THE EXIT PLAN
When Work—or Life—Changes, Know What to Do Next.
Maybe the change chose you. Maybe you're ready to choose something different. Either way, you don't have to figure everything out at once.
The Exit Plan is Everyday Werk's practical framework for protecting yourself and what you've built, stabilizing your finances, creating income and deciding what comes next.
More options. More breathing room. A plan for what's next.
You Don't Have to Start at the Beginning
Life doesn't always happen in neat steps. Neither does an Exit Plan.
You may need to protect something today, stabilize your finances tomorrow and start thinking about new income next week. Or you may be here before anything has happened—because you're ready to build enough breathing room to make a change on your own terms.
Start with the part of your Exit Plan that needs your attention now.
PROTECT
Protect yourself and what you've built while you get your bearings.
Your peace of mind matters, too. Protect your ability to make thoughtful decisions along with the benefits, documents, deadlines, relationships and resources you may need later.
STABILIZE
Understand where you stand and create some breathing room.
Know what's coming in, what's going out, what you have available and how much is actually uncovered so you can make decisions from numbers instead of fear.
EARN
Bring money in while you determine what's next.
Explore quick cash, bridge income and opportunities that could become something more—without assuming another full-time job is the only answer.
PIVOT
Explore what your experience could become.
Look at your skills, experience and options differently. Another job may be right. So might consulting, contract work, a new industry, a business or something you haven't considered yet.
BUILD
Make yourself less financially fragile next time.
Rebuild the cushion, strengthen savings and retirement, reduce financial pressure and develop more than one way for money to come in.
CHOOSE
Use the options you've built to design what comes next.
Move beyond reacting to what happened and begin deciding how you want to work, earn, live and use your time.
Start anywhere. Come back whenever your situation changes.
Need Breathing Room? Start Here.
Know Your Numbers Before You Make Your Next Move
When income changes, the first question can feel enormous:
How am I going to replace my paycheck?
Start smaller.
First, understand how much financial breathing room you have. Then find the amount that's actually uncovered.
Those two numbers can turn a vague financial fear into something you can begin working against.
HOW MUCH TIME DO I HAVE?
Calculate Your Financial Runway
Your Runway Number estimates how long your available transition resources may cover the portion of your essential expenses that isn't already covered by reliable income.
It isn't a countdown clock. It's a decision-making number—one that can help you understand how much breathing room you have and what might extend it.
HOW MUCH IS ACTUALLY UNCOVERED?
Calculate Your Cash Gap
Your former salary isn't necessarily the amount you need to replace right now.
Your Cash Gap shows the difference between your essential transition expenses and the reliable income already coming in—giving you a real number to start working against.
And remember:
Your Cash Gap is a bridge number, not your worth number.
YOUR EXIT PLAN NUMBERS
RUNWAY
How much breathing room do I have?
CASH GAP
How much is currently uncovered?
TIME TO CASH
How quickly can an opportunity turn into usable money?
FREEDOM NUMBER
What does the life I actually want next require?
RUNWAY GAP TIME TO CASH FREEDOM
First, understand where you are. Then start creating options.
Need to Do Something Today?
DAY TWO
Stop the Financial Bleeding
Start with the recurring expenses leaving your household. Look for what you can cancel, pause, downgrade or renegotiate now while the bigger questions are still taking shape.
This isn't your entire financial plan. It's financial triage—a practical way to create a little more breathing room today.
Find the Part of Your Exit Plan You Need Now
You don't have to complete these stages in order. Use them as a framework for finding the questions, tools and ideas that matter most right now.
PROTECT
Protect yourself before you start solving everything.
When change happens, your first job isn't necessarily finding another job.
It may be protecting your peace, your confidence and your ability to think clearly. It may also mean understanding benefits, saving information you're entitled to keep, watching important deadlines and protecting the resources you've already built.
The first thing you may need to protect is yourself.
STABILIZE
Turn uncertainty into numbers you can work with.
Understand what your household needs, what resources are available and what income is already covering.
The goal isn't to make your life as small as possible. It's to create enough clarity and breathing room to make thoughtful decisions about what comes next.
EARN
Keep money moving while you figure out what's next.
You don't necessarily have to wait until the severance is gone, the savings are low or the perfect job appears before bringing money in.
Explore ways to create quick cash, bridge income and income that has the potential to become more consistent.
Some opportunities may help once. Some may repeat. Some may grow.
The question isn't only:
How much can this pay?
It's also:
How quickly can this turn into usable money—and can it happen again?
PIVOT
Ask what your experience could become.
Another job may be the right next move.
But this stage gives you permission to ask a bigger question:
Do I want another version of what I had—or do I want something different?
Explore transferable skills, new industries, consulting, contract and fractional work, entrepreneurship, AI-enabled opportunities and other ways your experience might create value.
Your next chapter doesn't have to look like your last one.
BUILD
Make the next disruption less powerful.
Once the immediate pressure begins to ease, start strengthening the foundation underneath you.
That might mean rebuilding emergency savings, paying down debt, restarting retirement contributions, reviewing insurance or developing additional income streams.
The goal isn't to predict every disruption.
It's to give the next one less power over your choices.
CHOOSE
Build toward a life with more options.
Eventually, the question changes.
It isn't only:
What do I need to get through this transition?
It becomes:
What do I actually want the next version of my life to look like?
Maybe that's another leadership role. Maybe it's consulting. A business. A portfolio career. Working less. Traveling more. Preparing for retirement. Or simply having enough financial flexibility to say no when something no longer fits.
This is where we'll eventually move beyond the Cash Gap and toward your Freedom Number—what the life you actually want next requires and what combination of income and resources may help support it.
Four Numbers Can Change the Way You Think About What's Next
You don't have to solve your entire future at once.
Start with the number that answers the question in front of you.
RUNWAY
How much breathing room do I have?
Estimate how long your available resources may cover the portion of your essential transition expenses not already covered by reliable income.
CASH GAP
How much is currently uncovered?
Identify the difference between what your household needs during this transition and the reliable income already coming in.
TIME TO CASH
How quickly can an opportunity turn into usable money?
Evaluate earning opportunities not just by what they promise, but by how quickly they can realistically put money in your hands.
FREEDOM NUMBER
What does the life I actually want next require?
Move beyond the immediate transition and begin defining the income, resources and flexibility that could support the life you're building toward.
RUNWAY GAP TIME TO CASH FREEDOM
Bridge the gap when you need to. Build the cushion when you don't.
You Don't Have to Wait for Something to Happen to You
The Exit Plan isn't only for the day a job disappears.
Maybe you're burned out.
Maybe you're wondering whether you can afford to leave.
Maybe retirement is getting closer.
Maybe you want to consult, build a business, work differently or stop depending on one paycheck for everything.
You can start building options before you need them.
An Exit Plan can begin before an exit.
And sometimes the most powerful time to create breathing room is while you still have some.
More options. More breathing room. A plan for what's next.