About Me — Sweta Sharma
My story of leaving a toxic job and becoming a solopreneur
Hey!
If we’re crossing paths for the first time, I’m Sweta. I live in India with a lovely family.
My professional journey started in 2014, when I joined a publishing house as an editor. My first salary was ₹15,000 ($179). Honestly, my first (and hopefully last) job at 19 was a real learning curve.
I had no idea how to write or edit books; I picked it all up on the job.
There was this lady named Maya (name changed for privacy) who was my senior. She’s an absolute gem when it comes to teaching people the right way, and I’ve learned most of the basics of my field from her.
As I mentioned, I was a total newbie with no prior internships or experience, so stepping into my first job was like diving into the deep end. It was a reality check in every sense of the word.
One of my colleagues, like the villain in the story, was too obsessed with me, or rather, I’d say he likes to tease people in the best way possible.
Let me tell you about a brief incident that happened to me as a fresher.
I think it was one week after I joined the company. My senior, Maya, shared a PDF with me, and she told me to print it out. But I didn’t know how to do it, so I went to that guy and asked him for help.
He came over with his usual arrogant tone, hit the print command, and left without a word. As he walked away, his attitude spoke volumes, and I to date remember what he said while leaving —
“I don’t know how they fill up such people in the office, they don’t even know how to get a printout.”
I was just 19, clueless about how to handle such harsh words.
That evening, I replayed the encounter in my mind countless times, trying to make sense of it all. Eventually, I resigned myself to the idea that perhaps this is just how the corporate world operates. I took a sigh and joined the office again the next day.
This went on, but I figured out what needed to be done on my side.
I acknowledged that my lack of knowledge wasn’t anyone’s fault but mine. And that just flipped all the things in my head. I started working hard and took everything as it came.
While I may or may not have been the top performer in the office, I can proudly say that I was a sincere and hardworking employee, and that dedication truly paid off.
Fast-forward, and I became the head of my department. I learned a lot on that job. Life was good, with its usual ups and downs, and then COVID-19 came out of the blue.
Like everyone else, it was a whole new experience for me.
Suddenly, there was this whole work-from-home thing, keeping systems running and working beyond regular office hours. It was a lot to take in, but we all learned to deal with this in our own ways.
I discovered Pinterest during the lockdown. Even though I’ve always loved my job and my team, I decided to try something new. Pure instinct-based decision! I started posting random content on Pinterest with no idea of what to post, how to design it, or anything else. (It was a part-time thing for me!).
But the initial pin I created gets no engagement. Why should it? There’s nothing in it that can catch people's attention. It has to be catchy, and the only way to do so is to enhance my skills.
Anyway, I kept posting content that felt relevant to me back then. After posting consistently for a few weeks, I started noticing positive results.
The screenshot isn’t very clear, but I crossed my first 7K monthly views on Pinterest that day, and my brother, whom I call ‘Minjhiya,’ said some really motivating words to me.
By the way, he’s the only one who knew I was working on this side hustle. To make this win more special, we went to a little success party. I have this single photo of that day!
From that day onwards, I started taking Pinterest seriously. Growing on Pinterest requires skill, at least at the basic level, which can be improved. But, as I didn’t have prior experience, my skills weren’t good enough.
In fact, my design skills were HORRIBLE. Even though I was using Canva, I still couldn’t hook people’s attention with my designs. The only solution I could think of was the same one I applied when that guy in my office criticized me: work on your skills.
Improving skills takes time, and when you have a 9–5, making time for something new could be a bit challenging. But challenges eventually help you grow. I started squeezing every second of my free time.
I began waking up early to watch YouTube tutorials, then I’d go to work. During lunch, I’d watch more tutorials, and after leaving work around 7–8 due to overtime, I’d practice designing.
There were days when I missed my practice because my work schedule was too hectic, but I somehow kept on learning. Day by day, week after week, my design and content-creation skills were improving.
I also discovered other passive income streams, which I’ve shared here.
I kept creating content, whether it was good, bad, or ugly, and suddenly, I realized that I’d created 8,000 pins all by myself. That was a massive win for me because I was working full-time.
I’ve literally compared my first and 8000 pins, and I can say for sure that consistency pays off.
All you need to do is to put your head down and focus on the work that you’re doing.
That’s the only way to make it happen. At least, I’ve realized that from my experiences. The journey, which started with 7k Monthly views, has reached more than 4 million views in a single day without any paid ads.
I was growing my side hustle, but things at work started taking a turn for the worse. I can’t share all the details, but 2023 was the hardest year of my career. Despite my efforts to stay calm, the situation continued to deteriorate.
The final jolt came in the form of two major incidents…
Incident 1: The company hired a new lady named Mambo (name changed for privacy; also, she wasn’t the only one responsible for my resignation; there were a bunch of other people involved, too). I won’t get into the full story of what happened over the past two months with her; I’ll come straight to the point. One evening, I was completely tired because of constant deadlines and a lot of stuff that was going on in the office.
