One Day In A Life…
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Today was a significant day for me, one that I feel the need to journal about and what better place to journal then an online weblog! True this is an Internet business blog but it is also the blog of a person, Yaro Starak, and sometimes there are stories that need to be told and events that should be chronicled. Today is one of those days.
I’m sure you will concur with me when I say certain days are more significant than others. Events, like a new relationship or a new job, permanently change your life. The days preceding that day will be different to the days following it in a significant way. There will be new people, new activities and new experiences that you never did before that day, or you may completely cease doing certain activities or seeing specific people (the completion of your childhood schooling or university degree are prime examples).
If you plot your life on a timeline you will see that on a handful of days in your life certain things happened that changed you. The activities leading up to that day were largely the same, repetitive to a degree and then suddenly, on a specific day something changes that impacts a major part of the days leading after that event. Those days are turning points, major milestones that forever change the landscape of your life and alter your path. While the build up to milestone days may be long it’s usually the day itself that has the most impact on you. This is probably because as human beings we like repetition and consistency in our day-to-day to lives and when a day comes along that breaks the consistency you tend to remember that day.
One of the most important days in my life was when I bought a book called Teach yourself HTML in 24 hours. I spent the next few months in a deep and meaningful relationship with that book. It lead to two web design jobs at the University of Queensland, the creation of a hobby site MTGParadise.com and a web business BetterEdit.com. I lost that book one day shortly after breaking up with my first girlfriend. I was distraught because I had been dumped, depressed and lost, and an unfortunate victim of my hopelessness was my HTML book. I put it down in a bathroom to wash my hands while deep in sad thoughts about my ex-girlfriend and never thought to pick it up. I stumbled out of the bathroom in a stupor and the book was never to be seen again.
Last night I didn’t sleep well. I generally need at least 8 hours of sleep to function at peak performance and it’s important to get this sleep because otherwise my health starts acting up. I only managed about 6 hours of sleep because I was tossing and turning over a decision I was just about to make - to quit my casual job at the IT helpdesk at the University in Brisbane.
Over the past few months I’ve had thoughts in the back of my mind about making the decision to leave the job. Financially I’ve been in a position to quit for over a year because Internet business has been good to me and I have plans in motion to continue to grow this income. I feel relatively secure about my financial future. The problem has always been that my job is too good. For 80-90% of the time at work I could sit at a computer and write articles and work on my own personal online business projects. Every now and then I had to help people (the reason I was paid to be there) but generally I got “paid” to work on my own businesses, and not bad pay, around $22 an hour.
In the past few months my life has changed somewhat. I met girl (hi Kate!) that I have been spending some time with. I’ve been discovering a passion for writing, recording audio and teaching others about an Internet entrepreneurs life. I’ve talked to new friends about Internet business that share my passions and have never in my life felt more “right” about what I am doing for a job and were my future is.
On many a time walking home from work I have been thinking about all the things I wanted to get done; the websites I need to launch, audio to record, software I need to learn how to use and articles to write. One of the most important lessons I’ve learnt as a business owner is patience, I’m not 100% in zen with my patience but I’m a lot better than I was and most of the time I feel content with my progress. On Monday though I finally realised my job, regardless of how much “free” time it gives me to work on my projects, was standing in the way of my progress and slowing me down. It takes away a little bit of my freedom (I have to be somewhere at a certain time, not good for an entrepreneur that likes to work when enthusiasm takes hold), I can’t record podcasts or audio lessons, I can’t really process jobs or work on websites. It gives me the freedom to write articles and emails at work, which has been great, but now I want to devote myself 100% to the whole package and become completely devoted to my life as an Internet Business Entrepreneur.
Today I finally made the leap and quit. I am 100% dependent on my businesses for income (that’s a scary thought!) and I am so very excited about getting stuck in and really kicking some goals (quote Will Swayne for that phrase!). It took some thinking, some pondering, but really the choice was a no brain-er and now I can spend my time on growing my online projects. No doubt the pressure to maintain financial stability will be further motivation for me and as any entrepreneur that has ever quit his or her day job knows, there is no greater motivation than survival!
To you, my readers, this means you will see some of my new projects a bit sooner than I originally planned. I have another podcast website in the works, my whitepaper is almost complete (it will be free too!), I will now have time to further grow my online Internet business consultancy/coaching service and further down the track I have a course on creating website traffic in the works too. In the not too distant future the new BetterEdit.com will launch, which will be an interesting case study in changing a web business that currently relies on real world marketing to depending on online marketing instead.
While I never say never, I think this is the last time I’ll be quitting my job at the helpdesk (I left once before to travel to Tasmania but came back to the job a year later). It’s nice to know that job is there but this feels like the end of an era (I’ve been working there on and off for about 5 years). To my friends and co-workers some of which I will continue to see (Hi Alborz!) I wish you the best of luck and I hope you continue to enjoy working at the Library. I expect that my timeline will once again change from this day forward and the path I tread to the IT helpdesk won’t ever be walked the same way again.
Here’s to the day that every entrepreneur out there can quit their day (or night) job and do what they love.
Yaro Starak
Internet Entrepreneur
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Nice one Yaro.. Congratulations! I’m looking forward to hearing more about your achievements.
Thats so exciting! Congratulations. Another aussie full time online entrepreneur for me to hassle all day!
