Six Months In: From Corporate to Author

How to Prepare Yourself Before You Leap

Exactly six months ago, I walked away from corporate life.

I didn’t have an elaborate five-year plan, guaranteed income waiting for me, or a roadmap telling me everything would work out.

Just a head full of cities, characters, conversations that refused to stay quiet, and a stubborn belief that maybe, just maybe, I owed it to myself to find out what would happen if I finally gave them a chance to exist.

Looking back now, I can confidently say one thing: I was wildly underprepared and crazy. Considering I am a mother on this side of an unending list of bills, with new ones coming up every day.

Just so we are clear, I had to do it for my mental health — story for another day. Though I have written a piece of it in this article, I Died At 32, And No one Noticed

Your story might not be yours, but if you’re sitting behind an office desk, wondering whether to pursue that dream you’ve been postponing, here’s what the last six months have taught me, and what I wish someone had told me before I resigned.

Your Dream Doesn’t Clock In at 8 am and Leave at 5 pm

One of the biggest misconceptions I had was that becoming an author simply meant writing.

How adorable. Writing is probably only twenty percent of the job. You have to do the rest: marketing, editing, graphic design, social media, book formatting, customer service, email replies, learning algorithms(this has been the hardest), running advertisements, accounting, taxes, negotiating with printers, managing stock, packing books, deliveries, content creation, interviews, and networking, just to name a few.

And somewhere in between all of that, you have to remember to actually write the next book.

In corporate life, entire departments handled these responsibilities.

Congratulations. You’re every department now.

Passion Is Wonderful. Bills Are Even More Passionate.

Nobody likes talking about money, but let’s do it anyway. Dreams are beautiful, but rent is due on the first or fifth, whichever just ensure before leaving your job, ask yourself some uncomfortable questions.

How long can you survive without a steady salary?

Do you have savings?

Can you reduce unnecessary expenses?

Do you have another source of income?

I didn’t have every answer. I simply knew staying where I was had become more frightening than taking the leap. That doesn’t mean you should ignore financial planning. It simply means courage and preparation should work together, not compete.

The Loneliness

Corporate life is noisy: meetings, coffee breaks, office gossip, someone always microwaving fish, someone else asking if you’ve seen the latest email. There is someone talking at all times.

And then suddenly it’s just you, your laptop, and your thoughts. And perhaps a cup of tea that’s gone cold because you forgot it existed three chapters ago- you know, when those thoughts come flooding in, you just have to keep going until you can’t.

Now, I know writing is wonderfully solitary, but entrepreneurship can become isolating if you’re not intentional.

Find your people: other writers, creators, or small business owners.

People who understand why you’ve spent four hours debating whether a character should say “hello” or “good morning.”

Your support system matters a lot.

Your First Draft Isn’t the Finish Line

When I imagined becoming an author, I pictured typing “The End.”

Then there would be a cue celebration, fireworks, confetti, the universe applauding, and scrambling to get my book. I mean, why not? I have read my book, and I laughed, cried, became angry, understood the lessons, and resonated with it. I felt the love and warmth of my characters.

Why wouldn’t the world love my book? They will. They must.

Reality laughed.

Before the book came to be. There was the so-called manuscript. I thought I would just need a few edits. Not true, finishing the manuscript is merely the beginning. Editing follows, then more editing, proofreading, formatting, cover design, marketing, then more marketing, which I am learning now that I should have done before publishing.

What do you mean I should have started marketing a year ago? I was shocked, but it comes with diving into new territory without true knowledge.

Then people are asking when Book Two is coming. Sometimes, before they’ve even finished Book One. Readers are wonderfully impatient. It’s one of the nicest problems you can have.

You’ll Question Yourself More Than Anyone Else Ever Will

Every creative person knows this feeling.

“Is this good enough?”

“Will anyone buy it?”

“What if nobody reads it?”

“What if they hate it?”

Your inner critic doesn’t need coffee. It wakes up before you do. Mine certainly does. Some mornings I feel unstoppable. Other mornings, I wondered whether I had made the biggest mistake of my life.

I constantly ask myself what I am doing, and I find myself going back to the job boards to check if there are jobs I can apply to. Then I remind myself of why I moved from that world to this world.

The trick isn’t eliminating self-doubt.

It’s learning to keep working while it sits quietly in the passenger seat instead of grabbing the steering wheel.

Celebrate Tiny Wins

Corporate life often comes with annual performance reviews and bonuses.

