I quit the 9-to-5 life

Let’s take a ride in the way back machine to our childhood. I’m not sure about you, but for me, there was a lot of television and a lot of material consumption. At some point, we all realize that with money, you can buy whatever you want. After that realization, you come to terms with the fact that money is given in exchange for work and work is not always fun. As you grow older, your parents start to communicate, sometimes subliminally, that they want your life to be better than theirs and aspire that you have more professional success than they had so you can live a better life. This assumes that money gives a better life.

Fast-forward after college graduation and living on your own for a few years and you may have thought, “I did it, parents. I’ve made it, kind of…” You may have some financial stability but are you happy? Are you fulfilled? Jessie and I were not.

All the isms

Excuse me for a moment, while I play the woman card because I’ve had one too many incidents at work lately. For one thing, it’s wicked frustrating trying to go about your day and get the work done that needs doing when you are constantly bombarded by attacks to your person because you are queer, a woman, and/or a person of color. I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it is to be in a meeting room with a bunch of dudes trying to communicate your expertise and getting disarmed with a “women” comment. Sometimes, it’s death by a thousand cuts in a day. There are all the implied sexist comments based on what I eat, what I wear, how I behave and that goes for all the instances I witness, too. It’s unbelievable the level of verbal trash women have to wade through to get their jobs done.

So, I’d rather bow out and make my own company. That’s right, the plan is to bow out of the sexist, racist, homophobic corporate conglomerate culture that oozes into the start-up scene and make my own realm where that’s no longer an issue.

Your money or your life

Next, there’s the issue of the most valuable commodity. If I were to ask you, what’s the most valuable thing you have in your life, what would you answer? Would it be a material possession? Your family? Those may be true to you, but to my wife and I, it’s time. Time with each other, time with our loved ones, time to give back to our community. All this time, is currently purchased by our employer. Jessie and I want the freedom to do what we want to do, when we want. If we have a crazy product idea, we want the freedom to take on the project right then and there to see how it plays out. It may not make us money in the short-term, but it will solve a problem and provide us with the skills to make a product that will make money eventually. I want to teach yoga. I want to bake vegan treats, professionally. We want to travel across the country, around the world. This is impossible to achieve (without burn-out) in a traditional 9-to-5 job.

Not keeping up with the Kardashians

In addition, we want to bow out of the consumer-driven, social-climbing culture in our society. You could argue, but you’ve made it this far, why quit now? True, my wife and I have had some success in the professional realm. We’re making good money and were we to stick it out for a while longer, we’d be making serious money. But again, at what cost? I don’t have the stomach for the artificial interactions that are required to climb the corporate hierarchy.