I Left the Corporate World
I started to develop my online bookmark manager in part time in November 2014 and quit my job in September 2015. What happened during these 11 months? First of all I enjoyed how I progressed with the development and how much I learned every day. And I had a sense of achievement again. But unfortunately things in my daily job got worse, my frustration got bigger day by day (you can read about it in this blog post).
The 2 things that triggered to make the decision
My hobby project progressed well but it was not enough to compensate the frustration derived from my job. I wanted to work more on my own project and forget all the shit I had in the corporate. Being at my job for 9 hours each day didn’t make possible to work more than 3–4 extra hours per day and I felt this time was not enough. Unfortunately continuous frustration can lead to health issues. And this is what happened to me. I got sick, got mentally and physically tired and exhausted. By summer 2015 it become a pain and misery to wake up in the mornings and to drive to the office. And it didn’t change but got worse week by week. This was thing #1 that triggered the big decision. Thing #2 was my project itself. Bookmark Ninja got into a pretty good shape after 9 months of part time development. Also I got positive feedback from the people I showed Ninja, which was pretty inspiring. This was the moment when I first thought of making a product from my hobby project. But this is not possible if I do it only in part time. If I want to make a product in a reasonable time frame then it requires a full time engagement. I made the decision, in September 2015 I quit.
Responsibility
Your life is driven by your decisions. There are “small” decisions that have short term impacts and “big” decisions that have long term impacts. “Small” decisions are made pretty frequently, like every hour or minute. You decide which croissant you buy at the bakery, which clothes you put on in the morning, or you drink the coffee with or without milk. If you make a wrong “small” decision, it’s not a big deal. Next time you will buy the other croissant. Making “big” decisions comes with big responsibility. Deciding to leave your well compensated job and to become an entrepreneur is kind of a “big” decision that you don’t make often, especially if you have a family.
In terms of responsibility there were 2 things I seriously evaluated: I had to make sure I would be able to fund the upcoming 2 years including the family living cost and all the costs of the project (ads, promotion, IT infrastructure, software, SAAS services, etc.) I was lucky because mostly it could have been covered by our savings thanks to the high compensation package I had in the corporate. Additionally we cut the cost of all entertainments: we stopped going out to have dinner, stopped going to the movies, didn’t go on vacation but stayed at home during our holidays, started to purchase less expensive clothes etc. And here comes the other factor that I had to consider: the support of my family, the sacrifices they have to make. Because it’s not only me who makes sacrifices, but my family, too. They are also affected by the family cost cutting and choosing the entrepreneur life also means I can spend less time with them. Fortunately I get the maximum support from both my wife and son. If you don’t get this support, you cannot succeed in this journey.
What about plan B?
The question is whether you need to have a plan B if you decide to make such a big change in your life. I think it’s good to have kind of a plan B, but it’s not good if you spend too much time with thinking of it or if you start to work out the details of it. Optimism and hard work are the keys to run a successful business. If you are not optimistic then you already lost. My “kind of” plan B was very simple, go back to an employee position. It was only this, no details, nothing else. I love so much what I do now, I love the journey and I know that I will be able to make a successful business with the support of my family, so I will never need a plan B.
Corporate world vs entrepreneurship
Does it mean then that the corporate world sucks and everybody has to leave it? No. Absolutely not. Both the corporate world and the entrepreneurship has its pros and cons. People have different attitudes, different skills, different work life balance requirements. If safety, the regular, stable income and the carrier building are important for somebody then a corporate job position will be a better choice. If self-realization, independence, creative freedom and flexibility are more important for somebody, then becoming an entrepreneur is the way to go. There is no good or bad or better or worse. It depends on you which option will make you happy.
