That's the response I usually got from family and friends when I talked about leaving my day job to become a full-time freelancer. So I put it off.

But after thee years as a smoking cessation counselor and researcher at Harvard Medical Center, I knew I needed to leave academia. The work was boring. The people were toxic. The egos were huge. And it never seemed like any of my patients ever quit smoking.

I did. So I started freelancing on the side.