From Corporate to Freelance – How to Transition Smoothly (Step-by-Step Guide)

What does it really take to leave your 9–5 and build a freedom-based freelance business—without panicking, stalling, or burning bridges?

In this episode of The OBM Show, I’m sharing how I transitioned out of my corporate role and into full-time OBM business ownership—while still working. I didn’t quit on a whim. I built my business behind the scenes, one project, one client, and one system at a time.

Whether you're feeling stuck in your corporate career, thinking about a side hustle, or ready to walk away with a plan in hand—this episode walks you through the exact steps to make the leap in a sustainable, strategic way.

🎧 Inside the episode, we cover:

• The steps I took to build my business while still working full-time
• The most valuable transferable skills you already have from your 9–5
• What foundational business pieces you actually need to get started
• How to shift your mindset from employee to entrepreneur
• Why setting a “Freedom Date” makes your exit feel real (and doable)
• Some “real world” examples of how our very own OBM School students went about (and rocked!) this transition

“You don’t have to wait for the perfect time—you just need a plan, a little 

courage, and the right support.”

This episode is for anyone ready to stop dreaming about freedom—and start building a freelance OBM business that fits your life.

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Thanks for tuning in to The OBM Show — your go-to podcast for Online Business Managers and entrepreneurs who want to scale strategically and sustainably.

If this episode resonated with you, be sure to follow the show and leave a review. It helps more aspiring and established Online Business Managers find this content and grow their businesses with confidence.

✨ Ready to take the next step?

Grab your free OBM Starter Kit → obmschool.com/starter
Explore more tools and trainings → obmschool.com/resources
Learn about becoming a CPD-certified Accredited Online Business Manager → obmaccreditation.com

📺 Prefer to watch?
Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and hit the bell icon to get notified when we drop a new video → youtube.com/@SarahNokedOBM

Until next time—keep building the business behind the business.

Episode Transcript

Sarah Noked (00:00):
Hey there and welcome back to the OBM show.
I'm Sarah Noked, founder of OBMSchool and today I want to walk
you through how I made the leapfrom my corporate job into
running a freelance OBM businessand more importantly...
how you can do it too butbefore we get into that if you

(00:20):
are obm curious or side hustlingyour way through this
transition go right now and grabour obm starter kit over at
obmschool.com forward slashstarter it's totally free and it
will give you the exact stepsto start positioning your skills
and planning your move withoutquitting your job tomorrow i'm
going to leave all of theseresources in the description of

(00:42):
this video below and whileyou're at it you can also join
our free face the Confident OBMcommunity, where future and
current OBMs connect, shareresources, ask questions, and
cheer each other on.
There is no reason to gothrough this alone.
Welcome to the OBM Show, thepodcast that pulls back the

(01:05):
curtain on what it really takesto thrive as an online business
manager and help businessesscale without burning out.
I'm your host, Sarah Noked,agency owner, OBM mentor, and
founder of OBM School.
I've been working in the backend of online businesses since
2009, building systems, managingremote teams, and mentoring

(01:27):
OBMs who make businesses runlike clockwork.
Now, I've seen what works, whatdoesn't, and the messy middle
that no one talks about.
Here, we get real about thetools, strategies, and stories
that drive sustainable success,plus the tech mishaps, growing
pains, and lessons learned alongthe way.

(01:49):
If you're ready to stopspinning your wheels, step into
your leadership role, and seewhat actually happens behind the
scenes of thriving businesses,you're in the right place.
Let's get started.
Let's get started.
All right, let's talk about howmaking the escape from
corporate really can happen foryou.
Now, I want to be honest andvery transparent with you guys.

(02:13):
My transition was not dramatic.
I didn't quit and then startbuilding my OBM business.
I was practical and I know youare too.
And I actually built my OBMbusiness from my corporate desk.
Yes, that's right.
I was writing proposals afterhours, during hours.
I was responding to clientemails at my lunch break and

(02:35):
maybe during my day.
And I was creating standardoperating procedures.
And also I was working onweekends and I was working in
the evening.
I was working on my dreambusiness in the margins of my 9
to 5 and every other space inbetween.
If you are already doing thisin your own 9 to 5 or corporate

(02:56):
job, straddling the side hustleand the 9 to 5, you are not
behind.
You are just being verystrategic about building your
business and I applaud you forthat.
But if I could go back andchange one thing, it would be
would be this.
I would have stopped actinglike I was starting from scratch
because I wasn't.

