Week 1 of Being An Entrepreneur: I Quit My Job, Now What? (The Day-to-Day of a New Entreprenuer)
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Week 1 of Being An Entrepreneur: I Quit My Job, Now What? (The Day-to-Day of a New Entreprenuer)

As you may or may not know, last week I left my corporate job.

The stable paycheck…?

The benefits…

The people…

All in order to start my own business!

This is a scary endeavor. Some find it inspirational, some think it’s a horrible idea (I had a family member literally text me, “You are going to regret leaving your job”). However, win or lose, I have no real fear of failure.?

Why?

I think Sarah Blakely, the founder of Spanx, said it best.

I saw a video this morning from her on Instagram where shared a story from her childhood. As she was growing up, her father would go around the dinner table and ask each of his kids what they failed at that week.

Why?

He did this to show that failure is not a result of not achieving the desired outcome, but rather not trying in the first place.?

WOW!?

Did you catch that? If you don’t try to achieve your big, scary dream, that is failure. You’re failing before you even start!

I share this because that’s my mindset. It’s scary to leave my secure corporate job. Trust me, making consistent income is nice. Working with amazing people is great. Heck- I had a good career trajectory! My previous employer, Gartner, is fantastic at giving promotion opportunities and enticing people to stay and grow at the company.

But do you know what’s scarier than giving up all that?

Looking back in life and knowing I could’ve done more.?

There’s a song by The Struts called “Could Have Been Me.” The first chorus and second verse wrap up my mindset very well:

I wanna taste love and pain
Wanna feel pride and shame
I don't wanna take my time
Don't wanna waste one line
I wanna live better days
Never look back and say
It could have been me
It could have been me, yeah

Don't wanna wake up on a Monday morning
The thought of work's gettin' my skin crawlin'
I can't fear you, I don't hear you now

Wrapped in your regret
What a waste of blood and sweat
Oh oh-oh



Why am I writing all of this? A couple reasons:

First off, I want to inspire you to dream big and be fearless in chasing your goals. Your goals- your dreams- are important. God gave you passions and dreams to pursue and it is your job to pursue them.

Second, I want to show you the mindset and process of an entrepreneur. I’m not just trying to have a small business, but I want a company I can pass down to my children and my grandchildren. Building that company will be a challenge, but I want to give you a week by week update in how building it works.?

With that, you’ve already seen some of my mindset. But there is something that drives me more than the above…

My mindset is bigger than me:

There’s another part to all of this. It’s not just about these internal motivators that pushed me to start my own business.?

There’s something much bigger than all of this.?

I’m not sure where where you land on your belief in God, but I believe that God has a design and a plan for each of our lives. Prior to putting in my 2 weeks notice to Gartner, I prayed hard for direction.

I prayed for literally years.?

Even when I started my job in 2019, I knew Gartner was a temporary employer for me and I started praying for direction for my next step in 2020. But as I kept praying, I could feel God just continuously saying, “Wait. Be patient. Trust me. Don’t leave Gartner yet.”

But that message changed. As crazy as it sounds, in October or November of 2021, I felt a change in God’s answer to me. It changed from “Wait” to “Things will change at the end of February or mid-April.”?

February rolled around at Gartner, and I could tell things were changing. While I won’t go into details, I looked at my bank account, and realized I had enough money to survive for a bit…

So I prayed. I asked God, “This could be a good time to go start my business- should I do it now?”?

I opened up my Bible to Psalm 15 and 16. I won’t quote all of it here, but Psalm 15 lists out things people should and should not do to worship God. Then very 6 ends with, “The one who does these things will never be shaken.” In that moment, I felt God was saying, “Ted, just focus on worshiping me.”

Then I read Psalm 16. Again, I won’t quote the whole chapter, but certain verses stood out to me:

Verses 1-2: Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides you.”


Verse 5: “Lord, you are my portion and my cup of blessing; you hold my future.


Verse 8: “I always let the Lord guide me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”


I read that last verse and prayed again, “Should I leave to start my business?”

I felt God saying, “Ted- I don’t care what you do! Just trust me and focus on me!”

God didn’t need to say anything else! Self-employment, here I come!

Transitioning into Self-Employment

Prior to actually leaving my job, I started talking to mentors and trusted advisors to understand how I could go about starting my business. Unfortunately, because of my employment contract, I couldn’t start my business while at Gartner, but I could if I left. So… I left!

I had to get a few things together prior to leaving though:

  1. Contacts: I wanted to develop relationships with potential partners and customers so that I could hit the ground running the moment I became self-employed.
  2. Business plan: The day before I put in my 2 weeks notice, my dad called to ask if I was quitting my job. He asked, “Do you even have a business plan together?” While I didn’t, I did have my go-to-market strategy together- which might even be more important.?
  3. Personal financial analysis: This is probably the most important tool you need when leaving your job. You need to know “If I left my job today, how long can I survive before I have to go back to having a normal 9-5?”?
  4. Mentor/Coach/Advisor: You need someone to guide you in developing your business. My advisor is incredibly helpful and I could not be where I’m at without him. Heck- 4 years ago, he told me to “Shut down my business and go to a big company to get paid to learn sales.” Doing that was the Best. Decision. Ever. And if I didn’t have him to guide me, I would never have done that.

