Dear Zebra: I hate my job...
(answered publicly with permission!)

I hate my job. I'm getting divorced. What I want to do is pack up and move to another state, close to my favorite relative and start my own consulting company.

Logic and common sense tell me that during a recession is not the best time to be quitting an actual job in hand. And I don't know as starting my own business is such a great idea in general, since I suck at self-marketing (although my skills are excellent). And it's a bad time to be trying to sell the condo, as well.

But if I don't just quit and move, it will probably never happen, and I'll be stuck here where I don't want to be doing something I don't want to do forever.

Advice?

Dear I Hate My Job-

My advice is... there's nothing wrong with waiting. You're right--this is a terrible time to quit a job and it's an even worse time to try to sell property. You'll lose a lot of money trying to sell right now, but if you wait a few years, the housing market will turn around and you'll be in a much better position to start a new life.

I've picked up and moved many times. It's scary and exhilarating, but at the same time, I always did so with a plan in place. I've never moved without having a job lined up and a place to live waiting for me. I am not that brave! And in times like these, with no guarantee that you'll be able to find a new job elsewhere, or get a loan to start your own business (banks don't have capital right now! We're in a credit crunch and loans are hard to come by) or even that you can sell your condo and use the profits to get yourself started, it's safer to wait for the economy to recover.

There's no reason you can't just quit and move two years from now, when your plan has a much better chance of working! And in the meantime, start making a plan. Decide what, exactly, you want to do (ie starting your own company or finding a job elsewhere), where you want to go, all of that. Quitting and picking up and moving actually takes a lot longer than it sounds. By the time you finish creating a business plan and working out the details of what you want to do, maybe the housing market will have recovered and it'll be the right time to implement the plan.

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