Hello all,
I've lurked these forums on and off for years. I'll take this opportunity to introduce myself a bit and rant about my life. This may not be too productive, but I think it may be cathartic to gather and express my thoughts. Entrepreneurship has always been at the back of my mind, so I feel like by putting this out in the world will help me to take some action. I'll take any advice as well, and I don't expect it to be sugarcoated
I'm 24 years old. I graduated university in 2017, and after working my regular summer job, I was looking for my first permanent job post graduation. I was "lucky" enough to get one after only a few months. This time job searching definitely gave me an appreciation for how soul crushing being unemployed can be. The days all start to blur together and it's really easy to get stuck in a rut. It's like the movie groundhog day, and I'm sure many others have things way worse than I ever did. However, after working my current job for over a year now...I wish I was unemployed again. Often on my morning commute I find myself repeating "I F*cking hate my life, I F*cking hate my life, I F*cking hate my life...".
In my current position it seems like no matter how much time I put in, it's never enough. This makes it hard to focus on other things in my life. I think this is partly due to my own shortcomings and partly due to the job itself. The person in the position before me had quit after 2 months for a job with better pay, the person before that worked the job for 3 years but was fired, and the person before that had a meltdown and quit from stress. Both the organization and workload has more than doubled in size since then. $48,000 CAD a year just isn't worth all the extra time I've put in. Deep down I believe I can manage it all, but what it comes down to is that I don't care enough. I basically haven't enjoyed a weekend, let alone a weekday, in over a year. I took a break from working on a work project today (a Sunday...) to sign up on here and post this.
With all that said, this job has taught me a lot. I've learned the importance of good habits (although I have a long long ways to go). I've always been a lazy person, and now I'm not afraid to put in the work. The problem is that all this effort is being directed into the black hole that is my shitty "9-5". I've learned how to manage my time better, how to communicate better, how to better deal with stress better, etc. Now the cons are outweighing the pros and I need to make some big life changes for the sake of my happiness.
I've always liked the idea of entrepreneurship. Of course, I realize it takes a lot more than this to actually get anywhere. I'm not sure I'm even worthy of being called a wantrepreneur. When I was around 5 years old I wanted to be an "inventor". In my early teens I got into coding, and I had dreams of releasing games and apps (this was around 2008 when someone could have made a fart app and it could make thousands of dollars). In a class assignment, I remember writing that my dream job would be "serial entrepreneur". I had some pretty solid game ideas and some pretty shitty website ideas throughout high school, but none of it mattered anyways because I wouldn't put the time in. As a side note, I never became really good at coding. It's something I've dabbled in as a hobby on/off throughout the years but I pretty much have nothing to show for it. With that said, I think I have what it takes to complete a coding related project.
When I was unemployed over a year ago, I did start working on a web project for a couple months related to teaching guitar. I believe I can offer a product that creates value for myself as well as beginner to advanced guitarists. I'm not sure that the market would be big enough to get me out of my day job though, so perhaps I should think bigger. $48,000 a year should be far from impossible to attain.
Basically I'm on the fence between hopeless depression and fiery passion. Now I need action. I got myself into this situation and I know I can get myself out. I feel more capable and confident in my skills than I've ever been, but there's a long ways to go. With that said, I don't really have a concrete plan. It's been a while since I've been on these forums so I'll have to do some focused searching.
Here are my thoughts off the top of my head:
Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm sure this can all be boiled down to the same story seen a thousand times on these forums. Any advice/direction is appreciated, but with that said, I don't expect to be spoon fed. Back to my 9-5 work project for now, but not for too long.
I've lurked these forums on and off for years. I'll take this opportunity to introduce myself a bit and rant about my life. This may not be too productive, but I think it may be cathartic to gather and express my thoughts. Entrepreneurship has always been at the back of my mind, so I feel like by putting this out in the world will help me to take some action. I'll take any advice as well, and I don't expect it to be sugarcoated
I'm 24 years old. I graduated university in 2017, and after working my regular summer job, I was looking for my first permanent job post graduation. I was "lucky" enough to get one after only a few months. This time job searching definitely gave me an appreciation for how soul crushing being unemployed can be. The days all start to blur together and it's really easy to get stuck in a rut. It's like the movie groundhog day, and I'm sure many others have things way worse than I ever did. However, after working my current job for over a year now...I wish I was unemployed again. Often on my morning commute I find myself repeating "I F*cking hate my life, I F*cking hate my life, I F*cking hate my life...".
