Starting a start up, from the start.

The job market defeated me, so I started my own company.

The bold idea? The perfect job? The lifelong dream? Many startups are born from one of these motivations. It may have been created around an idea for a product or service, it may have been an opportunity to develop your ideal job, it may have allowed you to ‘be your own boss’, it may have been a premonition, a path you always thought you were destined to walk.

For myself, it was born from a rather more realistic nature, although it has since developed into something that ultimately I am very proud of, and a decision that is beginning to feel justified.

After graduating, you are told the world is your oyster. You may conquer wherever you roam. The job market will welcome you with open arms, and shelter you from the nightmares of serving flat whites for £6-something per hour in that cafe you hated working in so much. The reality is very different. It greets you with a stern disapproving look rather than with open arms, judging your every decision and scrutinising your past, and in the end it happily lets you know somebody was better than you. It presents graduate jobs looking for x amount of years experience, (you have to wonder how this is meant to be gained coming fresh from university?) welcomes 1000’s of applicants per job post, offers internships with no form of income at all, in the most expensive cities of all… you get the picture. For many, the job market is difficult, daunting, and regularly defeating.

It defeated me, and after it did on a few occasions I began to doubt myself. The more this niggling self-doubt set in, the more I began to critique my portfolio of work. Rather than try to tart up what I had to show, to make it as glossy and appealing as possible, instead, I looked at other graduate projects, or scrolled through page after page of people’s amazing work, and wished all their projects could somehow become my projects. After too many hours with the internet and magazines, I concluded that by comparison, my work wasn’t up to the required standard to compete in the job market.

I saw no way to a career.

I didn’t fit the criteria for many jobs, I had developed a serious lack of confidence regarding my work, and I was in danger of drifting ominously towards a career in hospitality and days spent pondering on what could have been. Then, the lightbulb moment. It was time to start up a startup. This was my chance to reset what had been a relatively unenjoyable university learning experience, a chance to shape my future, a chance to do something I had a genuine interest in, but had never before had the drive to make it happen. In that moment, Roots Furniture was born.

I will fill in this gap, and the experiences within it at some point, but I have skipped to present day, two years or so on from that day, to reflect on the decision. It is hard to evaluate something that is effectively still in its youth, but some things I do know. Am I rich? Absolutely not. Successful? Far too soon to say. Did I get rid of that side job that I hated so much? Unfortunately not, although I am on reduced hours. In truth, it would be a lie not to admit there are still days where I wish I just had a 9–5 design related job, that would find my workload for me and provide me with schedules, targets and deadlines. Fuck, I still regularly glance at job sites, curious as to whether there is a better opportunity for me (again, I love to doubt myself).

It is not all doom and gloom, however, and there have been many positives gained from the experience. Further, I have learned an unbelievable amount, in terms of both life lessons and skills, and what I can say with certainty is that I have made steady progress, and as the projects and commissions continue to roll in, and the client list continues to expand, something that had started as a seed is now beginning to blossom. I am proud of what I have achieved so far with my startup journey, and although it wasn’t born out of a lifelong desire, or the golden ticket of ideas, and was more influenced by a desperate lack of opportunities, confidence and a fear of never realising my potential, I am beginning to believe it may have been the right choice all along.

My advice to others? It could also be the best decision for you. If the job market’s saving it’s open arms for everyone but you, give it the finger and start yourself a start up. You may never look back. (well, you won’t on good days.)