Quit Your Job And Follow Your Dreams: 3 Success Stories

Pursuing your dream isn't as easy as quitting your job and following your heart. Passion doesn't pay your bills or provide for your family, which is why many entrepreneurs hang on to the security of their 9-to-5 jobs during the difficult start-up phase.

But what happens when you finally hit the wall and realize, "I can't do this anymore"? Maybe it happens in your cubicle as you're counting down the hours until you can work on your product. Or maybe it happens on yet another business trip, a thousand miles from home, as you sit in a lonely hotel room, thinking about your family. Whatever the reason, it's this deciding factor that finally drives you to make that leap of faith.

Whether you've crashed through this wall or simply caught a glimpse of it in the distance, take heart. You, too, can pursue your entrepreneurial dream and finally cut the strings to your 9-to-5 life. Here's how three former 9-to-5ers reached their breaking points, found the courage to follow their hearts and left the corporate world to start businesses of their own.

From Ho-Hum to Yum
Thomas DeGeest, 38, was tired of his predictable life. After 12 years as a management consultant for IBM, the native Belgian was faced with a choice: continue the next 20 years in a predictable career or follow his entrepreneurial dream of sharing his favorite childhood treat -- authentic Belgian waffles. Now, instead of traveling the country in a suit and tie, he travels the streets of New York City in an apron, selling freshly made waffles out of a yellow mobile truck.