Leaving Work With That Squeaky Clean Feeling
My last day with my current company is this Friday. I am going to follow Scott Hanselman’s advice regarding leaving your job with a “good feeling”.
However, I am going to add a couple of things:
1. Change all your work-related passwords to something generic in case you need to tell your former employer some password. This includes such things as the password you use to login to the work network domain. I do this so I don’t have to tell my employer password structures I normally use in everyday life.
2. If you have the means, create a generic administrator account for all of your computers, and tell your employer that account and password. That way they can log into your machines with that account instead of your domain account.
And, Scott, I am not really fond of my current employer’s office supplies, so I will not be taking any of that with me 
My problem is telling them I want to leave and run my own operation.
Ashley,
You don’t have to tell them you want to run your own operation. All you are “required” to do is give your notice. You don’t need to tell them why. I wouldn’t tell them you are starting your own business.