You can't hide from entrepreneurial spirit

Birthdays have never been my jam. Cakes and people singing to me…nah…even gifts and random days off are things I like to avoid. However, this year I took my birthday off to do some reflection, assessment and what eventually became planning. The long story short…I’m pretty pleased with my achievements but something is missing.

Growing up, I don’t remember dreaming of a career. I do remember thinking of being stock broker and even a lawyer (this would have been a terrible idea for me)…but never really dreamed of career. I kinda figured I would learn some sort of trade and work for a company long enough to get the ins and outs then strike out on my own. What ended up happening was damn near the opposite. I became a software engineer...I sit in an office, I go to meetings, I dress “business casual” (eh, mostly). Very few things about me, where I come from and what I liked doing said that this is where I would be…It’s not bad at all, but surprises many, including me some days. I’ve spent most of my career working for some of the largest corporations in the world with mind blowing project budgets, I’ve been successful, I’m happy with my job and the work that I get to do…but again, something is missing.

After a couple of hours of thinking I remembered a blog post I did for ReferOwl about going for ‘it’, in reference to entrepreneurship. The part that hit me was...

"When I was 15 I started cutting grass / doing random yard work around the neighborhood to earn some extra cash. By the time I was 17 I was loading a push mower into the trunk / backseat of a Mustang (yes, I have always been this cool...) and offering my high quality (bullshit) and reasonably priced services all over Savannah, GA and the surrounding areas.

I kept this going for a few years, handling the labor, marketing, books and bringing in extra help when I needed it...looking back, I loved it.”

I loved it…I did. It was something that I built. I need the spark and excitement that comes with being an entrepreneur. Even helping someone else get their startup off the ground gives me similar feelings. I’ll continue to fight birthdays with a vengeance, but I may have found a way that I can get something out of 'just another day'. I ended the day with a very fuzzy plan…at it’s highest level is taking my own advice, go for it.

#startups #entrepreneur