Hype me up to quit my job...

[Frogy11]

I've been working for a very small business for a year. I am the only full time employee, with a part time colleague and input from the owner who comes in a day a week. Everyone is super happy, calling us the dream team, but I feel completely overstretched and just not a good fit for the job role. I've wanted to quit pretty much since I started.
I want to go freelance and redirect all the effort I am giving into my own business. My family and friends are super supportive, including my fiance. The owner comes back from annual leave next week and I know it will stress her out and really leave the business in the lurch because I do EVERYTHING and currently work extra out of hours.

I feel guilty but she needs to know it's not a good business model. I guess I just want encouragement because I'm not great at letting people down.

When you are feeling overwhelmed it’s common to go straight to the ‘quit’ reflex and that might actually be the right thing to do, however leaving without something else lined up isn’t really a good thing to do.

Have you tried talking to the owner about your workload and making suggestions about how to improve things?

Difficult to say without knowing your line of work, is there much freelance work available right now? The job market is dire so just be careful.

Thank you both but honestly I'm so confident in going freelance. One thing the job gave me is great contacts. I know it won't be as steady as a salaried job but I can potentially earn far more than I do now for the same amount of work. And I have a great support system. There is no down side, except for my own people-pleasing angst!

Be careful about “stealing” clients from her

This, and you can’t assume you’ll be able to.

Id talk to her seriously about the level of work and support from her. Does she only work one day a week or only come to the office one day? Perhaps she needs to come in more often to work together or put more hours in herself, or could you do with another staff member.

I wouldn’t suggest anyone leaves a job at the moment.

It sounds like the owner is expecting you to take on an impossible workload/has unrealistic expectations.

I would try talking to them first and making it clear you cannot deliver the amount of work you are expected to do to see if they will consider hiring someone else to help.

After that I think you will feel like you have tried all you could to make it work and you will be able to just quit if needed.

Ultimately you have to put yourself first and choose what is best for you long term, not your current employer. It sounds like the owner is just not spending enough time on the business and frankly it should not be your job to run it all for her...

I agree that if you are feeling this stressed and need to do regular overtime, that's not fair, reasonable or sustainable. Have you spoken to your boss about how you're feeling? I appreciate that in a very small company where you are the only FT employee it's not the same as having an HR dept to go to, but what you're proposing is not very nice. You'll leave your employer in the lurch and you plan to steal her clients and set up on your own - the situation you're in is not reasonable, but neither is your plan to do this! Really, you should talk to her when she gets back from holiday and be honest about your workload and how it's too much. Does the business really need to hire more people? It sounds like it does. You're allowed to leave, of course you are, but what you're planning to do is pretty awful IMO.

Wow I may have misrepresented this! I will NOT be stealing her clients/customers. That wouldn't even be possible. I'd be providing a completely different service - one she currently uses other freelancers to provide. I'm obviously also not expecting her to shaft them for me, but having them as contacts is what I meant for useful advice and work opportunities etc.
I have had numerous conversations over the last year about the workload and business operations but if I'm being honest, my heart isn't in it anymore. So I'm not comfortable having conversations about improvements that I don't want to commit to being a part of.

There's nothing like everyone telling you not to do something to solidify in your mind how much you want to do it!

There's no need to feel guilty if you work your notice period as that should give her time to find someone to replace you. Worst case scenario you could offer to worker a little longer notice period if you are worried about leaving her in the lurch. It sounds like your heart isn't in it anymore so I would say you are right to leave and focus on freelance work.