All the best with your new plans. Nice to see you have acted on your thoughts. believe me that needs guts. I just started to subscribe to your blog. And the first one I read - is this one. Hope to see more from you. I am also interested in starting something sometime. But working on something else and hence I completely understand what you are telling.
G’day Yaro, just popping by to say Congrats .. 100% dependent on Internet Business .. now there’s a dream for most of us!
Glad to see you have a woman (Hi Kate) to keep you sane as well, that’s always a plus!
Take care.
Hey Yaro,
So you finally quit! Nice, as you know I am thinking of doing the same soon too..
Hope everything works out.
Congratulations! I wish you well, happiness, success, fame and fortune.
I am also in your shoes. Or, I am in the shoes you once were. I am at this job which makes $30,000 a year. I am the sole web developer and other than that I am a graphic designer for this small company. I’d have to say that I am relied heavily upon, however the pay does not reflect this.
This garbage pay along with me having a few ideas which I would like to implement, on the web, has given me such an enthusiastic vigor which is making me want to quit this job and concentrate on my idea(s). I’m sure that many other people feel the same way, however it is a very tough decision; Occasionally, looking for new jobs can be tough and options may be limited. I plan on going in to renegotiate around the six-month time period from which I started however the outlook does not look good. My supervisor thinks my web job and graphic design job is a “cut and paste” job and mocks me when things take longer than she expects.
To make a long story short, I am unsatisfied with my job because I feel there is no possibility for growth. I do two jobs, of which, the national average for one is more than double what I earn. People may say experience, however I’ve been in corporate America for six years, of which four has been my profession. If there was room to move up, I would end up being more inclined about wanting to stay. If I was treated better and with more respect, same as well. Financial stability has been the main reason holding me back from giving the two weeks notice because currently, I could only meagerly sustain myself for about two months.
Do others fall into this same catagory? How do they handle it?
And Yaro, to get paid for something you wanted to do during someone else’s time is decent.
Congratulations Yaro! It takes guts to make the leap! Best wishes to you.
Hi Alexander - it appears you feel under appreciated and underpaid at your current job, perhaps this is a stronger feeling than the actual urge to start up your projects? I know sometimes the entrepreneur’s life can seem like a good way to get out of a life you don’t like at the moment.
If you are serious about starting your own business I suggest you start looking for contract/freelance work or a part time job, something that gives you enough to live off and opens up some time to start building a business.
Psychologically the financial stability issue is the hardest to get over but you will be surprised that once you take the jump how things work out. The worst case scenario is getting another job, the best case is leaving “work” forever.
And your quite right Alexander, getting paid to do something I enjoy as an employee is pretty darn good, but not nearly as good as running my own business ;). Freedom is the biggest goal in life - as an employee you are never truly 100% free.
Hey Yaro, I wanted to stop by and say good luck with your future projects. I hope to see some of them soon.
Hi Yaro & Gang,
Nice to see you quit your job and are focusing on your business ventures. The hardest thing for anyone is coming to a good decision.
I am currently working for a Software Company and learning a lot, that is why i stay doing what i do. Once i am not learning anymore i’ll move on. It also gives me the time to build the businesses i want to get started (ie softwaresquared). When they get bigger i’ll need to re-evaluate my situation but right now it works so i stay working and being a “Midnight Entrepreneur”. Soon enough i hope to change that and i am sure that i will. Cheers
Luc
Welcome to the “free” world, Yaro. You’re gonna love it!
“When you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, endeavor to live the life that you have imagined, you will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” (Hewnry David Thoreau)
I just blogged about freedom and the freelance life — including the not-always cheery results of a recent survey of freelance workers in NYC. It’s at: http://www.mainecreative.com/2005/09/free-as-in-freelance.html
While most of us who live in the “free” world think the drawbacks are outweighed by the freedom, it’s definitely not for everyone.
Well done Yaro. This is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. I think you were smart in that you worked hard to build up a base of business and then left, instead of the other way around. Good luck and I can’t wait to read (hear) about your accomplishements in the future.
Congrats and good luck. Looking forward to see your new projects.
Good on you!
Hey Yaro! Great to see you took the leap. Congrats! If I was in a day job I would probably do the same except for that I am a full time college student and can’t just walk out on this. Anyway, I look forward to seeing more of you!
Congrats Yaro!
Yaro,that is the only way to go.
Mark
Quiting a job can be an agonizing experience. Sleepless nights can follow wondering if you did the right thing. However, there are those rare individuals who would rather starve than work one more day for someone else.
I didn’t discover this for myself until I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. At first I was depressed. My mentor Leonard Manion explained to me that my depression was a form of grief over something I thought I had lost.
He then walked me through a process to discover exactly what I was grieving for? Was I grieving for the mornings that I had to get up at 4:00am to get ready to go to work? Was I grieving because I would no longer had to put my life at risk with morning rush hour traffic? Was I grieving for the loss of office politics? Was I grieving for a boss that didn’t appreciate my giving all I had to give? Was I grieving for my small paycheck with no opportunities to advance?
When he put it that way, I realized I had no reason to be depressed! That’s when I got off my butt and started doing what I love best! I now enjoy my work creating website graphics and other graphics for business. This is something I would have missed out on if I had never been disabled.
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