I wish I had got this career advice

When I got placed from college, I knew two things:
The first thing was, although I was super happy after bagging the job, it didn’t feel like a happy ending. This couldn’t be it, there must be more!

After the ceremonial kicks and belts to my bottom, after several boxes of cigarettes, the feelings got diluted, I went to my room and slept. That feeling remained in the back of my head, and the only thing about my career that I was sure of was that I would not last at the firm for more than a year.

The second thing that I knew was that I had a lot of time to experiment in my career. I had no immediate responsibilities, my dad still had a few years in his govt. job and so I had no burden to provide for my family. Neither did anyone ask me to buy a car (they did later, but things were different then, and I still said no.) Basically, at that point, I could still afford three-four years of learning without consequences.

So I did what any sane final year engineering student, does after getting placed - I spent the next few months chilling out!

And then, while on one of the sprees at chilling out, I hit a truck.

I don’t remember much of it (my friends who saved me do, and very well), but the next thing I remember is finding myself wrapped in bandages from top to bottom, being able to open only one eye, and well, seeing traumatized family and friends.

Keeping the story short, in the past three years I have gone from losing my job on medical grounds to writing (half) and abandoning a novel, to learning marketing, to founding a successful business.

In each of the steps, I have learned a lot.

***

When I first started ~Munchane~ with my partner, everything was so uncertain. We just knew that we wanted to serve food to customers, late in the night. We had a basic recipe for a pizza ready (it was terrible), so we just started with it. We had no idea how big the market was, or what will this lead to.

But we took a leap of faith, and started it all from my partner’s home on day one!

The first day, our website refused to accept orders. We somehow managed the situation.

The second day, the electric systems at our kitchen smoked, and we had to move the setup back to my partner’s house. We somehow managed the situation.

The third day, not a single order came. We had not much to do then, but we somehow managed.

After so many mess-ups and accidents, today, we are soon to start operations in another city and we also have one more brand name under our hood. Our business can be called successful by some standards at least.

The most important thing which I learned in this journey is, no matter what happens to you there is always a solution, always a way to move forward. You have to discover the way, and stick to your thing. All will be sorted out.

Had I known this in my final year, I would not have waited for that accident to change my life. I would have changed it myself!

But maybe, I needed a hit.

Because even after the accident, I could have settled, applied for a government job, even got an easy pass in based on disability quota. But I wanted more from life.

I took the leap and did what I felt right.

I didn’t wait for my broken hand to get right. I didn’t wait to get the right degree.

But I had to change for that. I had to stop listening.

“Is the government job really better than doing your own thing?”

“Am I doing the right thing by preparing for UPSC?

“Is it good for my family?”

“Should I start another side-gig as a backup plan?”

It had to stop.

I had to commit to this one thing, or I was never going to move forward.

I’ve seen friends stay at their boring jobs because they are scared to leave. As a twenty-something, it’s the perfect time to take risks.

Don’t wait to get that promotion, don’t wait to find the perfect job.

It’ll be much harder to change once you have a family to support.

You have to make the move now.

You have all the time in the day for yourself. And a whole lot of scope to make mistakes.

Go ahead and take that job. Or reject it to start your own. You owe no one.

Fail fast so that you can finally succeed.

That’s my advice.