Time To Cast Off
Entrepreneur, My Journey: Episode 1
I have been an entrepreneur for less than two years. I started two companies. The first one, started on my own, was closed after 6 months. The second one, founded with two business partners, turned over USD 700,000 in 12 months. But this is not the most important.
We certainly don’t consider that we made it. We just launched. We are not at the top of the mountain. We just started climbing. From the very bottom. The company is not even one year’s old. Everyday we put huge efforts into growing and building our business. Steady pace. Non-stop. Intense days. There is no end in sight. But we don’t care so much about the effort. We want our business to be successful, of course. But this is not our ultimate goal.
Serfdom
“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
For 18 years I worked in consulting. During the last 10 years I worked for the Advisory practice of a Big4 firm. For years I travelled to capital cities across the world on business. I lunched and dined clients in the best restaurants and fashionable bars. I attended countless business conferences in luxury city hotels and industry events in sun-drenched coastal resorts from Barcelona to Miami. I became a very well-paid Director in a prestigious professional services firm in London. I made more than 200,000 dollars a year.
I worked hard. I travelled too much. Very often I would head to the airport on Sunday evening to get a flight. I would catch up on emails and reports in the train and later in the business lounge. I would grab a few alcoholic drinks. Get on my flight. Arrive in the foreign city where my next work week would start. Jump on a taxi, check in my hotel, go to bed far too late.
Monday: wake up early, somehow tired, go down to the gym for 30 minutes, lonely breakfast catching on world news, quick Whatsapp video call with the family, and get on a taxi. Clients. Offices. Meetings. Conference calls. Calls. Emails, etc. The work day goes on.
On Wednesday late afternoon, it’s time to fly to the next city in another neighbouring country. Another taxi. Another airport. Another lounge. Another flight. And again, taxi, hotel check in, late un-healthy dinner, some alcohol involved, maybe meet some nice but boring colleagues. Make pointless conversation. Probably too many drinks. Go to bed too late. Wake up early. No way I can hit the gym. Lonely breakfast. Quick Whatsapp video call with the family. Etc.
It’s Friday afternoon, closing on calls, meetings, reports, emails, etc. Rushing to the airpot to catch my flight. This time heading back home! I count every hour, every step (taxi, airport check in, customs, security, etc.), I have mentally already left this place. Wherever I am now, I no longer care, I am heading back home.
Friday midnight, I am home. Finally. I unpack my suitcase. I kiss my family. I crash in my bed. Best place in the world at this very minute.
Saturday, usually exhausted but I still need and want to live my local life and spend time with family and friends. Gym, local shopping, dry cleaners, errands, late lunch, see some friends, maybe go out in the evening.
Sunday. Usually a half-day because soon in the afternoon, I will need to pack again. Because in the evening, I will be flying to the next foreign city where I will start my next work week. Etc.
Freedom
“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.”
Albert Camus
My thirties were ending. I was looking at my life. The big prestigious firm, the comfortable compensation, the constant business travel, the luxury hotels, the expensive restaurants, the resorts, etc, it all sounds pretty impressive and it looks like I was living a successful life. But I was certainly not.
I was successfully running in circles. Every work day was about justifying my compensation to my bosses, colleagues, to the firm, etc. Working in a large firm is not just about being a true professional, it’s also about being a great politician, a fine communicator. It’s like a great survival game. Enemies, allies, plots, propaganda, lies, treasons, smiles, fake fun, fake office friendships, etc.
I was not achieving anything. I knew it. I was just playing by the rule of the firm to survive in the firm. Ultimately I was working for the financial success of the firm. The firm owned me. It paid me really well but in return, the firm had almost full control of my entire life. The firm liked me but if one day the firm decided to get rid of me, it would do so. Nicely, but it would. I had almost lost control of my life. I was owned by the firm.
40 years old. A turning point where there are enough years behind you to look at what you have achieved with your life so far. And you also look ahead. You realise that in twenty years you will be 60 years old. Suddenly something happens. Call it a mid-life crisis. Call it whatever you want. A fundamental truth is realised.
I am standing in front of myself. I look at the next two or three decades of my life. And I ask myself a simple question: do you want to continue like this? Or do you want to re-take control of your life? Do you want Serfdom or Freedom?
Read the next story, Episode 2: Taking the Plunge
Entrepreneur, My Journey
Read Episode 1: Time to Cast Off
Episode 2: Taking the Plunge
Episode 3: Christopher Columbus
Episode 4: The Dark Night
Episode 5: Deep Breath. No End in Sight
Episode 6: Go alone, go fast. Go with others, go far.
Thank you for reading. I just want to share my journey as an entrepreneur as my story may help someone who is going through a professional life crisis or who simply has questions about what to do next. I have always fed on stories from others to help me in life. I hope I can help someone with my story.
Jason
