How One Woman Was Able To Quit Her $300,000 Job To Start Her Own Business

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By Libby Kane

Until June of 2015, Angela Clark was the VP of sales for a large senior living organization in southern California, earning nearly $300,000 a year.

"I had really hit all my goals in my corporate job," Clark reflects. "I could have stayed, but I knew there was something inside me — that little voice my whole life saying that I was going to do something for seniors, and have a business that was going to be mine. I had hit personal goals within my career at that point, and gotten to a place in life where it was like, if I'm going do this, I've got to do this now."

At the time, three of her four kids were in college, making it a risky time to take the leap.

After she made the decision to prepare to branch out on her own in 2013, she started setting money aside to ease the way. Over the course of two years, she says, she saved about $150,000.

"I saved all my bonuses, and I just started to think, 'If I want to do this in the next two years, how much money am I going to need to start? Do I want to go shopping for clothes, or is it worth it to me to skip that extra dinner out? I made sure I had a two-year cushion for the things you have to have, like housing and food and tuition, and the other things could be let go."