Why I haven’t quit my corporate job (yet)

samantha wong By samantha wong • On January 4, 2015 • In Blogs

Going to work because I have to and not because I want to

Recently I met someone who relatively shares the same dream as me and for those who don’t already know, it is to establish a successful business of my own. We have been ecstatic about having the opportunity to share our views on startups and properties with each other and at the same time be able to nod our heads and relate in agreement to the feeling of going to work day in and day out because we have to and not because we want to. It is easy to say that my problem would be solved if only I quit my corporate job, but here is the reason why I haven’t (yet).

What will it take to quit my corporate job?

In one discussion we asked each other the question on what it’ll take for us to quit our corporate jobs knowing that it was not possible to build a successful business with only part time effort. Our answers surprisingly was in sync with each other where we said the business idea had to be something we were passionate about and have some form of revenue coming in to reassure us that it had the potential to scale in the long term. Then came the question which required a little more consideration, what if the idea we were passionate about and believed in required full time commitment from the start? I paused and thought about it a little, was I really willing to give up on the job I went to university to get into so early on in my career? Well, I probably would consider it if I was actually stubborn and oozing with self-confidence, but I’m not, in fact, I really believe that we should balance ambition with critical reflection on our true and not perceived abilities.

What is currently stopping me…

I have come across a fair share of people who have quit school or their corporate jobs at a young age to start their own thing and who are currently making every mistake in the book because of it. It’s very easy to become inspired by the stories we hear about so and so rolling In the greens, but what we don’t hear about are the hundreds upon thousands of people who have failed and have since crawled back to where they were before. I’m not saying these people are failures and will continue to fail, I know they’re learning from it all and will one day achieve their dreams through perseverance. However despite gambling with money occasionally, when it comes to financial stability I am a safe player and I can’t mentally afford to give up my pay check week after week and watch my bank balance dry up like a raisin in the sun.

The conclusion is that it just isn’t the right time for me personally yet, even though for startups it has never been a better time with how fast technology is transforming. At this moment in time, I feel I am simply too inexperienced and lack the confidence to be able to venture out and explore the possibilities of starting a business and of course the “unknown”. Lets also be honest, all startups are destined to fail and if not at least struggle for the first few years of its life. Am I really willing to sacrifice 2-3 years of my youth living on the edge to hopefully fulfill this dream that I know will inevitably fail multiple times before any progress is made or worst end up back in my corporate job and be years behind my peers? The answer is obvious at this point in time.

What my future plans are moving forward

So being the realistic person I am, I will continue to work on startup part-time whilst channeling my full time focus on building my career for now (even though we all know life rarely goes to plan just like trying to lose weight). Making progress on startup ideas will be slow and there will be compromisations made to my work-life balance because of it, but that is something I am willing to sacrifice knowing that it’s not possible to eat the cake and have it too.