As an author, you become your own manager. It can sometimes be hard to celebrate anything when the effort does not amount to a lot. And this can lead to burnout or spiraling in the wrong direction.

Celebrate everything: when you complete your first chapter, your first sale, a stranger who buys your book, the first review you get, the first reader who messages you saying your story kept them awake until 2 a.m.

All those moments matter. They’re proof that your words are finding homes in other people’s lives.

I remember staring at my dashboard for several minutes after my first online sale. I couldn’t believe (self-doubt as usual) a total stranger thought my words were worth their money. It was beautiful.

Never become too busy chasing the next milestone that you forget to appreciate the one you’ve just reached.

Social Media Is Part of the Job

This one surprised me. No, surprise isn’t the word; I was scared.

You have to understand: I’m not a social media person. I’m the kind of person who posts maybe twice a year. Some of my social media accounts had nothing but a profile picture. I was practically invisible online.

Then I discovered that social media is a crucial part of this journey. It’s either you hire a social media manager or you learn to do it yourself. I chose to learn.

The things I’ve been learning! Honestly, I feel like I’m back in kindergarten when it comes to social media. Every day is a new lesson, and while it’s overwhelming at times, it’s also been one of the most valuable skills I’ve had to develop on this journey.

The fact is, you can write the greatest novel in history. If nobody knows it exists, it becomes the world’s best-kept secret.

Marketing isn’t showing off. It’s introducing your work to people who might genuinely enjoy it.

Some days you’ll feel like a content creator, others an actor. And some days you’ll wonder why you’re filming yourself holding your own book in a supermarket aisle.

Then someone messages you saying,

“I bought it because of your video.”

Suddenly, it all makes sense.

Learn to Wear Every Hat

I thought I’d become an author.

Instead, I became all the departments in a company, and I won’t lie its exhausting, sometimes chaotic, and occasionally hilarious. But it’s also incredibly rewarding. Every new skill makes you more resilient, and every challenge teaches you something no office training could ever teach you.

Success Doesn’t Always Look Loud

Social media loves overnight success stories. Real life usually looks different. It looks like writing after midnight, making mistakes. Some days it looks like learning new software through YouTube tutorials, celebrating five book sales as though you’ve sold five million, packing books yourself, and replying personally to every reader.

The growth might be slow at first, but as long as it’s steady, keep at it.

Don’t compare your Chapter One to someone else’s Chapter Twenty.

Your journey deserves its own timeline.

What I Would Tell Anyone Thinking of Leaving Corporate

Don’t romanticize the journey. There will be difficult days when nothing sells. There will be days when words refuse to cooperate, and you will want to go back to that closed chapter.

My two cents, before you take that step of faith.

Do this:

· Prepare financially.

· Learn constantly.

· Build relationships.

· Be patient with yourself.

· Accept that success takes longer than social media makes it seem.

Most importantly, don’t wait until you’re fearless. Fear is usually evidence that you’re doing something meaningful.

Six Months Later…

Six months ago, I walked away from a career with no detailed plan. Just stories that only existed in my head, cities I couldn’t name yet, characters I couldn’t relate to, and hope.

Today…

I’m a proud self-published author. It hasn’t been easy.

There have been sleepless nights, unexpected obstacles, moments of doubt, and plenty of lessons learned the hard way.

But if someone asked whether I’d do it all again, without hesitation, I would say absolutely.

There is this unexplainable feeling about holding a book that once existed only inside your imagination.

And something even more extraordinary about knowing it’s now sitting on someone else’s bedside table, making them laugh, cry, gasp, or stay up far later than they intended.

So, if you’re standing at the edge of your own leap, wondering whether you’re ready, remember this:

You don’t have to know every step before you begin.

Sometimes all you need is enough courage to take the first one.

The rest has a funny way of revealing itself as you go.

If you have just started, are in the middle of it, are lost in it, are doubting yourself, please don’t let that dream go. It has been done, it can be done, and it shall be done. Keep going, I am rooting for you!

If you’ve enjoyed reading this, I’d love for you to support my journey.

Get my book here: ***Love Will Not Be Enough***

If this article resonated with you, share it with someone who’s dreaming of taking a leap of faith.

Don’t forget to leave a clap, and if you’d like to follow along as I continue this journey, follow.

I’ll see you in my next article.

✍️ From the Founder of Threads of Life, Money & Momentum.

— Arpita Srivastava

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