I Quit My Job in February. Here Is What I Am Doing Instead.

By Akarshit Patial

I left my job in February 2026.

No backup. No investor. No safety net.

Just me, my laptop, and a stupid amount of caffeine.

People ask me if I am scared. Yes. Every single day. But I am more scared of waking up at 50 and wondering what could have been.

Here is the plan. It is not glamorous. But it is honest.

The Short Version (Because You Are Busy)

I am spending one year freelancing to save money. Then I am opening my own IT company focused on AI projects.

Why freelancing first? Because I need cash flow. Rent does not care about your dreams. Neither does groceries.

Why AI? Because it is not the future anymore. It is the present. Every business needs it. Most do not know how to use it.

I am building in public. Sharing wins. Sharing failures. Sharing everything.

If you want to follow along, great. If you just want the lessons, skip to the end.

Why I Quit

My job was fine. Good pay. Nice people. No complaints.

But fine is dangerous. Fine makes you comfortable. Comfortable makes you stop growing.

I looked at my calendar one day. Six months had passed. I could not remember a single thing I built that mattered.

That scared me more than being broke.

So I handed in my notice. My manager asked if I had another offer. I said no. He looked confused. Most people do not leave without somewhere to land.

I am not most people. Or maybe I am just stupid. Time will tell.

The One Year Freelance Plan

Here is what I am doing for the next twelve months.

Phase 1 – The Grind (Months 1-3)

I am taking any AI-related freelance work I can find. Chatbots. Automation scripts. Data cleaning. API integrations. Nothing is too small.

I set up profiles on Upwork and Fiverr. I am also reaching out to local businesses directly. Most of them have no idea how AI can help them. That is an opportunity.

Phase 2 – The Pivot (Months 4-8)

Once I have steady income, I will raise my rates. I will fire bad clients. I will focus on bigger projects.

This is also when I start documenting everything. Building in public. Sharing my process on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Phase 3 – The Launch (Months 9-12)

By month nine, I want to have enough saved to register my company. I am calling it something simple. Akarshit AI. Or maybe Patial Labs. Still deciding.

The goal is not to be the biggest. The goal is to be the most helpful.

Why AI

Everyone is talking about AI. Most are just talking.

I want to build.

I have been coding since I was 16. I have seen trends come and go. Blockchain. Metaverse. NFTs. Most of them were hype with no substance.

AI is different. AI actually does things. It writes. It analyzes. It automates. It saves time.

Every small business owner I talk to is overwhelmed. They have emails, invoices, customer questions, social media posts. They do not have time to learn new tools.

That is where I come in.

I build systems that do the boring work so humans can do the interesting work.

That is my pitch. Short. Simple. True.

What I Have Learned So Far (Three Weeks In)

I am only three weeks into freelancing. But I have already learned a few things.

Freelancing is lonely. No coworkers. No water cooler talk. Just you and your screen. You have to be okay with silence.

Clients are scared of AI. They think it will replace them. I spend half my calls explaining that AI is a tool, not a person. It needs guidance. That is where they come in.

Pricing is hard. Charge too little and you look desperate. Charge too much and you look arrogant. I am still figuring this out. My current rule: charge what feels slightly uncomfortable. Then add 20 percent.

Rejection is normal. I have sent thirty proposals. Heard back from eight. Closed four. That is a 13 percent success rate. Not great. But enough to pay rent.

The Numbers (Real Talk)

I need to make $3,000 per month to cover my expenses. Rent. Food. Internet. Coffee. The essentials.

At my current rate of $50 per hour, that is 60 hours of billable work per month. Fifteen hours per week. Very doable.

Once I raise my rate to $75 per hour, I only need 40 hours per month. Ten hours per week.

The math works. The execution is the hard part.

Building In Public

I am documenting everything. The wins. The failures. The awkward client calls. The late nights debugging code that should have worked.

Why? Two reasons.

First, it keeps me accountable. If I tell the internet I am going to do something, I have to do it.

Second, it builds an audience. Maybe one day those people become customers. Maybe they become collaborators. Maybe they just cheer me on. Either way, it is better than building alone in the dark.

You can follow me on Twitter @akarshitpatial. Or just bookmark my blog. I post every week.

What I Need Right Now

Honestly? I need work.

If you know anyone who needs help with AI, send them my way. Chatbots. Automation. Data stuff. I do it all.

I am not expensive. I am not arrogant. I just build things that work.

The Bottom Line

I quit my job in February. I am freelancing for a year. Then I am opening my own AI company.

This might fail. I might run out of money. I might end up back in a corporate job.

But I will not spend the rest of my life wondering.

That is worth the risk.

If you are thinking about doing something similar, stop thinking. Start doing. You will figure it out along the way. Or you will not. Either way, you will learn.

And learning is never wasted.

– Akarshit Patial

Building in public. One line of code at a time.

If this article helped you, share it with one person who needs to hear it. If you want to work together, DM me on Twitter. I reply to everyone.