So I am literally chapter one of the Millionaire Fastlane book. I went to college, got a degree, got a good job, got another degree, and started climbing the corporate ladder. I am really thankful for the career I have had and by all accounts I have done extremely well. I'm in management at a very large company... I'm responsible for $100 million in assets and about a $20 million per year business and dozens of folks... I know I am on a list of people who the higher-ups believe can make it into executive leadership one day... My salary is way into the six figures, house is paid off, everything is paid off, have a pretty good amount in the 401k.
But I'm miserable. First of all, things are very slow and laborious at big corporations. Without going into a lot of detail, I had managed to carve myself out a niche and more or less created my own business unit... it was fast paced and great, it pushed all of my entrepreneurial buttons as I had nearly full control and I got to do it with other people's money. I had always wanted to start my own business, so initially I viewed the job as the training wheels for that, but as time went on I found myself very content with the work because of the circumstances. Then one day everything changed. So they don't really explain this to you when you go into corporate America, but literally one day you can come in and find that your entire management chain has been let go or reorganized and you've been pushed into a new division with new constraints and new goals, all by people who may not have any knowledge of what you do whatsoever. That basically happened to me, and it was just soul-crushing. All of the connections I had made, the relationships I had fostered, the way we did business... gone in an instant. It was a real eye-opener to me... it reminded me that I had gotten complacent, that my goal has always been to own my own business so that I had ultimate freedom, and what happened at work was just a reminder that freedom was something I did not have and was but a mere illusion in Corporate America. So, I'm a survivor... I'm that guy you cannot keep down. I slushed through the mess and fought to restore sanity for myself and my team... I forged new alliances and in the process coming out of this mess, I think there will be newer and better opportunities for my team than ever before. I can see light at the end of the tunnel. But I want out... the last year has been a real eye-opener. I'm ready to own my own business.
I could really use some encouragement and positive feedback though. The reason being I am just so... exhausted and burnt-out. I can't explain the level of busy a job like mine makes a person. I literally have no time at all during the day to check email or maybe not even to check a text message I get. My current job is totally and completely consuming. Maybe there are some high level managers or executives out there that have a cushy job, but that is definitely not me. It's hard work. It's a grind. I get home and with the one or two hours I have left before I lose consciousness from the exhaustion I just don't have the energy to look into my own gig. I'm trying to do exactly that on the weekends when I have a little more time.
So two things... first, if you ever needed convincing corporate America might not be for you... just re-read this post, lol. Second, on that topic of burnout... I am fairly well convinced I can run just about any business at this point in my life. My problem is just a total lack of creativity... I used to have tons of ideas, but my current work is kind of zapping my brain and soul. I'm trying to get back into the groove by listening to tons of audio books, reading magazines, and things like that. I have considered that maybe I should just try to buy an existing business that is floundering but has a solid concept... I make enough that I could probably save up and do so. I don't know.
So anyway that's who I am and where my headspace is at. I've been lurking here for some time... are any of you or were any of you in a similar position to me when you joined-up here?
But I'm miserable. First of all, things are very slow and laborious at big corporations. Without going into a lot of detail, I had managed to carve myself out a niche and more or less created my own business unit... it was fast paced and great, it pushed all of my entrepreneurial buttons as I had nearly full control and I got to do it with other people's money. I had always wanted to start my own business, so initially I viewed the job as the training wheels for that, but as time went on I found myself very content with the work because of the circumstances. Then one day everything changed. So they don't really explain this to you when you go into corporate America, but literally one day you can come in and find that your entire management chain has been let go or reorganized and you've been pushed into a new division with new constraints and new goals, all by people who may not have any knowledge of what you do whatsoever. That basically happened to me, and it was just soul-crushing. All of the connections I had made, the relationships I had fostered, the way we did business... gone in an instant. It was a real eye-opener to me... it reminded me that I had gotten complacent, that my goal has always been to own my own business so that I had ultimate freedom, and what happened at work was just a reminder that freedom was something I did not have and was but a mere illusion in Corporate America. So, I'm a survivor... I'm that guy you cannot keep down. I slushed through the mess and fought to restore sanity for myself and my team... I forged new alliances and in the process coming out of this mess, I think there will be newer and better opportunities for my team than ever before. I can see light at the end of the tunnel. But I want out... the last year has been a real eye-opener. I'm ready to own my own business.
I could really use some encouragement and positive feedback though. The reason being I am just so... exhausted and burnt-out. I can't explain the level of busy a job like mine makes a person. I literally have no time at all during the day to check email or maybe not even to check a text message I get. My current job is totally and completely consuming. Maybe there are some high level managers or executives out there that have a cushy job, but that is definitely not me. It's hard work. It's a grind. I get home and with the one or two hours I have left before I lose consciousness from the exhaustion I just don't have the energy to look into my own gig. I'm trying to do exactly that on the weekends when I have a little more time.
So two things... first, if you ever needed convincing corporate America might not be for you... just re-read this post, lol. Second, on that topic of burnout... I am fairly well convinced I can run just about any business at this point in my life. My problem is just a total lack of creativity... I used to have tons of ideas, but my current work is kind of zapping my brain and soul. I'm trying to get back into the groove by listening to tons of audio books, reading magazines, and things like that. I have considered that maybe I should just try to buy an existing business that is floundering but has a solid concept... I make enough that I could probably save up and do so. I don't know.
So anyway that's who I am and where my headspace is at. I've been lurking here for some time... are any of you or were any of you in a similar position to me when you joined-up here?
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