Go Solo. Look up! And Start A New Life
Change is constant. Change is inevitable.
Change is something I embrace with open arms. Because I believe change is good.
All through my life, I had toed the line. Did what everyone else did. Got a good education, got a good job, a good pay, took loans, bought a car, bought a house. Lived like a frog in a well. An EMI slave.
All was well, because I knew no better. I lived my life day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year, plodding along the path toward building my career and someone else’s wealth.
Then in 2007, I decided to start off on my own, as an entrepreneur.
There is a saying that one of the most addictive substances in the world is Heroin. I learned the hard way that this wasn’t true. The most addictive substance in the world, is a salary.
As long as you’re in a job, you live by the norms defined by your payday. As long as you get your monthly fix, all is well and everyone is happy. But if your salary is delayed by even a day, all hell breaks loose. Because everything in your life is linked to the salary coming in on time.
Go Solo… Start a new life
Taking the plunge was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made in my life. What if I didn’t succeed? What if it didn’t take off as planned? What if I wasn’t able to earn enough to support my family or pay my loans?
After seesawing for over two years between starting off and playing safe, I finally took the plunge. It was a decision that changed me forever. For good.
Today, I look back at those days in amusement.
Yes, it was tough to start off, with no guarantees as to when the next payment would be received. It is tough to not know where the next project would come from or who the next client or customer would be.
But after struggling (and slogging) for the first few months, I received the first paycheck for a job I executed. It was one of the proudest moments in my life. There’s been no looking back since.
But hey, this blog post is not about the paycheck. It is about how my life changed after I ventured out on my own. And changed it has!
I have learned more in the about life in the last seven years than I did in all my years before.
Ever since I started off on my own, I have learned the real value of money. The real value of being debt free. The real value of having your own home. The real value of savings and investments. The real value of a team and colleagues. The real value of relationships. The real value of family. The real value of life.
As long as you’re in a job, there’s always someone else or something else to blame for any shortcomings in your life. When you go solo, you realize that success or failure, the buck starts and stops with you and you alone. It makes you realize that whatever comes your way, roses or brickbats, you need to man up and take them in your stride.
It teaches you to be a learner for life. It teaches you to be a fighter. It teaches you to be a survivor. It teaches you to be positive in the face of adversities.
It has taught me to welcome change.
Because change moves you out of your comfort zone. It makes you think. It makes you learn. It makes you innovate.
And most importantly it teaches you to be positive in the face of anything.
It makes you look up.
And work towards building your future. Your way!
Quite like the folks at Housing say… ‘Change signifies that we’re moving forward, living better, and giving ourselves the chance to be the best we can possibly be.’
Look up! and #StartANewLife.
photo credit: bourget R (654) via photopin (license)
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