What I Wish I Knew Before I Quit My Job

Naomi Butler
Jun 1
2 min read

From Marketing Director to Full-Time Entrepreneur

Four years ago, if you’d told me I’d be running my own marketing agency and living life on my own terms, I probably would have laughed and said, “Maybe in five years.”

In 2021, I was a Marketing Director at a Houston real estate brokerage, laser-focused on climbing the corporate ladder. My dream was to soak up every bit of knowledge I could so that someday, I could run my own business.

In November of that year, on a whim (and with a LOT of late-night Googling), I filed for my LLC using LegalZoom — not a paid ad, but honestly, it made the process super easy and beginner-friendly. My official “last day” at my 9-5 was the following March.

I was officially in business… with no roadmap, no guaranteed income, and a ton of hope.

Let me tell you — it has been a journey full of ups, downs, pivots, and lessons learned. If you’re thinking about making the leap to full-time entrepreneurship, here’s everything I wish I had known when I was starting out:

1. File Your LLC Before You Go Full-Time

I can’t stress this enough — get your LLC set up BEFORE you leave your day job. You need that legal foundation in place. Plus, having the LLC allows you to:

Open a business bank account
Start building business credit
Protect your personal assets

Again, LegalZoom was super helpful for me, but you can also file directly through your state’s website.

2. Open a Separate Business Bank Account

This is a MUST. You need to keep your business and personal finances 100% separate — trust me, your future self (and your accountant) will thank you. There are free business banking options out there, like:

No monthly fees, easy to set up online.

3. Strategically Name and Brand Your Business

Before I even filed my LLC, I was already thinking about my business name and target audience (I am a marketing nerd after all).

This is a crucial step:

Choose a name that resonates with your ideal clients
Make sure it’s unique and easy to remember
Check domain availability (use GoDaddy or Squarespace)
Secure your social media handles

If you’re new to this, check out my Branding Guide

4. Secure Your Branding Assets

As a graphic designer, I created my own branding — but if you’re hiring a designer, here’s my best tip:

Make sure you retain the copyrights to your branding. This will make it so much easier to trademark your logo down the road if you choose to.

5. Start Building Your Online Presence Early

Before I was officially “full time,” I started posting on my personal social media accounts:

Quick marketing tips
Soft-launching my services
Sharing behind-the-scenes of building my business

Your existing network will likely become your first clients — and nothing beats word-of-mouth marketing when you’re just starting out.

6. Build a Website + Email List

Your website is your digital home base — and it should be set up to:

Capture leads
Build your email list
Educate potential clients

I spent a lot of late nights building my first site in Wix — it wasn’t perfect, but it worked. And having an email list early on gave me a direct way to nurture my audience and promote my offers.