I started my first business in 2000. I am not a Connecticut native. I knew few people in Connecticut. I was entering an area (education) where I had credentials but no experience. I was taking a conventionally enormous “risk” in leaving a “secure” profession (law) with secure jobs (at the time, lawyers usually had job security). I was a father of one, my wife was 7 months pregnant with number two, and number three was already on our mind and came a few years later. I did not have my own financial safety net. I was leaving towards my calling (education/counseling) to serve my mission (make a difference in the lives of others). I suppose I had the confidence in my abilities to believe I could make something happen but, regardless, I knew I was entering something that was not secure compared to a steady job. I was dead wrong on the last count.
The most surprising aspect of my career path has been the security. During the past decade and a half, my friends with “good jobs” in “good companies” in a steady state like Connecticut have almost all had job disruption. My Pfizer friends, my GE friends, my friends in the financial sector in Stamford, in the insurance sector in Hartford, and in the mixed bio-technical sector of New Haven have all faced lay offs.
If there was a Connecticut Career Oracle and she said: “you have a choice for 2016. You can have a job that will pay your bills easily or run a business that will create equal profit. You will find both equally meaningful/enjoyable and each will have the same affect on your lifestyle. Each has exactly the same upside potential. The single variable that is different is stability. You simply need to choose based upon which choice is more secure.” In 2000, most everyone would have chosen the job. Even today, most people hang on to the notion that the job is the safer bet. I assure you it is not.
The most surprising aspect of my career path has been the security. During the past decade and a half, my friends with “good jobs” in “good companies” in a steady state like Connecticut have almost all had job disruption. My Pfizer friends, my GE friends, my friends in the financial sector in Stamford, in the insurance sector in Hartford, and in the mixed bio-technical sector of New Haven have all faced lay offs.
If there was a Connecticut Career Oracle and she said: “you have a choice for 2016. You can have a job that will pay your bills easily or run a business that will create equal profit. You will find both equally meaningful/enjoyable and each will have the same affect on your lifestyle. Each has exactly the same upside potential. The single variable that is different is stability. You simply need to choose based upon which choice is more secure.” In 2000, most everyone would have chosen the job. Even today, most people hang on to the notion that the job is the safer bet. I assure you it is not.