Why So Many Entrepreneurs Go Back to Work (And Why That’s Okay)
When actress and entrepreneur Tabitha Brown recently shared that there’s no shame in going back to work while building your business, the internet lit up. Some cheered. Some argued. And many whispered, “Whew, thank God somebody said it.”
Because here’s the truth: plenty of entrepreneurs are secretly juggling a full-time job, a side hustle, and a start-up business, while social media keeps telling them they should have “made it” already. And let the record show, lots of full-time entrepreneurs are struggling financially and could definitely benefit from the stability of a job.
Here’s the truth that I’ll stand ten toes down on, having multiple streams of income is not failure. It’s strategy.
Why People Choose Two Jobs (or More)
Here’s what a few solopreneurs that I know had to say:
One woman commented that she’d gladly take a six-figure job to supplement her business because, “Who doesn’t want more money?”
Another shared how her union job was her safety net after losing everything in a divorce.
Someone else proudly said, “I have a full-time job and I ain’t shame ’bout it one bit!”
And one put it bluntly and with data(which I love): “To replace my salary and just the salary, putting the benefits to the side, I would need to make $250,000 WITH a 50% profit margin.”
When you run the math, keeping a steady paycheck while growing your business just makes sense.
The Hidden Pressure of “All or Nothing”
Somewhere along the way, entrepreneurship got packaged as this all-or-nothing gamble: quit your job, risk it all, and if you don’t succeed, you must not have “hustled hard enough.”
But as Tabitha Brown reminded us, choosing stability isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom.
In fact, going back to work, or keeping a job while growing your business, gives you options. It lets you:
Cover your bills without panic
Invest in your business without draining your savings
Take risks without jeopardizing your family’s security
There’s nothing wrong with building your empire brick by brick instead of trying to construct it overnight.
When the Goal Is to Go Full-Time
Of course, for many entrepreneurs, the dream is still to run the business full-time. The problem? Most people don’t have a roadmap for how to make that leap without burning out or going broke.
That’s where having a system makes the difference. If you want to transition from juggling two jobs to focusing on one business, you need clarity on:
How to find and attract the right clients (instead of chasing anyone with a pulse)
How to create a daily marketing rhythm you can actually keep up with
How to turn interest into paying clients without feeling pushy or salesy
And that’s exactly what we’re doing inside the Clients on Demand Challenge.
Here’s the Real Talk
Hear me when I say, going back to work does not mean that you are a failure. I always tell my clients about how I started m business as a side hustle, then I stepped down to 2 part time jobs while I grew my business, then down to one part time and my business until I was ready to go full-time. But I’ll be honest, during the height of the pandemic when people were holding down two part time job and just stacking easy cash, I absolutely thought that is smart. Holding two jobs doesn’t make you less of an entrepreneur. It makes you resourceful, strategic, and focused on building a future that actually works.
And if your dream is to eventually drop down to one job, your business, then you’ll need more than grit. You’ll need a plan that makes your business sustainable, profitable, and client-attracting. Because your time is limited, it’s more important than ever that you don’t waste time on busy work and only focus on what actually moves the marker.
So whether you’re rocking a W-2 by day and your business by night, or you’re ready to step fully into entrepreneurship, you don’t have to figure it out alone.
👉🏾 Join the 3-Day Clients on Demand Challenge and get the system you need to confidently move toward full-time entrepreneurship, without sacrificing your peace or your paycheck in the process.
Because like Tabitha said, there’s no shame in how you build.