Lessons from a Job You Loathe Can Make You A Better Entrepreneur

I have learned what kind of person I don’t want to be

Photo by Microsoft 365 on Unsplash

When you work on a job you despise, you can’t help but dream of the day you submit your laptop and step out of the hellhole.

You feel like you’re not going anywhere in life like a dementor is sucking your soul only to leave you lifeless. Even a small task from your manager can lead you to burst into tears and the most crucial question of all pops into your mind.

“What the f*ck am I still doing here? Why am I not leaving this shitty place?”

Then your brain goes “ping,” you put your resignation papers.

If you can relate to what I’m saying, you know what I’m talking about. Until Jan 20th, I worked with a mega-corporate firm in a developer role. I was lucky to have a good enough team and a supporting manager, but I loathed what I was doing. I hated developing objects where I had no clue about the bigger picture. I never wanted to be a part of office politics and despised the company’s culture of “I don’t care what happens. Get the work done”.

Also, I wanted to be irreplaceable…which I knew would not happen there for sure.

And while I could not wait to get out of the place then, almost two months later, I realize how much the lessons I learned there are helping me today. As a solopreneur. I’m coming to understand how much my corporate life has shaped me in the last four years, fresh out of the university.

Yes, I have somehow managed to chuck the wrong traits. And have decided to keep the good ones that came along the way.

Learning to read people

Early in my corporate career, I realized I needed to segregate folks in my office.

Some managers and colleagues above me in the hierarchy spent no time swooping in and dumping all the shitty work on me. While they asked me to “help” them, I knew what they meant, so did everyone. I learned my lesson when they took all the credit for my work (called it my learning experience instead) and never gave me the light of the day otherwise.

I also had to learn who would have my back no matter what.

Once I had a manager sell me out to an onsite counterpart for no fault of mine. Yes, I did not have “proof”. But, if your team member does not trust you and only wants to save their ass, you better look out for your own.

Some bad and terrible experiences taught me early on to look for gold and diamonds in the crap. Which I’m now realizing is a fantastic skill for entrepreneurs.

You need to look out for yourself because no one else will do it for you, as a solopreneur. You need to become aware of the pitfalls and learn to read people (at least get an idea of how the person is).

Because who else will weed out the useless and selfish DMs/cold emails only focused on what they want?

Understanding the zone of the situation

It’s surprising what all you can do when pushed and pressed to a corner where you can’t breathe.

After multiple occurrences, your brain trains you to notice the signs early on and fight back. For it never wants to get in the same position again.

There are four types of situations all of us working in corporate go through. I have color-coded it too, because hey, these people love to color code everything in the presentations and stand up calls:

1. Yes: The task and the deadlines are realistic and doable. You don’t need to squeeze yourself through the grinder to throw out results on the other side. [YELLOW]
2. Say yes, but you inform the manager about the risks: You know the tight deadlines and need to put in extra hours. While you’re okay to work harder, you know there will be complications because of dependencies on other teams. [ORANGE]
3. Say No, and inform the manager why you can’t do it: You know the deadlines are shitty. Everyone on the team knows the deadlines are shitty. Hell, even the manager and team leads know it. But no one wants to accept it or realize it because the clients are God. So we need to do what we need to do. Work our ass off because some random dude set the deadlines without consulting with the whole team. Yes, this happens, especially if the decision-makers sit onsite. [RED]
4. You show them the middle finger (at least in your head): You realize you can only do so much and push yourself this hard. You’re either going to break, or aren’t going to meet the deadlines. So you choose. You know the situations where you laugh so hard during dire circumstances because you know everything will go up on fire? Yeah, this is that one. [BLACK]

So how are these lessons helping me in entrepreneurship? I have learned to set my limits and expectations. And assess the situation. Extremely clearly.

Tell them: “I’m not your slave, and this is how much I can do. If you’re not okay with this, I can’t help you. I’m not ready to sacrifice myself for anyone else’s goal ever again.”

Of course, I’m more aware of the circumstances leading to these situations and stop them to the best of my ability. But, alas there’s only so much I can do when people on the other side aren’t ready to listen. Then I need to protect myself. And I don’t think I would have gotten that clarity until I went to level BLACK.

Respect other’s time

I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but you’ve no idea how many people don’t bother to care.

• “Can we meet for a short call?” will prolong for 1 hour for a matter that did not need a call in the first place.
• Some dude will get the brilliant idea to pull every member of the team into a call that only involves five people at the most. Or will decide to do stand-up calls every day where every individual will need to give a 5 min update on what they’ve done. This has no relation to the other team members.
• Many people won’t join in on time. Or sometimes will even forget the call existed in the first place because of their jam-packed calendar. Mind you, they needed help from me and not the other way around.
• Colleagues pinging you during OOO, despite explicit emails that you’re not available.
• Managers message you on weekends or before your work starts to get a “small task” done. Worse, calling you because it needs to get done ASAP.

Being on the worse side of the spectrum has made me appreciate others’ time and effort. I hate wasting others’ time, and I profoundly apologize if it is my mistake. I’m also setting my expectations right if things don’t go well in the first call because I also want to preserve my time.

It’s a two-way street.

And lo-behold, I now see the respect and change of attitude in people’s faces because of this characteristic of mine. I have gotten explicit messages that they appreciate me getting straight to the point and not wasting time in jibber-jabber.

You have no idea how much I smile on those days.

While I hated my corporate life (if it wasn’t obvious already), I realize that I have become a better person. I now know how I don’t want to be treated for sure, which is an amazing learning lot of us fail to notice.

Those dark, cloudy days have opened up to days of sunshine and glory, and looking back, I know I needed to go through that shit to become who I am today.

Almost like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon.

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