A Note to Myself #1. A New Measure of Success

The other day, I was catching up with with another solopreneur about how our businesses were going. We were both rookie solopreneurs, so there was some income but not much - and we were mostly at the break-even point or at a loss, considering the "opportunity cost" of our well-paid full-time corporate jobs. Both of us consciously made this shift from the corporate jobs to entrepreneurship because we were passionate about our work. Therefore, there were no regrets for this decision; but we ended our conversation with a note of lamentation, "Oh, I wish it takes off soon!"

Coming out of that conversation, I thought about my perspective on evaluating my work as an entrepreneur now and how it hasn't changed much, although the work and the context around it changed dramatically compared to my job in the corporate. The external measure of success in the corporate job was mostly about the level of income and title/promotion. Finding the work or roles that let me use my strength and that satisfied my aspiration was important, but it remained as a "nice-to-have" measure of success, not a "must-have".

Now the situation is different. I get to choose how to spend my time. I get to focus on ideas that I am most passionate about and I decide the project scope and depth. I decide who to work with. I am conscious of what I do and how I work, because I can decide. I have a friend/family investor and I'd like to make a good stride with my work, therefore I am definitely committed to it. I have much stronger intrinsic motivation with my business than my corporate job, with more skin in the game, so to speak. It's completely different from how I worked in my corporate career.

Which tells me that I cannot apply the same measure of success as my corporate jobs. I may see some results but it's unlikely I'll know whether I would have a meaningful impact in a quarter or six months, like I used to with my corporate jobs. There is no raise (for a while) or a promotion. Ultimately, I might never make as much income as I made with my corporate job.

The tradeoff I made with this shift is the meaningful life. Meaningful because I am living in alignment with my values and intention. The value of being content, compassionate, courageous, peaceful, and full of love. The intention of creating a workplace of wellbeing so that the Gen Z and the next generation don't suffer anymore.

Thinking of this tradeoff I consciously made with my transition from the corporate job to my entrepreneurship, I feel satisfied and grounded that the price I am paying for this shift is making less money than I did before. The price tag of this tradeoff is much higher than my income and title. Sure, I will still be responsible to make a sustainable business for myself and others involved in this, and track my business financials and # of clients, etc. But they are not the main tracker of my business. The main tracker of my business is whether I am living my life in alignment with values and intention.

A Note to Myself: Remember WHY I made this transition and apply the new measure of success, not the old one.