Did I Make the Right Choice???
Today is the two-month anniversary of when I quit my job to run SportsLizard.com full time. For those of you who don't know my story, I graduated in 2004 with an engineering degree from RPI (top 20 school in my field) and had a good job as a quality engineer. Towards the end of 2005, I began to realize that for several reasons I could no longer travel down both paths - the entrepreneur path and the engineer path. So I made what most would consider a difficult decision, I quit my job.
The funny thing was, it wasn't a hard decision for me to make at all. Sure I would be losing my salary and benefits, but I would be gaining the opportunity to wake up every day and do what I love. How many people really get the opportunity to do that? Being 23 years old and single, I was able to quit the job and move back to NY to live with family without much hassle. The only thing I was really giving up was money, and we all know that money doesn't buy happiness.
Over the past two months EVERY SINGLE person I run into asks me how my business is doing and how I like being home. But it seems like most of them ask because they think that I made a knee-jerk decision that I'm going to regret. Call me crazy, but I can just tell by the way it rolls off their tongue. They NEVER would have "wasted" a degree from RPI the way I did. Whatever. Most of the time I just say "yes, it's going great" and smile because it's not even worth the fight.
Do I regret quitting my job? NO. AND I NEVER WILL. Do you know how I am so sure? Because each and every day I am thrilled to be living every single moment. I am fired up to get out of bed in the morning and I have trouble sleeping at night because I can't wait to get up and do it again the next day. I'm certain I never would experience that passion as an engineer in corporate America. Never - no matter how much money I made or what my status was. Never. There is no way that it can compete with the thrill of growing something from idea in your head to successful reality. I have a wall of various emails from satisfied customers that fires me up more than anything I'd ever get at a job. That's how I know.
Also, it shocks me how seemingly short sighted people are - there is no way that I won't be better off for my decision. If I stayed an engineer I can tell you exactly what my career path would have been. I'm sure that career path works fine for some, and I'm not saying everyone should do what I did, but I know that's not what I wanted and it wasn't the life I wanted to live. I want the life of an entrepreneur and now I am living it. Regardless of whether SportsLizard.com "succeeds" or not, I have already entered the life of an entrepreneur and I have no plan on leaving it. I'll do whatever it takes to continue this life. That might not seem "fun" or "stable" to others, but it is to me. Being an engineer is boring to me. I'm not saying you have to agree with me, but PLEASE respect that I feel like that.
So yes, I made the right decision.
The funny thing was, it wasn't a hard decision for me to make at all. Sure I would be losing my salary and benefits, but I would be gaining the opportunity to wake up every day and do what I love. How many people really get the opportunity to do that? Being 23 years old and single, I was able to quit the job and move back to NY to live with family without much hassle. The only thing I was really giving up was money, and we all know that money doesn't buy happiness.
Over the past two months EVERY SINGLE person I run into asks me how my business is doing and how I like being home. But it seems like most of them ask because they think that I made a knee-jerk decision that I'm going to regret. Call me crazy, but I can just tell by the way it rolls off their tongue. They NEVER would have "wasted" a degree from RPI the way I did. Whatever. Most of the time I just say "yes, it's going great" and smile because it's not even worth the fight.
Do I regret quitting my job? NO. AND I NEVER WILL. Do you know how I am so sure? Because each and every day I am thrilled to be living every single moment. I am fired up to get out of bed in the morning and I have trouble sleeping at night because I can't wait to get up and do it again the next day. I'm certain I never would experience that passion as an engineer in corporate America. Never - no matter how much money I made or what my status was. Never. There is no way that it can compete with the thrill of growing something from idea in your head to successful reality. I have a wall of various emails from satisfied customers that fires me up more than anything I'd ever get at a job. That's how I know.
Also, it shocks me how seemingly short sighted people are - there is no way that I won't be better off for my decision. If I stayed an engineer I can tell you exactly what my career path would have been. I'm sure that career path works fine for some, and I'm not saying everyone should do what I did, but I know that's not what I wanted and it wasn't the life I wanted to live. I want the life of an entrepreneur and now I am living it. Regardless of whether SportsLizard.com "succeeds" or not, I have already entered the life of an entrepreneur and I have no plan on leaving it. I'll do whatever it takes to continue this life. That might not seem "fun" or "stable" to others, but it is to me. Being an engineer is boring to me. I'm not saying you have to agree with me, but PLEASE respect that I feel like that.
So yes, I made the right decision.
posted by Adam McFarland at
3/31/2006 02:28:00 PM
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