I miss my corporate job (as an entrepreneur)
Have a glimpse of business life for those who want to start and a nostalgic throwback to those who already did.
The transition from being a corporate slave to a hopeful entrepreneur is something I’ll forever be grateful for.
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies. Quite the opposite, this side often feels like it’s constantly on fire.
Can’t picture it? Here’s a meme that perfectly sums up our lives as business owners:
As the head of our company, I have no choice but to have the strongest mental fortitude.
Since I’m human, sometimes I’m not as strong as I should be.
Sometimes…
I miss my corporate job because then, I have a manager
I’ve worked under great, average, and bad managers.
Like them or hate them, they all have one thing in common (and something every corporate worker should take advantage of): ‘Forced Accountability.’
If you feel lost and don’t know what to do, ask your manager.
If you face a hard decision, let your manager decide.
If the decision goes against the company’s goals, it’s your manager’s fault.
As a corporate worker, you can surrender accountability to your manager—all the time.
Once you start your own business, things change. You have no one to blame but yourself.
If you feel lost and don’t know what to do: Look at your company’s ‘evergreen’ metrics to find your way back.
If you face a hard decision: Choose the one with lower risk and higher reward.
If you make the wrong decision: Move on, move forward, and fix it, hoping it’s reversible.
All the rights and wrongs fall on you.
You have everything to gain—and everything to lose—at the same time.
At the end of the day, you’re forced to be accountable for your company because no one else will be.
Heavy is the head that wears the entrepreneurial hat
I miss my corporate job because then, my routine was followed.
Every morning at 8:00 am, my alarm goes off, signaling me to stand up and head to work.
By 10:00 am, I’m already at my desk, sipping the free cup of coffee the company provides.
I’ll check our CRM and review the tasks my manager assigned to me. (In a BPO setting, we call them ‘tickets.’)
I’ll get in the zone, eyes glued to my screen, until my noon alarm reminds me to take my lunch break.
By 1:00 pm, I’m back at my desk, once again glued to the screen, hoping to finish all the tasks assigned to me.
By 7:00 pm, my shift is done. I’ll commute back home and do what my remaining energy allows me to—whatever that may be.
From the moment you wake up until you close your eyes, everything goes as planned.
Wake up. Work. Eat. Work. Sleep. Repeat.
All of this changes once you start a business.
The purpose of an alarm becomes obsolete (I haven’t used one to wake up in 2 years).
Your body will wake on its own once it knows it has replenished enough energy to get through the day
The taste of coffee becomes irrelevant (I’m working on this) as you only see the drink as fuel to keep you going.
Your CRM is now your daily checklist prepared the night before, to guide the following day (only to realize the same thing will happen today as it did the days prior): Nothing will go as planned.
Your hands will spend more time glued to the fire extinguishers you use to put out the flames your business inevitably spreads.
You lay in your bed only to realize you can’t sleep because you’re dying of starvation.
So much work done, yet so much still to be done.
Entrepreneurship is a world where date and time are just numbers that pull you back to life and out of work.
Entrepreneurship is independence taken to the farthest extreme.
I miss my corporate job because then, I felt I was not alone
At work:
I had workmates who understood my pain and suffering.
The pain of having a boss who was less technical than me.
The suffering of helping a company earn more while my paycheck stayed the same.
After work:
I had friends who faced similar obstacles:
How to commute back and forth every day.
How to pay the bills.
How to get a house.
Almost everyone could relate to me, and almost everyone could understand, because I was doing exactly what everyone else was doing: surviving
In business, you’ll feel like you’re all alone. (Heck! that’s why I started this newsletter.)
At work:
Your workmates become your employees. There’s a lot you know that they don’t need to.
You are the boss they believe they know more than you.
You are the biggest beneficiary of the company’s success, yet its only victim during times of failure.
After work:
The friends you once had are still tackling the same obstacles you used to face:
While they’re struggling to commute, you’re worried about how to afford fixing the company car that broke down two weeks ago.
While they’re struggling to pay household bills, you’re figuring out how to cover payroll and commercial space rent.
While they’re struggling to get their housing loan approved, you’re looking for ways to grow your business using its own cash flow.
While everyone else is doing the same thing, you’re doing something entirely different.
Did you leave them behind, or did they choose not to come with you?
Why entrepreneurship then?
My answer here is simple.
You can’t be part of the top 1% if you’re doing the same thing as the bottom 99%.
If you’re planning to start a business or already have, I want you to know you’re not alone.
You’re in that awkward in-between phase—where you’ve left your past life behind but haven’t yet reached the place where those you aspire to be like are waiting.