(03:17):
Now, I want to share aframework that we use inside OBM
school called the trustframework.
Okay.
And this is how you can makeyour existing transferable
skills count.
So if you are in a corporatejob right now, chances are
you're already doing OBM levelwork, already doing OBM level
work.
I'm repeating that becauseyou're probably disagreeing with

(03:39):
me in your brain, but I want toshow you how to look at what
you've already been doingthrough the right lens so that
you can be as successful asquickly as possible.
And that's why I use what Icall the trust framework to
really help people see theirtransferable skills.
So let's start with the T intrust.
That to me stands for teamcommunication.

(04:01):
Now I bet you manage people.
I bet you follow up ondeadlines.
I bet you run meetings.
That my friends is OBM energy.
Now the R That stands forresults and reporting.
You might summarizeperformance, tracking goals,
presenting data.
That's what we do as onlinebusiness managers with our key
performance indicators, metricsand dashboards.

(04:24):
The U in trust is unstickingsystems.
And this is such a big one forme because I know that you
likely fix broken processes, youbuild out new workflows, you
make suggestions and thatsystems minded thinking as an
online business manager is puredoor.
Now the S in the trustframework is strategic support.

(04:46):
You are probably no doubt thego-to person on the team for
problem solving, figuring thingsout, critical thinking.
That's what we are doing dailyin our day-to-day as online
business managers, okay?
In our communications withclients, in our ability to put
out fires, in our ability tothink critically about what

(05:07):
needs to happen.
And the T at the end of trustis about the time and task
management factor.
I imagine that you're draglingpriorities in your nine to five
and making sure that things aregetting done.
That is core OBM work.
So if you're thinking toyourself, I don't have enough
experience, I want you to stopright there and know that you

(05:29):
actually have the experience.
You just haven't packaged it upand made it all pretty yet.
So I hope that you are alreadystarting to make some
connections with that trustframework on some of these
transition transferable skillsthat you have and really owning
it.
The next piece of the corporatetransition is really about
building your financial runway.

(05:51):
Now, I want to talk about moneybecause financial fear is real
and it's often the reason whypeople stay stuck.
So here's a really simple wayto build your financial runway.
I want you to take some timeand calculate that bare minimum
monthly number that you need,okay?
And I want you to be reallyhonest with yourself.

(06:11):
Maybe Maybe you pay rent.
Maybe you have a mortgage.
You definitely have groceries,definitely have essentials.
You need to also consider thatemergency fund.
You know, if your car breaksdown or, you know, something
happens, you need to know whatyou truly need from a very, very
basic level.
Then you can reverse engineeryour OBM income goal.

(06:35):
So if your base is $3,000 amonth that you need to be
making, and we know that in OBMpackage is around $1,500 to
$2,000 a month at a startingpoint, then two solid clients
will get you there.
And then you can start buildingwhile you are still employed.
That's what I did.

(06:55):
That is what so many of ourstudents inside of OBM school
do.
And it's not only smart, but itreally does give you that peace
of mind and it takes the panicout of the process.
It's not about needing fiveclients overnight, right?
It's about starting withprobably proof of concept, that
one yes, that one retainerclient that makes it feel real

(07:18):
and gets the ball rolling.
So I want you to know here andnow that you can straddle your
corporate job and your businessat the same time.
And you have to accept the factthat it's probably not going to
look pretty and buttoned up,but you don't need a huge
freelance portfolio to getstarted.

(07:40):
The next step in making thistransition is collecting
testimonials from your corporatejob and using them to land
clients.
Now you might be thinking,Sarah, what on earth are you
talking about?
The things that I do incorporate with my boss, with my
colleagues has no relation to myservice offerings.
Now, I hope already with thattrust framework, you're already

(08:02):
starting to think about some ofthe things that you've done in
your corporate job that dotranslate into OBM work, but I
want to take it one stepfurther.
I want to encourage you to makethe connection between the
testimonial for your OBMbusiness and recognizing that
those testimonials from yourcorporate job that you're going
to get really do speak to yourOBM clients.

