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My corporate job was making me miserable… I quit to build a six-figure ...
Colin Graves may have been making a lot of money through his high-paying finance job, but he felt 'stuck and burnt out.'So he built a six-figure business from a side hustle so he could leave his boring 9-to-5 behind. The 50-year-old, from Winnipeg, Canada, explained to the Daily Mail during a recent interview that he had landed a job in banking right after college and worked his way up until he was $120,000. But the constant stress as well as the monotony of his desk job left him feeling miserable.So in 2016, following a clash with new management at his job, he decided he needed to 'create another path' for himself.'I had no idea how, but I resolved to leverage my experience and skills (and learn some new ones) and build something of my own,' the entrepreneur told the Daily Mail.Graves explained that he had always been passionate about writing, so he decided to combine that with his knowledge about money to start a personal finance blog.'I wrote about personal finance because it was what I knew. Over the next 18 months, and 150 blog posts later, I had built a small but engaged audience,' he shared. Colin Graves felt 'stuck and burnt out' while he was working his high-paying finance job. So he built a six-figure business from a side hustle so he could leave his boring 9-5 behind Grave is seen here with his wife, LauraIn his first month, he made roughly $200 in ad sales from the blog and while it started small, he knew he was on to something. 'It wasn't much, but it changed everything. For the first time, I wasn't completely dependent on my employer to make a living,' he recalled. 'That's a powerful realization. 'It was no longer a matter of if this could work, but how to do it over and over again.'From there, his income 'steadily increased' and about a year later, he was making roughly $2,000 per month from the blog. '$2,000 per month just by typing away on my laptop in the evenings and on weekends,' said Graves.'The key for me was consistency. I would write for one, maybe two hours most evenings, and then on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. 'For some, that sounds like torture, but to borrow a Jerry Seinfeld quote, "I had found the torture I was comfortable with." [Writing was the] thing that I could do over and over again, and not get tired of it.'By 2020, my side hustle income grew to around $4,500 per month.' In 2016, following a clash with new management at his job, he decided he needed to 'create another path' for himselfAll the while, he also s...
I Had a $250,000 Corporate Job, the Confidence to Quit, and Zero Clue ...
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jesse Tervooren, a 39-year-old former HR executive based in Vancouver, Washington. It has been edited for length and clarity. Walking away from a $250,000 corporate HR job last year, I was convinced that landing something new would be straightforward. The reality of today’s job market had completely passed me by. For more than a decade, opportunities had always come to me through recruiters — I never had to chase them. Now, nearly a year into unemployment, I look back and wonder how I could have been so naive. That said, stepping away from the grind gave me something I hadn’t expected: the chance to actually show up for my daughter and take an honest look at how tangled my sense of self had become with money. I knew it was time to leave when my values no longer aligned with the company’s From early in my career, I understood I had a knack for getting things done — and somewhere along the way, I let that become the whole of who I was. Through a decade in HR, I kept telling myself I’d slow down, dial back the intensity, but looking back, I think I was genuinely hooked on the rush that stress produced. After my daughter arrived, my husband stepped into the primary caregiver role while I became our family’s financial anchor. By 2023, I’d climbed to director of people experience at a dental company. The work was varied, the pay was strong, and my team was one I genuinely valued — enough to keep me there longer than I probably should have stayed. What finally pushed me out the door was a sharp disagreement with my boss — one that made it clear I could no longer do the job with integrity. Right then, I made a promise to myself: I would never again hold a position that asked me to set aside what I believed in. I hadn’t planned to resign that morning. But by the end of the day, staying felt impossible. After I quit, I took a break that backfired — but I don’t have any regrets Overconfidence was my first mistake. I put off job hunting until January, assuming doors would open quickly. They didn’t. Having spent years recruiting in healthcare — a field that practically never stopped needing people — I assumed HR would be the same. It wasn’t. From January through April, I sent out applications, crafted tailored cover letters, reconnected with former colleagues, and flooded LinkedIn with outreach. Nearly all of it disappeared without a response. It was a genuinely humbling stretch. Even so, I can’t say I regret the pa...
Why the Smartest Career Move of 2026 Might Be Filing an LLC (Instead of ...
Planning a career move in 2026? For many people, updating their résumé to apply for a different corporate job is no longer the most attractive path forward. Instead, an increasing number of individuals are taking their future into their own hands by making entrepreneurship their go-to solution. According to CNBC, 1.56 million business applications were filed in the United States between ...
The 23 Best Countries for Americans to Move to in 2026
Key Takeaways: best countries to move to from the USA The best countries for Americans to move to depend on profile: retirees, families, remote workers, skilled professionals, and high-net-worth investors need different visa, tax, and lifestyle options.
