Lessons for a career switch or how I ended up in the startup ecosphere
Recently I started my new job as community manager at Wayra Germany. It’s been amazing so far. Unreal actually. Why? Because it’s literally the first time, in years, that I actually enjoy going to work. There’s a lot that has changed in my life these days, but the main thing that motivates me everyday is the feeling that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. A bit like finding what John Strelecky calls PFE (purpose for existence) in „The Why Café“. Please read it if you haven’t yet. Don’t worry, I won’t go all ZEN on you right now, but rather stick to the point and share some valuable (you be the judge here) insights of my current career / industry switch. Nota bene: This text starts a series about my stream of thoughts about me entering this crazy world of the startup ecosphere. You’re invited to this crazy ride! This first one is an introduction of how I got here and a bit of a kick in the butt if you’re thinking of leaving a toxic working environment to start a new career.
Have you ever been surrounded by people who hate their jobs? I have. A bit arrogant and definitely deluded, I felt sorry for them and wondered why they wouldn’t simply quit if it’s such a pain for them. Then I slowly realized the same symptoms materializing in my life and a change from a rather positive nature to increasing lament. That’s a really bad state to be in. Similar to that realization that a desperate character in a zombie movie has. You know, the guy who is hiding that nasty scratch or bite from a butchered zombie killing. He thinks he’s the only one not infected by the craze happening around him. Reality will get the best of him, as soon as he realizes that the undead have lost interest in him and aren’t chasing him anymore — because he’s turning into one of them! The best positive outcome in the movie is some martyr death scenario: the soon-to-be-turned is sacrificing himself for the group and takes some zombies with him. In the end proving that he wasn’t such a bad guy after all.
Back to reality! The good news: In your business life, the solution is less dramatic. Starting a new career (be it a job or founding a new business) you don’t have to sacrifice yourself. If you’re getting out of a job you’re not meant to be in, what you are actually doing is ending the daily sacrifice of yourself, day in and day out! If you want to change, your biggest sacrifice will be the boundaries of your comfort zone! Isn’t that a good investment to avoid a slow burn / bore out or regular mental breakdowns? The bad news: you have to be committed, trust in yourself and go all in. And this can be really fricking scary!
Now, finding a new job can be an exciting or totally humbling task. You may get offers from head hunters (if you’re a decent programmer for example) or get all the yesses from future employers. In case you fall into to one of these categories, you’re blessed and probably working in a great position anyway. If you aren’t, take a minute and consider what’s holding you back. The switch should be easy. You don’t need any advice at all, but maybe could inspire folks around you who feel less happy.
But maybe you fall into that less blessed third category — like me. This will definitely suck! Receiving no positive answers to applications or funding rounds (at least in the beginning) will make you doubt your existence and all those decisions you’ve made that brought you where you are right now. This experience will at first worsen your situation and pull you down deeper. Like when you quit smoking. In the long run it’ll be definitely good for you. The first couple of weeks though will be hell on earth for you and the people around you. This stress could also miraculously change your mind again and make you question your need to change: well is it really that bad in the office after all? Like: do I really want to quit smoking? A friend of my nephews’s grandpa’s uncle is 107 years old and smokes a pack day. This change of mind may actually happen and you’re thankful for the job you have. In that case, the perspective change can boost your motivation. The switch may also not happen (which I find much more probable) and you could be forcing yourself to accept your fate for the rest of your life — I hope none of you are actually experiencing this. Sometimes though, instead of desperation, something else can grow inside of you: defiance. It’s a deep source of motivation and willingness for change. Use this to your advantage!
It helped me a lot to build up the courage to quit my job in 2016. Independence was the goal. Plane tickets into Buenos Aires and out of Lima, Peru, were the sole plan. In between those dates the agenda was: learning Spanish, meeting a lot of like-minded backbackers and finding my purpose hashtag #wanderlust #followyourdreams #inspirationalBS. My „mission“ really was to fly over there, explore and find a goal in life and then go all in on it. Put in all I got! GRIND! HUSTLE! As there hasn’t been any per se „work hate“, I thought having a purpose, will give me all that motivation lacking in my business life so far. There’s enough drive and satisfaction you can get out of a successful work day / week / month. It’s just that some experiences in your early career can be extremely disenchanting. Usually if you have a (more or less) concrete goal or cause to go for, you can go full on and work your butt of. Right? However, if there is no clear reason (AKA why) for doing what you’re doing, or even an explanation how you feed into the bigger picture of your company, it’s hard to find constant motivation for the daily grind. So, the obvious solution to me was: leave the country and find my purpose! It should be lying around somewhere in South America.
