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5 min readFrom $250K Consulting Job to Self-Published Author: Paul Millerd's Pathless Path
Paul Millerd quit his $250,000 consulting job in 2017 with no plan, no next job lined up, and a $24,000 bill to repay his signing bonus and relocation expenses. He had about $50,000 in savings and a willingness to "let life emerge" for the first time. Seven years later, his self-published book The Pathless Path generated $249,000 in revenue last year, and in the first six months of this year he's on track to beat that—though he's deliberately choosing to spend more time with his newborn daughter instead of maximizing income.
The Decision to Quit and the Cost of Freedom
Millerd's resignation wasn't a clean break into a known opportunity. He had been applying to other jobs, got rejected by some, and was offered significantly less by others. So he simply quit. "It was the first time in my life that I just let life emerge," he says. The immediate consequence was a $24,000 bill from his former employer because he hadn't stayed three years. He calls it "buying my freedom."
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:29) **Quitting the $250K Job** - Paul describes leaving his consulting job and the immediate financial consequences, including having to repay a $24,000 signing bonus.
- 2 (03:00) **Book Income Trajectory** - Paul breaks down his earnings as a self-published author, from $50K in year one to $249K in year two.
- 3 (03:44) **The Origin: Writing on Quora** - Paul describes how he started writing daily on Quora while still employed, a year before quitting.
- 4 (04:21) **The Decision to Quit** - Paul explains the circumstances around leaving his $250K consulting job in 2017.
- 5 (05:25) **Turning Down Penguin Random House** - Paul explains why he rejected a traditional publishing deal to self-publish.
- 6 (06:10) **Writing and Publishing Process** - Paul describes how he wrote the book and got it to print.
- 7 (07:46) **The Book's Core Idea: The Pathless Path** - Paul explains the central theme of his book.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
I Quit My $250K Job To Become an Author
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In this video, I flew out to Austin Texas to talk to Paul Millerd - the guy who quit a cozy $250,000 corporate consulting job to write a book. When Paul first started his journey to become an author and solopreneur, he ran into a lot of problems. But, eventually he found his way using a mindset he calls "The Pathless Path". He shares how The Pathless Path help him find his passion, why he chose to self-publish his book, and exactly how much money he’s made as a self published author. Hope you guys enjoy!
Follow Paul 🐦 - https://twitter.com/p_millerd 🎥 - https://www.youtube.com/@PaulMillerd/videos 💻 - https://lu.ma/u/paulm
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