(08:25):
So ask former bosses, formercolleagues or peers or project
partners to write a few linesabout how you work.
Better yet, draft theseyourself using ChatGPT or AI.
It will help you to draft alovely testimonial and even take
on the voice of whatever clientthat you dealt with in your

(08:46):
corporate job or your boss.
And I want you to focus onthings like leadership,
organization, communication, andproblem solving.
Reframe it for your freelancework.
Pull out quotes and use them onyour website or in your email
correspondence, your proposals,wherever you feel like it is

(09:07):
suitable.
One line like, she kepteverything in our department
aligned and handled complexprojects with total calm, that
is proof.
That is proof that you canhandle the things that you're
going to get the challenges thatyou're going to encounter with
your OBM clients.
Now, don't wait until you'vequit to collect those.

(09:28):
Start now.
Now, I want to show you alittle bit about how this plays
out in real time, because whileI spent three years of my life
straddling my corporate job andmy freelancer job, I don't want
you to be spending a whole lotof time.
I want you to be taking theright action, like I said,

(09:48):
looking at your transferablesskills, gaining those
testimonials, starting to buildyour business from your
corporate desk.
But I also want to share withyou some stories from our OBM
school grads that haveaccomplished this.
And we have actually have a dayin the life videos where I have
interviewed these individuals.
And I'm going to leave thoselinks in the description below

(10:09):
so you can check out our day inthe life series.
Now, LeAngela Aitken, one ofour OBM school accreditation
grads, she literally sat downwith me at the beginning of her
OBM journey and confidentlylisted out her transferable
skills she listed out tools thatshe used in her corporate job
team members that she ledworkflows that she streamlined

(10:31):
and improved and fully owned thefact that she was doing a lot
of the OBM role in her corporatejob and that to me was a real
breath of fresh air becauseunlike myself she took ownership
of already operating like anOBM in her corporate job all she
needed from us was theframework and the plan and she

(10:52):
stepped into our accreditationprogram which is our
certification program inside obmschool it's cpd certified she
stepped into that and fullyowned the obm role from day one
and now runs a thriving obmbusiness but it's not just her
who did it the right way it'salso Lindsay Connelly another
obm i interviewed you can findher day in the life video below

(11:15):
in the description Lindsay wasworking full-time she wasn't
coming from the non She wascoming from the fashion and
design side of things with ahigh pace corporate job in
fashion in New York.
And so when she wanted to makethe transition into being an
OBM, it was after relocating toBelgium and she realized that

(11:38):
she had those transferableskills and she signed her first
client while still beingemployed.
She waited until she had theright financial and emotional
stability and now she has.
a thriving business and earnsmore than she did when she was
working full time.
And the common thread of thesewomen, of these online business

(11:59):
managers, is that they tookownership of their transferable
skills.
So, you know, obviously youneed a financial roadmap.
Obviously you need to put thetime and effort in.
But I think the thing that Iwant to really, really scream
from the rooftop here is thatyou're not starting from some
arbitrary square one and thusneed to start in some admin
arbitrary square one role.

(12:19):
You can start as an onlinebusiness manager straight out of
corporate.
This isn't hype.
This is what happens when youbuild before you leap.
So here's what I want you to donext.
If you feel like you are inthat in-between space craving
the freedom, but still clockinginto your nine to five, here's
your action plan.
Download that OBM starter kitover at obmschool.com forward

(12:41):
slash starter.
This is going to walk youthrough the exact steps to
assess your skills, set up yourbusiness and start freelancing
the smart way.
Join Join our confident OBMcommunity.
This is going to surround youwith the people who get it,
like-minded, where we askquestions, we share information,
you get support, you growfaster.

(13:02):
Explore our OBM accelerator.
This is our signature OBMschool program for building your
OBM business.
This is about proof of concept.
This is while you are stillemployed, you craft your offer,
you learn how to land clients,and you start building real
momentum.
Many of our students in theircorporate jobs use this program

(13:22):
to prove to themselves that theycan do this before they even
start thinking about gettingaccredited or joining us in our
high level cpd certifiedcertification program you don't
have to leap off a cliff tocreate freedom you just have to
take the next step and whenyou're ready i'll be here
cheering you on the whole way