How wrong I was! After four months of backpacking you make it back home with a lot of interesting stories, but still empty handed in regards to a vision for your life. It took a while to understand why. Although it’s actually the main takeaway of Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist: * SPOILER ALERT * (if you haven’t read it yet — please do) the boy settles out to find ‚his treasure‘ and eventually ends up finding it where he began his journey. Basically in himself. It totally makes sense — now. When you’re going solo around a continent you’re actually so preoccupied with the actual travel (making plans, tours, connections, taking photos, making Insta stories, …) that you don’t have time or motivation for introspection. All you go for is externally-stimulated distraction. You talk to like-minded people. Pat each other on the backs to finally have taken the courage to leave a toxic work environment. That’s all nice and great. However, this will only distract you from finding whatever you’re looking for. Call it passion, purpose, life goal or amazing startup idea that’ll change everything.
After coming back from the trip I was sure that photography must be my passion because I like doing it and I’m not too bad at it. So, I founded my photography business. A side hustle for a long time, it should have easily scaled into a profitable, purpose-driven and independent endeavor and hobby-turned-profession-success-story. The problem however: I suck at selling. Producing good quality photos, I thought, would guarantee costumers flocking to my website and booking me across the globe. How wrong I was — yet again! The business kept me afloat for 2 years, but wasn’t really going anywhere. Failing sucks, because you can get the idea that everybody thinks of you as a loser — that shouldn’t matter too much to you, but that’s a whole different story. However, this experience provided the insight, that going for your passion isn’t usually the silver bullet to your problems. The lifestyle of photographer sounds pretty cool, but after all, it wasn’t for me. Not if my income depends completely on creating images. The triplet of low appreciation, Bridezillas and existential fear (angst!) totally spoiled my vision of a world-traveling, independent and ridiculously successful photographer.
Eventually this drove me into applying for an office job and giving the corporate world a second try. This also gave me the chance of completely changing my environment and make a fresh start in a new and actually pretty cool city. Going to a nine-to-five (or better eight-to-six) after you’ve been completely independent for a couple of years feels pretty weird in the beginning. However, it is actually much more manageable than you may think. And after a while you really do get the hang of it — again. There is just one caveat. Please, don’t make same mistake as I and apply for the pretty much exact position you’ve quit in the first place. Because, after a while, you’ll be stuck in a deja-vu-marathon. In a groundhog day galore! You’ll find yourself in the same situation as before — but this time with even more doubts. It isn’t working for you — again!? It must be your fault! I tried to hang in there actually, even when it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t meant to be there. It was simply a bad match for the company and for me! When you realize this yourself, take action!
Then, the job hunt starts again and turns out to be much more tedious than expected especially when you’re working full-time in an energy leaching job. Hang in there though! It’ll all change for the better, if you stick to your guns and give yourself time to find the needle in the haystack! You’ll meet many HR people. Get a grip of how to pitch yourself and eventually will find a fitting job for your profile — not only regarding the hard skills but especially the soft skills. In a nutshell, the same is true if you choose to start a new business. Start working after your normal hours while still in the job, create a costumer base and then go all in as soon as you find a way to scale it. However, if it’s not going anywhere, change direction or start over again, #failfast. Don’t get caught up in the sunk-cost bias! Let me elaborate more on this in a future article.
Fast forward a couple of weeks after my last boss and I decided to part ways, I can cross off the first month of my new position as Community Manager, here at wayra — in a completely new exciting industry! It’s still a bit early to evaluate the greatness of this place without a lot of bias, but I can tell you: the struggle was definitely already worth it. As mentioned before, it feels like I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. It’s the great fit of my tasks and what I bring to the table. Luck was definitely involved in finding this position. I guess, sometimes you really have to create situations that help you provoke luck coming to your life AKA right-time-right-place-situations! If they occur, use them immediately!
Take-aways:
Realize if you belong where you are
If you’re thinking of changing, it’s time to change
Don’t blindly follow a passion
Put in some effort to find out what you want
Create possibilities to be at the right place on the right time
Take Action!
