Breaking Free From Your 9-5: The Uncomfortable Truth About Entrepreneurship in 2025

Ever scrolled through those "quit your job and make six figures from your laptop" posts and wondered if they're selling a dream or reality? This raw, unfiltered discussion tears down the glamorous façade of entrepreneurship to reveal what's really waiting on the other side of your resignation letter in 2025.

Behind every entrepreneur flaunting success on social media, a hundred others are silently drowning in credit card debt, struggling to sell their online courses, or working around the clock with minimal income to show for it. The hard truth? Quitting your job isn't the beginning of freedom—it's the moment you take on more responsibility than you've likely ever had before.

We dive deep into the red flags that signal you should keep your day job (like having less than six months of living expenses saved or no validated business model), and the green lights that suggest you might be ready to bet on yourself (consistent side income, emotional preparedness for slow seasons). Beyond the basics, we explore what the successful 2025 entrepreneur's toolkit must include: AI tools that enhance rather than replace your voice, content that both educates and sells, and the resilience to weather inevitable storms. The myth of passive income has fooled too many—what you really want is leveraged income, where strategic effort pays dividends over time. Leave with practical wisdom, a free downloadable checklist, and the clarity to make your next career move with confidence rather than wishful thinking.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello world, welcome back to Not Just Candle Talk the
space where side hustles becomebusinesses and dreams get the
strategies they need to grow.
On today's episode, it mightjust save someone from quitting
their job too soon, or it mightinspire someone else to finally

(00:22):
take the leap the right way.
All right, so, with that beingsaid, should you quit your nine
to five?
The brutal truth aboutentrepreneurship in 2025.
All right, let's get into it.
We've all seen the TikToks quityour job, travel the world,

(00:46):
make six figures just from yourlaptop.
Sounds great, right, but here'sthe truth for everyone.
Success story.
There are a hundred peoplesilently drowning in credit card

(01:12):
debt, struggling to sell theironline courses or working
16-hour days with zero income.
Quitting your job isn't thestart of freedom.
It really isn't.
It's the start ofresponsibility.
Okay, that's a big one.
Let me repeat that Quittingyour job isn't the start of
freedom.
It's the start ofresponsibility.
In 2025,.
Entrepreneurship isn't justabout selling products or

(01:32):
services.
It's about adapting to AI,understanding content, marketing
, knowing your numbers andbuilding trust online.
If you're not treating thislike a real business, you're

(01:53):
building a hobby with overhead.
Recession fears are real andpeople are spending differently.
Being visible doesn't equalbeing profitable?
Not at all.
Let me repeat that.
One being visible doesn't equalbeing profitable.
Not everybody is doing it biglike it's portrayed.

(02:20):
I want to get into a few redflags when you should not quit
your job.
Number one if you have lessthan six months of living
expenses saved.
Number two you don't have abusiness plan or a working

(02:43):
prototype.
Number three you're quittingyour job because you've burnt.
You're burnt out, not becauseyou're called to build.
Okay, now everybody is calledto build.
Number four you haven'tvalidated your offer or made $1

(03:03):
yet.
If that's, you stay.
Build your business whilegetting paid.
Okay, that's how smartentrepreneurs make moves.
Okay, and that's the best wayto do it Build as you go, okay,
that was just a couple of redflags.
Let's get into some some greenflags.

(03:26):
When you should bet on yourselfOK, number one, you've been
making consistent side income.
Number two you've tested youroffer with strangers, not just
your friends.
Ok, get outside your comfortzone.
Number three you have a clearcustomer and you know how to

(03:47):
reach them.
Okay, you identify with yourpeople.
Um, number four, you'reemotionally prepared for slow
seasons.
If that's you, you don't needpermission.
You need a blueprint, okay, uh,starting the business is Peaks
and valleys, especially in thebeginning, because you're in the

(04:08):
learning stages, right.
So it's going to be those downtimes.
Do you have that emotionalmaturity To stay in, stick it
out when it's slow?
Okay, there's no such thing astrue Passive income.
Okay, passive income is not whatyou think, especially at the

(04:32):
beginning.
Ok, what you want is toleverage income.
Ok, as much as you can.
You work hard once and get paidmultiple times.
That's how you leverage yourincome.
But it takes time, it takeseffort, it takes strategy and to

(04:52):
implement systems.
The myth of easy money hasfooled too many people already.
You see it online all the timeand you ask yourself is that
true?
Is that?
Is that?
Can you really do that to makemoney around here?
We don't play them games.
We don't.
We don't't.
We don't go and get into themyth.
Uh, or the easy money Uh, we'renot on an easy money train, not

(05:17):
over here.
Okay, so right now, I'm going togo into the, the 2025
entrepreneur toolkit.
Okay, um, what it takes to wininto 2025 and beyond OK, you
need AI tools that automateswithout removing your voice.

(05:37):
Ok, you need to create contentthat educates and sells.
Ok, I'm big on education.
I don't know if anybody else is, but if you can relate, that's
incredible.
You need a brand, not just aproduct.
I repeat, you need a brand, notjust a product.
I repeat, you need a brand, notjust a product.

(05:58):
Everybody's selling products,right, and above all, you need
resilience, because this journeyis not.
It's not cute, it's not fun,but it's worth it, right, right,
if you get the right toolkit.
And those are just a few.
And so the question at the endof the day is should you quit?

(06:22):
Your nine to five Maybe?
Okay, but only if you're ready.
Sure, I've made another free,downloadable checklist 10 signs
you're not ready to quit yet, soyou can make the smartest move,

(06:43):
next move for your future.
Okay, and what I'm going to dois, if you felt this episode, do
me a favor and subscribe, leaveme a review or, better yet,
share this with someone who'sthinking about quitting their
job right now and going intotheir journey of starting a

(07:07):
small business.
And going into their journey ofstarting a small business.
What I'm going to do is, when Iupload the PDF free checklist
I'm going to, it's going to beunder the subscribe tab.
You can just download it anduse it as a reference guide.
So I'm going to wrap this up.
I just wanted to touch on this,touch on this subject real quick

(07:32):
because I think it needs to besaid, it needs to be heard over
and over.
I actually did an episode likethis a few months back.
I had a guest on and it wastitled nine to five versus
entrepreneurship and it wastitled Nine to Five versus
Entrepreneurship and my guestwas really adamant about her

(07:54):
beliefs in this.
She's a nine to fiverno-transcript, and if you're not

(08:27):
ready to take that role andwearing many hats, to build
something for your future,staying at your 95 would
probably be the wisest decision,especially now with everything
that's going on with the economyand all.
Sometimes it's just best tostay, or stay and build.
You know that's even better.
But that episode it was a goodone.
It was a good one.
It was worth listening to andjust to hear someone's real raw

(08:54):
opinions on why they stay attheir nine to five Again, go
check that episode out, andright now I'm going to, I'm
going to end this podcast.
I really wanted to touch on it.
I might do a part two and dosome more research if I can find

(09:14):
some, and I think this topic isworthy of another episode.
So again, if you enjoyed thisone, subscribe to the podcast
and give it a listen, and thankyou for your time, as always,
and I'll see you on the nextepisode.

(09:36):
Bye.