Being An Entrepreneur is Hard- Here's Why:

Ok, people say, “Being an entrepreneur is super difficult!” And it is honestly, but I’m not sure if anybody talks about why it is… So here is my perspective:

  1. You have to deal with the normal job stuff. Like, if you’re an account executive at a big corporation, you have to hope your clients don’t leave. Otherwise, you make less commission. Well- that’s VERY relevant to entrepreneurs. You have to HOPE your clients don’t leave, otherwise you’re making less- but instead of making less commission, you’re making less money in general.
  2. Money: Especially when you’re starting out, you don’t know where your next check is coming from. You’re trying to land your first client. Money is nonexistent, except for what you have in your savings. That stress is difficult.
  3. Direction: You have to know what activities you need to prioritize, what you need to outsource, and who you need to hire. You need to understand based financial statements, deal with legal stuff, and get the right people on your side. You have to know what to do on a day to day basis in order to push your business forward. You have to figure a LOT of stuff out (what will my product look like? What do my customers need? How will I position it to them? How will I market my products? How much of my time should I dedicate towards marketing my products versus building my team versus dealing with administrative activities versus… you get it).
  4. Focus: This is really difficult for many entrepreneurs. Why? Because so many of us are ADD! We get so very distracted so very easily!! Isn’t that fun? New opportunities come up that seem exciting and we have to say, “No.” People see you’re self-employed now and they want to pull your time in different directions. You know what you have to say? “No!” You have to say, “No,” to Netflix, video games, scrolling through social media, and all sorts of other stuff.
  5. Balance: I don’t even have a family yet and this is a challenge for me! Balancing life with your business feels borderline impossible. How do I take care of myself? How do I balance working out with my business? How do I balance a social life when I’m always thinking about my business and what I can do to push it forward? How do I balance my relationship with God when my business is always calling my name?
  6. Flexibility: You YouTube entrepreneurs say, “I became self-employed to get my time back!” But what really happens is you now have flexible time. You can spend your time any way you want to! Literally. You can do NOTHING all day. Or you can do A LOT all day. It’s all up to you. You are SUPER flexible! And this flows into my 1 week review. Look at my Friday and Monday schedules…

What I did in Week 1 as an Entreprenuer:

I want to give you a clear lens into my life:

  • Wednesday, March 2nd: I met with 2 companies, 1 client and 1 prospect. Both meetings went super well!
  • Thursday, March 3rd: I recruited my first team member, reached out to potential marketing partners, and started work on my proposal.
  • Friday, March 4th: Today was rough. I had a meeting about a new opportunity in the morning, then a wedding to go to. I was so distracted and stressed about my business while I was at the wedding that my girlfriend and I left early (sorry Dan). This is where flexible time go the best of me.
  • Saturday, March 5th: Honestly, not sure what happened this day. I had a great meeting with my advisor about how to create a great proposal. He sent me a podcast to listen to on the subject and it took me all day to listen to that 30 minute podcast. Remember what I said about Focus being a challenge? Yep.
  • Sunday- I take Sundays off the best I can.
  • Monday, March 7th: And this is where health, focus, and flexibility really all took a toll on me. First off, I slept in way too late! I had a team meeting at 10 and I woke up at 10!! Oof. Can’t let that happen again! Second, I had pizza for lunch. Should be fine right? Except the grease was so much that my head then felt weird for the rest of the day. And this led into the third part- I couldn’t focus at all! I kept getting distracted and my brain worked so slowly.
  • Tuesday, March 8th: On Tuesday, I felt a lot better, but again slept in too late, had pizza which made me feel bad, and kept getting distracted with TV in the background as I worked on a proposal and stuff for my client.

Isn’t that hard to read? Oof.?

Being an entrepreneur- especially an ADD entrepreneur- can be difficult. But at the same time, if it’s truly what you want to do, go for it when you’re prepared. Failure is not defined by your outcomes, but by your willingness to try. And if you’re willing to try and constantly improve to make each week just a little better, eventually your business will great!

Michael Ferrara

?????Trusted IT Solutions Consultant | Technology | Science | Life | Author, Tech Topics | My goal is to give, teach & share what I can. Featured on InformationWorth | Upwork | ITAdvice.io | Salarship.Com

9 个月

Ted, thanks for sharing!

回复
Alison Brewer

Strategist, Global Learning & Enablement - GTM Leadership Enablement

2 年

Can't wait to follow this! Congrats!

Dr. Reggie Thomas

Keynote/Motivational Speaker / Professional Development Trainer / People Management Consultant / 2 x Best Selling Author

2 年

Ted, I’m a 1985 Union grad. I did the same thing 2 years ago and becoming an entrepreneur has been the most thrilling and rewarding season of my professional career. Congrats to you and much success and many blessings in your new venture.

Dub Oliver

President at Union University

2 年

So excited for you, and so proud of you! Press on!

Jeremy Merrell Williams

I Launch & Scale Premium Brands with a laser focus on Customer Acquisition and Brand Management. Luxury | Beauty | Fashion | Tech are our playground. Let’s elevate your vision. DM me. Let's go. ????

2 年

Entrepreneurship is the most pure and satisfying state of existence. If you believe in yourself against all odds and stay ambitious, you will win. This is a mindset that must be cultivated and it starts with having faith in yourself. You must have a strong work ethic and be willing to grind out the hours necessary to achieve success. In addition, you must be resilient and persevering, because there will be times when things don't go your way. But if you stay focused on your goals and continue to hustle, you will eventually reach your destination. So, if you're looking for a more fulfilling life, entrepreneurship is the answer.

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