In my current position it seems like no matter how much time I put in, it's never enough. This makes it hard to focus on other things in my life. I think this is partly due to my own shortcomings and partly due to the job itself. The person in the position before me had quit after 2 months for a job with better pay, the person before that worked the job for 3 years but was fired, and the person before that had a meltdown and quit from stress. Both the organization and workload has more than doubled in size since then. $48,000 CAD a year just isn't worth all the extra time I've put in. Deep down I believe I can manage it all, but what it comes down to is that I don't care enough. I basically haven't enjoyed a weekend, let alone a weekday, in over a year. I took a break from working on a work project today (a Sunday...) to sign up on here and post this.
With all that said, this job has taught me a lot. I've learned the importance of good habits (although I have a long long ways to go). I've always been a lazy person, and now I'm not afraid to put in the work. The problem is that all this effort is being directed into the black hole that is my shitty "9-5". I've learned how to manage my time better, how to communicate better, how to better deal with stress better, etc. Now the cons are outweighing the pros and I need to make some big life changes for the sake of my happiness.
I've always liked the idea of entrepreneurship. Of course, I realize it takes a lot more than this to actually get anywhere. I'm not sure I'm even worthy of being called a wantrepreneur. When I was around 5 years old I wanted to be an "inventor". In my early teens I got into coding, and I had dreams of releasing games and apps (this was around 2008 when someone could have made a fart app and it could make thousands of dollars). In a class assignment, I remember writing that my dream job would be "serial entrepreneur". I had some pretty solid game ideas and some pretty shitty website ideas throughout high school, but none of it mattered anyways because I wouldn't put the time in. As a side note, I never became really good at coding. It's something I've dabbled in as a hobby on/off throughout the years but I pretty much have nothing to show for it. With that said, I think I have what it takes to complete a coding related project.
When I was unemployed over a year ago, I did start working on a web project for a couple months related to teaching guitar. I believe I can offer a product that creates value for myself as well as beginner to advanced guitarists. I'm not sure that the market would be big enough to get me out of my day job though, so perhaps I should think bigger. $48,000 a year should be far from impossible to attain.
Basically I'm on the fence between hopeless depression and fiery passion. Now I need action. I got myself into this situation and I know I can get myself out. I feel more capable and confident in my skills than I've ever been, but there's a long ways to go. With that said, I don't really have a concrete plan. It's been a while since I've been on these forums so I'll have to do some focused searching.
Here are my thoughts off the top of my head:
- Read The Millionaire Fastlane (fully). I just dusted off my copy I had purchased around 2013. Of course I had never finished it, like with everything else in my life.
- Update my resume, tie up loose ends at my job, and get the F*ck out. That place is toxic for me. If I had a job with little/no overtime then I can focus more on other things. May be easier said than done. This is also the busy time of year which makes things harder. No excuses though.
- Make sure I make time for entrepreneurship every day. I'm not sure if I should set a certain amount of time (ex 3 hours). Making sure I do something every day (ex playing guitar, yoga) has helped me to develop good habits. This is something I've gotten a lot better at, but I definitely have a lot of room to grow. For now, I'm thinking the habit is more important than how much time I allocate, but maybe I should set a specific amount of time so that I can measure progress. Would it be beneficial to plan every hour of my day?
- Brainstorm 10 ideas every day. My guitar teaching project is what I'd most likely be working on for now. I think it's important that I have a finished project, so I'd like to set some milestones and deadlines in order to have a project ready for release in 3 months.
- Reduce bad habits. Video games, mindlessly browsing the internet, etc, are things that are still taking too much of my time and holding me back.
Anyways, thanks for reading. I'm sure this can all be boiled down to the same story seen a thousand times on these forums. Any advice/direction is appreciated, but with that said, I don't expect to be spoon fed. Back to my 9-5 work project for now, but not for too long.
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