Should You Quit Your Day Job and Jump Into Entrepreneurship?
I received a thoughtful, heartfelt email from a 24-year-old gentleman
a few weeks ago. In his email, he listed the books about
entrepreneurship he's read, the instructional videos he’s watched and
the inspirational events he’s attended. He had decided to quit his
corporate job at a large accounting firm in New York City, he told me.
He was ready to take a leap of faith. He wanted to become an
entrepreneur and invent products.
Boy, did his sentiments bring me
back. If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s because you made the decision to
be. Anyone who has dared to earn a living as a creative or who has taken
an alternative career path knows what I’m talking about.
Was he sure of where he was headed? No. But he was excited to find out. What did I advise?
For
years, I told my students, “Don’t quit your day job.” I thought it was
wiser to spend a lot of time studying an industry before committing to a
new venture, that identifying successful people and learning from their
experiences was essential. I thought it made sense to take advantage of
working in the field, maybe at a startup. That way, you could raise
your hand at every opportunity. Get your foot in the door. Craft a game
plan. Sure, doing those things would take time. But it would be worth
it.
I think that advice is fine, but maybe a bit conservative.
Here’s the problem: Collecting a steady paycheck is nice. You become
accustomed to a lifestyle. That lifestyle is harder and harder to walk
away from. Hustling takes courage.
When I was young and in my 20s,
I didn’t have much to lose. My nerves were less wracked. I was single. I
didn’t have a mortgage. I could try and fail and not that much would
change. Sometimes I slept on friends’ couches and ate beans and rice.
The years I spent selling my products on the street and at art fairs
were priceless because I learned so much.
But it’s when my back
was up against a wall that I was the most creative. When my wife left
her well-paying corporate job, we had three kids and a large mortgage.
The pressure was on. It was up to me to support us financially. I did
what I had to do.
So
what advice do I really have for this young man? I’m not sure. A better
question might be, what’s his tolerance for pain? Having a safety net
is nice. But if you get too comfortable, risks become harder and harder
to take. When you have less to lose, it’s much easier. I’ve known many
entrepreneurs to risk it all, and that is clearly not for everyone. So
what can you live with? What can you live without? What sacrifices are
you willing to make?
When my friends began buying houses and
driving nice cars, I was struggling. I remember telling them, “I’m the
richest man alive!” No, I wasn’t financially successfully. But I was
pursuing my dreams on my own terms. I was charting my own course.
An old friend visited me recently. He was amazed to discover I had achieved what I said I would.
He
said that back then, he thought I was out of my mind. But he gets it
now. I wasn’t the crazy one. He understood what I meant: That for some
of us, doing exactly what we want to do makes us the richest people in
the world.
I determined my advice is this: Seeing your dream come
to life is the most amazing feeling you will ever have. But don’t
sacrifice everything to achieve it.
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