My First Week Starting My Business

Reflections from a new entrepreneur

Photo by Lukas

After years of fiddling around with the idea that I wanted to run my own business, I finally did it. Why? I was exhausted of not being in control of my life and especially my career. Throughout my working life, I’ve had a regularly paying job with benefits.

I spent a good amount of time in the military, so I had a job for as long as I could renew my contract. However, I was tired of that life in that you could only move as fast as the promotion system would let you and I spendt too much time away from my family. Sure, if you were enlisted, you can get meritoriously promoted, but I was an officer and that is something that doesn’t happen. You can work very hard and be a stellar performer, but you could never get promoted faster than the system would let you.

After active duty, I went on to be a defense contractor, which was good because I could really focus on what I loved and was most interested in, cybersecurity. After I’d learn how to do the role, I got stuck in the fact as a defense contractor, you do a lot of the grunt work. I wanted to plan and strategize to make an organization better. I also wanted to be “in it” and not so deep within an organization’s defenses that I was just routinely checking things to ensure they got done. Eventually I left to go to the private sector.

After spending so much time in the government world, the private sector was very strange. The military has its own lingo and culture that (for the most part) doesn’t translate as smoothly into the civilian world. There wasn’t a problem there, I learned and adjusted myself to the organizational culture. I excelled there and was promoted not once, but twice to head a section of global cybersecurity team. It was amazing because I met so many talented people and was able to travel the world. It was quite unexpected turn of events and then I was given an opportunity at a startup.

So I left the big corporate role for a role at this startup and six months later, it went bankrupt.

I knew it was going to be risky, 70% of startup businesses fail in the first three years. However it was an opportunity of a lifetime. I understood what I was getting into because it was in the defense space (my language) and I was going to build the IT and cybersecurity programs from the ground up. This was going to support a multi-million dollar company and the leadership told me that they were getting ready for expansion. So, I left the big corporate role for a role at this startup and six months later, it went bankrupt. The business was then sold to a family owned company and I’d been with them for 1.5 years. In mid-September, I gave my 6 week notice and last week on Wednesday, I walked out of the office and started on my path in entrepreneurship.

So, what really drove my decision to leave the stability of a regular job and onward into the unknown? The Marine in me wants to say “Challenge” because that is what Marines do best. We thrive in uncertainty and able to take on any task with little to no resources. The civilian in me wants to say “better work/life balance” and “flexibility”. These are some of the things that we read a lot on social media sites as goals to attain.

The leaders don’t want to see their family suffer and everyone makes sacrifices to ensure that the organization will survive.

I decided this summer to pull the trigger when I went to Heilbronn, Germany for graduate studies abroad. It was a course that focused on doing business with the German Middelstandt (mid-sized) businesses. The course had students from around the world come in to learn about this topic. We spent hours in different manufacturing facilities and talking to their executives. Did you know that many of these companies are family owned and do business with each other? The social fabric of these companies extends for generations and there are a lot of interesting history. Employees of these companies are really loyal to the organization and especially their leaders. Why? The company’s leadership are embedded with their folks that they are like family. The leaders don’t want to see their family suffer and everyone makes sacrifices to ensure that the organization will survive. Meaning, temporary pay reductions when money is tight, that will allow the workforce to keep their jobs. Also, CEO’s giving a portion of their personal salary as an advance so someone can pay their medical bills. Isn’t that amazing?

Here is my WHY:

• I truly want to do is build an organization where we create relationships with businesses and bring constant value.
• I want to develop an organization that takes care of its own through leadership, mentorship, development, and support.
• I want to build a team that regularly gives back to the community because service is a characteristic that I believe in.

So here I am at week one with one employee. While I do not have all of the answers or a constant stream of revenue flowing in, I’m going to build my dream one day at a time and live my WHY daily.

Here are my thoughts on my first week:

1. I’m scared. While I’m excited about starting my new adventure, I’m scared that I will fail. It’s not that I’m afraid of failure, it’s the fact that I have the necessities to provide for my family. What does this mean for me? Connect with businesses and find out how you can be a service to them.
2. If you are used to working in an office with all of the interaction, it is quite the opposite when you work from home. It’s a no-brainer and as an introvert, I should be quite happy. It’s nice to be able to focus more but it’s also nice to walk down the hall and chat with your colleagues. What does this mean for me? Have a routine and make it a habit of getting out of the house to work.
3. I like the ability of working on what I think is important! Seriously, this has been the best perk so far. I’m able to put all of my energy into the things that have value to myself and my business. There are little to no disruptions as well as no mandatory meetings.
4. I didn’t know how much of a burden was going to be lifted off my shoulders and how was going to be able to breath again. Despite #1, I know things are going to work out. I may not have the big paycheck, but the tradeoff was well-worth it considering that my mental state has never been so “calm.”
5. This is probably the most important, the last three nights my daughter has demanded that I play with her. She is fully takes advantage that her father is home and able to play board games. I’ve spent so many hours at work or away for work so I missed a lot of the “growing up” of my children. Now, I can prioritize my work to allow for some play, which is quite satisfying.

It’s going to be tough and it’s going to be challenging. This first week is the start of something amazing and I’m going to learn a lot from it. If I fail, then, I’ll pick myself up and try again.

What are you doing to follow your dreams?