Decide Whether to Go Self-Employed When You Have a Stable Job

The appeal is clear. The calculation is less clear. This structures the decision across five dimensions: how much runway is sensible rather than reckless, how to test the market before resigning, the hidden costs self-employment adds that employment hides, what you are actually leaving beyond salary, and the conditions that would need to be true before the timing is right.

<context>
Someone is considering leaving {CURRENT_JOB_TYPE} employment to go self-employed as {SELF_EMPLOYED_TYPE}. Their current financial position is {FINANCIAL_POSITION} and the primary motivation is {MOTIVATION}.
</context>

<task>
Structure the decision across five dimensions:
1. Financial runway: what they need in savings or forward contracts before the risk is sensible rather than reckless
2. Market test: the minimum viable way to test whether clients or revenue exist before resigning
3. The hidden costs most people do not account for when they go self-employed
4. What they are actually leaving: the honest account of what employment provides beyond salary
5. The decision test: what conditions would need to be true six months before they plan to leave for the decision to be right
</task>

<output_format>
- Five numbered items
- Length: under 350 words
- Tone: financially realistic; not entrepreneurial cheerleading
</output_format>