I was also on my period, and the first 3 days were too hectic for me every time. I have a lot of mood swings, abdominal pain, I just can’t explain how weak I feel in those days, especially physically.
When the clock struck 6, I was desperately waiting to leave my office. I went to the loo and came back to pick up my bags. Midway, the pantry in charge informed me that Mambo was calling me.
I said OK. I went inside her cabin, and she just started talking. She even warned me in some ways. I listened to her, paying attention to every single word she said. I don’t have the bandwidth to reciprocate (all thanks to my periods). I could sense she was targeting me, and this wasn’t the first time.
I left the cabin, saying I’d discuss it tomorrow. But I knew what I had to do when I closed that door. I took my bag, came downstairs, and headed home. It usually took me 45 minutes to an hour to reach my destination.
Those 45 minutes were life-changing for me.
I decided that I was going to leave that job.
I thought about everything:
- What are the repercussions of leaving a so-called stable income source?
- Is it OK to leave a place that’s known to me?
- Would I be able to take the side hustle forward and turn it into a real cash-flow business?
And a hundred other things…
The moment I reached my destination, I made up my mind — I’m going to do this.
Incident 2: Although I’d made up my mind to leave, something happened a few days before Diwali, a cherished Indian festival, that shook me again. If I’m not mistaken, it was on Dhanteras.
Dhanteras marks the beginning of Diwali festivities — a day believed to bring luck and prosperity when you buy something new. My mom and I have a tradition tied to this day. For more than 15 years, we’ve gone shopping together, and we’ve never missed it once.
But this time, I couldn’t make it happen.
Reason?
I was working in my office till 9 PM. She called me around 8. I picked up her call and explained everything. She replied in a very low tone and told me that she would go alone.
I put the call down and started thinking — what the heck am I doing?
What’s the point of doing something that doesn’t allow me to be with the people who matter to me the most, which doesn’t give me the freedom to live the life I want to live?
The management also noticed a change in my behavior, and they called for a meeting. Coincidentally, I had made up my mind to tell them about my resignation the same day.
The meeting was about work strategies and other complaints. I attended the meeting and, after some time, went to the concerned person and told him about my decision to part ways with the company.
When this news spread in the office, almost everyone around me started advising me.
- “You shouldn’t leave a stable job.”
- “Things like this happen in the corporate sector; it’s too common. Why are you making an issue out of it?”
- “Starting something of your own is too difficult.”
and countless baseless arguments.
But I trusted my instinct and stuck to my choice without paying attention to even a single person.
Within a few days, I sent them my resignation by email. And you know what? When I clicked ‘send,’ I felt like I had made the best decision ever. Maybe I should’ve done it sooner.
My notice period was 30 days. During that time, I checked my finances — how much money I had in my bank account, PF, investments, shares, etc.- just to see how much cash flow I had.
I also talked with several people to come up with working possibilities in case I need one.
Everything is sorted.
Finally, 16th December 2023 came — the last day of my notice period. I bid farewell to my team members, who had become more like friends. We had a farewell party for the team. This was the cake I cut on that day. It was too yummy!
Everybody felt emotional. Maybe it’s because of the feeling that we won’t be working together from tomorrow morning.
End of chapter 1.
Chapter 2 begins now.
For the next several days, I just slept, binge-watched movies, sat in the park, and spent time with my family.
I felt like home.
It’s been nine and a half years of this professional life. I joined the corporate sector at 19 and am now 28. I’ve actually grown up during this journey.
This job has taught me a lot. I’ve met some amazing people, some soul-sucking ones too! But all in all, they helped me become a better version of myself in one way or another, especially the energy vampires.
Thank you for existing!
My Takeaways From This Journey
- Listen to your intuitions. All of us, at some point, feel certain signs or nudges, but we ignore them, thinking we’re just overreacting. Please don’t do that. Listen to what your heart is trying to tell you. If I had done that earlier, I would have saved myself from a hospital visit caused by burnout, and that too on Diwali.
- Appreciate every experience. I know you’ll understand its meaning later in life. Everything that’s happening to you right now has a purpose. Soak it all in, learn from it, and move forward gracefully.
- Say NO to toxic people ASAP. They’ll suck your energy like no one else.
- You can’t always rely on a job because you never know when things will fall out of place. Build something of your own. It doesn’t need to be the next big unicorn; it just has to be something you can rely on when you face shitty things in an uncertain world.
- You can always start fresh, no matter how tough it seems
To be able to learn and take these lessons as they come is my biggest win in life, so far! And I’m sure it’s just the beginning of something very HUGE (as I mentioned earlier) that I’ve never imagined.
All I need to do NOW is to follow the same trick :
Put my head down, focus on my work, and keep learning❤️
What’s your biggest win in life? Let me know in the comments!
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