I want to quit my job and start my own business, where should I start?

You know what’s interesting, most people say that when starting a business you should find your passion. Unfortunately, I don’t quite agree. I’m passionate about chess, however, this isn’t necessarily what I would launch a business doing.

The fact is, most people don’t necessarily know what their passion is. For most people, they think it’s a certain hobby or craft, but only too often when they realise what it takes to become an Entrepreneur they discover that they aren't actually that passionate about the topic.

I’ve seen too often in business where people take their career choice (which has often happened because of default choices at a young age) and turn this into a business because of the network and connections they’ve formed along the way.

Why do people launch businesses?
Honestly, for me it’s Freedom. The idea of working for 40 years of my life is not an ideology I’m personally comfortable living with. However for some people, it’s the money, the image, the lifestyle, it’s how they see themselves that drives them to launch a brand and a business.

Where do I start?
The honest answer will be that the first year is about experimenting. Find an area you enjoy writing about, an area where you feel you are contributing to a greater welfare, an area where you like speaking to people within a particular remit. If you’re getting bored quickly as the topic becomes advanced then it may not be for you. However, if you’re finding yourself to continue being curious - Bingo! You might be onto something.

Content is absolutely key. You need to focus on writing content, become curious, examine the topic in detail, challenge people, get a buzz and don’t be afraid. The internet is full of trolls and keyboard warriors, but persist and eventually, people will cave and respect your input.
The most content you push out, the better the content will be, become humans are very adaptive creatures and you’ll keep getting better by learning from seeing posts that are working well.
The better content you push out, the more fans and followers you’ll get. You’ll soon become an innovator - someone who’s pushing ideas that have never been heard before.
Soon enough, if you keep this up, remain consistent and keep persisting you’ll have a following in the tens of thousands. People will recognise you’re a subject matter expert, your network will widen and you will start to become an authoritative figure.

Identify which form of content you’re most comfortable posting (videos, blogs, podcasts, etc.), find a medium you like i.e. Steemit, Quora, Youtube, Reddit, etc, and apply the lean startup methodology: Build - measure - learn.

Once you start excelling in one vertical, i.e YouTube, you’ll be able to push out your knowledge across verticals. However, this time it’s not going to be as difficult growing your platform from scratch because you can leverage from the vertical you have already excelled at creating.

Some people quit their jobs and follow this, with others, they do this methodology and find themselves quitting because more lucrative opportunities start presenting themselves.

All the best!