Odd how life works out. With me having a biz for 20 years, never had the plan to start one, other than a few fleeting thoughts about it. These thoughts came around when I was dealing with corporate kool-aid drinking or politics. Still never gave it serious thought. The risks seemed too steep. But, was laid-off with my 2nd job out of college when USA mfg went down the toilet and took another position at a young company expanding in my state. Right timing as the company grew and was promoted several times to the exec staff in the 14 years I was there.
Then the politics escalated, making me drink more kool-aid under a prez who was a lunatic. Go figure, the same guy I was once close friends with before he talked me into coming to work there. We vacationed together, got together for beers having a lot of fun. He gets promoted to prez and became a flaming cut-throat asshole developing a hate for me. Nice thing is he forced me out, after canning me didn’t work, giving a fantastic severance. And I wasn’t the only one. I believe a longer story here.
So then at 45, I’m settled in a brand new house we built, kids rooted in school and their activities, wife having a great job. What to do? Move? Then the thoughts got serious about starting a biz. The old saying is ‘not what you know, it’s who you know.’ THIS was all the diff btw making it work and not.
Couple years later at a retirement party encountered two people I had worked with who ‘aided’ in my departure. One says, “Gee heard about your business; must have took some guts to do that.” I replied “Guts had nothing to do with it. You can work your *** off working for a company and it all means nothing based on how much kool-aid you can tolerate, or if the company goes down the shitter. Totally out of one’s control. Just decided there’s no more risk working for another company as opposed to starting my own business. If it was going to fail, that’s on me with nobody else helping me – fail.” Wish I could have a photo of the puss on one of them when I said this, the dipshit that was most helpful with my demise. Same ***-kisser who I had talked the prez out of firing some years earlier.