses. Yet, I consistently felt the urge to leave the office and pursue my own interests. The niche I was involved in for PR didn’t ignite my passion, and the daily commute only added to me feeling unmotivated and uninspired.

Although our motivations differed, we supported each other’s decision to quit our jobs. Besides, we were already thinking of starting something for ourselves before we even applied for the first jobs. But we decided to go for the safer option of working for a company, something we both regretted afterward.

The Core of Our Investigation

Our parents struggled to understand how we could earn a living independently without a ‘real’ job. They were scared that if we quit our jobs, we would end up broke and unhappy. Skepticism also came from other relatives and friends who suggested we “should just get a normal job”. And that’s what sparked our investigation into whether it was truly impossible to sustain oneself financially while pursuing unconventional career goals.

Our passions clearly lie in four fields: photography, videography, adventure, and storytelling. With Roddy’s degree in journalism and his knack for uncovering compelling narratives, he’s always on the lookout for interesting stories to tell. It’s like the feeling of sonder: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness.

How we could combine these passions was very clear to us: share our adventures and other people’s stories through videography and photography – doing interviews and traveling ourselves.

So after we quit our jobs, we started thinking about how we could start making money online. For us, the first step was building an online presence, marking our last day in conventional employment.

II. Building an Online Presence

Because we wanted to pursue something in the art of videography and photography, we quickly concluded that the most crucial step was to build an online presence. I also shared with Roddy my passion for writing, expressing my desire to launch a blog. To showcase our work, we set up an Instagram page, a YouTube channel, and a TikTok account.

The first task for our startup was to brainstorm our brand identity: a name, colors, values, and more. After exchanging numerous ideas and with a bit of assistance from AI, we successfully finalized our brand kit.

III. How We’re Making Money to Sustain This Investigation

Some people on YouTube had asked us “How are you able to do this, do you just have money to throw around? Or did you win the lottery?” The answer is quite simple. When we started this brand, we gave ourselves one year and a strict budget for this investigation.

So for the most part, we’re living off our savings. We’re also doing odd jobs on the side: mowing lawns, assisting people with grocery shopping, and cleaning for relatives. In the summer, we hope to get more of these jobs to buffer some expenses.

We also hope that within a couple of months, our online endeavors will start to pay off and we will start making some money through affiliate marketing, selling our own products, ad revenue, and so on.

IV. The Process So Far

Although we have made some money doing odd jobs, we didn’t earn a single dollar (or euro) online from our channels. Nevertheless, we’re enjoying this new way of working. Sometimes, we work from 8 AM until 10 PM without even realizing the time that has flown by. We love the fact that we can express ourselves creatively and create new content.

We’ve already planned some trips and conquered the most dangerous trail in Belgium, which wasn’t as perilous as we expected. In the coming months, we will be going to Ireland to walk the Wicklow Way, we’ve planned a trip to Madeira to cross the entire island in April, and in March we’ll be doing both a city trip to Budapest and hiking the Mullerthal Trail in Luxembourg.

Sometimes it’s a bit harder for us to focus on the business side of things, like making content calendars and thinking about the strategy.

We’ve already reached out to some stores for different kinds of opportunities, like sponsorships, affiliate programs, or possible discounts, but no luck so far. We’re still building our professional reputation, so we’ll just keep on trying with different brands – we’re not giving up hope.

We also contacted some interesting people we wanted to interview about their passion and how they make money from it. We already received one ‘yes’ and one ‘maybe’, so we’re excited to share their stories with the world and hopefully motivate others to follow their dreams.

At the end of January, we also decided to write our own manifesto, based on our core slogan: life less ordinary. We wrote this to share our beliefs with you and to provide a guiding text for moments when we feel adrift.

V. Future Plans and Expectations

For these interviews, we hope to make some sort of mini-documentary series where every episode unveils a story of a new person. For this particular series, we’ve already launched an additional Instagram channel where we’ll share the shorter, more interesting parts of the extensive interviews. However, the full videos will be uploaded to our usual YouTube channel.

We’re starting with interesting personalities from our home country Belgium, but our ambition is to expand this project to various parts of the world.

Another thing we hope to do is get more partnerships with brands, and at least generate some revenue off this channel. The goal still is to make money pursuing our passions, and not while doing odd jobs on the side.

In the end, we’d love to be able to create this passion-driven lifestyle and show others how they can do it too. This investigation isn’t just an experiment, it’s a commitment to a lifestyle that’s aligned with our values and passions. As we continue this journey, we’d be thrilled to have you along for the ride! If you’d like to see where this experiment of life beyond traditional jobs takes us, and if you want to read about the amazing stories of others who’ve already embraced their passions, then follow along. And while we share our adventures and content, we hope we ignite a spark in you as well to live a life less ordinary.