Cube Escape

Self Employment - Entrepreneur Lifestyle - Business Tips and Tricks

Pursing the Entrepreneurial Dream

A couple of years ago, I decide that my pursuit of climbing the corporate ladder was fruitless. It wasn't for me...not what I wanted. I craved freedom. I've learned a lot about becoming an entrepreneur, and I'll share what I've learned with you. Getting control of your life again isn't a pipe dream. Financial, professional, and creative freedom can be yours.

College life exposed what I wanted?

I’d like to say that my college experience was just like everyone else’s, but I doubt that’s the case. I think I was one of the select few that went to college just to go to college, having no real direction or desire to do anything.

I went with a specific goal in mind, but I did not want to work, so I failed my hard classes and changed my major to something less hard: Officially Undecided. I started out majoring in computer science, but after dropping the first class due to failing every test and assignment, I figured that my brain just wasn’t wired for that kind of thinking. The truth, as I see it now, is that I wasn’t ready to do the work required to be successful in that field.

So I went on a path, wandering around the various colleges at my university. I moved from computer science to undecided. From there I moved to study psychology. I stuck to that one for a year and really liked it. However, I didn’t want to go to grad school. In psychology, there aren’t many job opportunities for those with only bachelor’s degrees.

I made a somewhat lateral move and changed my major to criminal justice. I stuck with this one for a while–maybe two years. Though, I was a horrible student. I got Ds for my first three classes before I realized I wouldn’t graduate with those kinds of grades. I guess I wasn’t paying attention. Maybe I just didn’t care. It was the wrong time to be in school for me,  but I was there, so I kept on taking classes.

After some time, I finally tried programming again and figured out that I could do it. I guess my brain matured enough to think like a programmer, so I was successful. I changed my major, yet again, to computer science and pushed forward. I was still pretty lazy about school work, but at least I put forth enough effort to pass.

After seven and a half years, I graduated with BA in computer science, accompanied by a minor in criminal justice. My GPA was barely good enough to get out of there. As a result, the job offers flew to everyone else. Well, not everyone. At that time, the tech job market had really cooled off. I guess stock market bubble bursting can do that.

Even though I graduated, I was totally unprepared for life after college. Sure, I had been working full time while going to school, but heading into a career changed everything. I was so excited to get a high-paying job doing really cool programming with state-of-the-art systems. Then reality happened and no one hired me for a while…almost a year.

My first experience at a corporate-level programming position ruined everything for me. It was so horrible that I have flashbacks of that cubilce, sleepwalking through the day while repairing aging software systems.

I spent a long time looking for another job, but I found nothing. They were all the same to me: Cold, inhuman, and wrong. I decided that I did not belong in that world, and decided to strike out on my own. More on that later.

. 04 Sep 06 | History | Read on | Comments (0)

Work Background

I don’t know if I’ve got a typical work history or not. When I talk to others about what they have done in life and where they have worked, their story differs from mine. Maybe I just went about it a different way…

I did not work at all during high school, and that includes summer jobs. Sure, I did some things here and there for money, but was officially unemployed until I was 18 and out of high school. Surprisingly, I had a tough time finding a job in the fast food industry since I had no work experience. Can someone please tell me what experience is relevant to flipping burgers or pushing buttons on a cash register? Counting? Showing up to work? I was surprised how long it took to find a job in that industry. When I finally did, I landed a delivery boy job for Round Table Pizza, a west coast pizza chain with some really good pizza.

I worked there for three months before quitting without notice. I was bored with it. My departure was evidently a surprise to everyone there. Apparently, it was common practice to give an employer two week’s notice before leaving a job. You learn something new every day. Either no one thought to tell me that, or I wasn’t listening. Both options are equally plausible.

Did I tell you that I was running a business and teaching school at the same time? Well, not exactly the same time, but there was some overlap. I was at that time self employed as a certified personal fitness trainer, which assisted in landing me a teaching job at a private school. I suppose California law allowed for private schools to hire whomever they wanted.

I guess I met some minimal requirements, because I got the job. On my father’s advice, I had written a proposal to the school board, asking them to hire me and purchase some fitness equipment so I could teach general weight lifting and fitness to the 7 - 10 grade (the school was K - 12) students. I was awarded the position and paid in what amounted to slightly salted peanuts in cash form. I taught the whole year, and it was really, really bad. I was 18 and just out of school, so I guess that’s my excuse.

After that year, it was off to college! In my next post, I’ll tell you readers a bit about that experience, since it’s relevant to my flight from the cubicle life and into the real world. Following that, it’s on to my work-wandering, where the real root of this quest is found.

. 22 Aug 06 | History | Read on | Comments (0)