Fear of taking risks
Leaving a salaried job to start a business, safely
Don't quit on impulse. Test the business on the side, save 6 to 12 months of living costs and leave only once the new income is already showing up.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
Leaving a formal salaried job (in Brazil, a CLT job) to start a business is one of the fastest-growing searches among people with a signed work card, and it makes sense: the desire for autonomy is real. But a safe transition isn't a leap. It's a bridge, crossed little by little, with the salary still paying the bills while the business proves it can sustain itself.
The practical path
- Start on the side, if your contract allows it. Read your contract and your company's policies: some prohibit competing activities. Beyond that, nothing stops you from testing a business at night or on weekends. Being an MEI is generally not prohibited for someone with a formal job, but check with an accountant how it affects benefits such as unemployment insurance.
- Build your transition reserve. Before leaving, save the equivalent of 6 to 12 months of your cost of living, separate from the money going into the business. That reserve is what keeps a bad month from turning into a desperate decision.
- Set your exit trigger with numbers. For example: "I'll leave when the business pays, for three months in a row, at least half of my salary." A trigger decided with a cool head avoids quitting on the day you're angry.
- Test the sale, not just the idea. What proves a business works is people paying, repeatedly. Likes and compliments don't pay the rent.
- Plan your departure carefully. Resigning and being dismissed have different effects on your FGTS, the termination fine and unemployment insurance. Get informed on gov.br or with your union before deciding. Leave on good terms: your former boss may become a customer.
- Prepare your family. Income will fluctuate. Agree in advance on what changes in the household budget.
An honest reminder: starting a business isn't the opposite of having a job, and going back to formal employment isn't failure. Many people build their business in stages, moving in and out of the job market according to the phase of their life. What hurts isn't going back; it's leaving without a plan.
How Bairo went through it
Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez's first big decision in Brazil was precisely to leave a job. He says he had arrived in 2002 for a management position at an education company. When he wanted to follow his own path, leaving was hard: he found himself without documents in hand, without a network and afraid. It took him years to get back on his feet.
He doesn't advise anyone to leave the way he did. What he carries from that phase is something else: the certainty that the decision to change was right, and the lesson that courage without a safety net is expensive. After that, every business of his started at the size life allowed, beginning with a neighborhood salon.
The Method step
This is where step 5 of the Seventh Attempt Method: count in lifetime comes in. Before leaving, calculate your runway: how many months can you hold out without a salary? How many people depend on your income? Also write down your red line, the point at which you go back to the job market without any shame. Deciding that now protects the people you love.
Discover the Seventh Attempt Method