The period after you quit your job and begin building a client network list is referred to as being the transition period. During this period, you will not be making money from your normal job, however your freelance job should be paying you enough to pay your bills. This means that you will need to have a substantial amount of money put away so that you can live off it while building your network list. During the transition period, your primary objective must be to advertise your services as heavily as possible so you can build a client list, and quickly. However, during the pre-transition period, when you're still working at your day job while simultaneously picking up new skills, you will also want to begin saving a large amount of money.
In general, we recommend saving enough money to last from six to twelve months once you enter the transition period. This should give you more than enough to live off of while you work hard building a network of clients. As previously stated, we recommend that you begin taking on small jobs while you're still working at your day job, and once you're making sufficient amounts of money from these jobs, you can then quit your day job in order to become completely self employed. This strategy is very beneficial to those who naturally have an aversion to risk, since it gradually allows them to dip their toes in the freelance water before leaping into it full time.
As I said in the last chapter, we recommend building a portfolio prior to advertising for clients so that you will have a body of work available to show them. This body of work gives the client an idea of your style, and it can allow them to decide whether or not they want to hire you. I also recommend building a website so that your work can be easily made available to potential clients. Prior to quitting your job, we recommend paying down your debts as much as possible. The reason for this is that during the transition period, you don't want too much of your savings going to the repayment of debt, as this money should primarily be spent on your living expenses.
Both the transition period and the time which proceeds it will be one of the most difficult in your freelance career, and the way in which you handle this transition will mean the difference between your long term success and failure as a self employed person. This transition marks the hallmark of the strategy which is laid down in this book.