 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Real Wealth is Owning Your Time: Why I Walked Away from Half a Million by Mysterio 06/13/2020, 1:10pm PDT | ||||
 |
 |
|||
| https://medium.com/@prestontucker2/real-wealth-is-owning-your-time-2a6f115fd756
For several years, I had wondered when this day would come–walking away from Amazon and corporate America. On that fall morning, my gut let me know that ‘today is the day’. I had reached a tipping point and could no longer ignore the calling to bet on myself. I called my parents and a couple of my closest friends talked through my logic with them for hours. I didn’t necessarily need their advice, just a sounding board for me to articulate thoughts. Most importantly, verbalizing my intentions aloud and to others was a commitment to myself that I would follow through. After nearly 7 years I was done and overwhelmed with emotion. I was going to walk away from hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, half a million in RSUs and a privilege that so few in this world get to experience. Many thoughts ran through my head–am I insane? Stupid? Ungrateful for how fortunate I was? Both anxiety and excitement consumed me. I took the following day off and thought it through several more times through the weekend. On Monday morning, I gave my boss a call and put in my one month notice. Mentally Preparing for the Leap of Faith I had an incredible career at Amazon and I will always be thankful for the opportunities I was afforded. The people I worked with and problems I was afforded to solve were world class in quality and scale. Amazon was part of my identity. It was my first job out of college when I started as an entry level manager making $70k a year. When you spend those formative years in your early 20s bought into a mission and culture, it becomes part of your identity and weaves itself into all aspects of life. It affects your personal life, your relationships, and the lens you see the world through. Over the following 7 years I would be promoted 3 times while designing global supply chains, leading organizations of 1500 people, optimizing the US outbound order network, and culminating in leading software and robotics programs worth half a billion. At one point, I was the younger senior manager in the company from what I could tell (or quite close). I made nearly $400k in my final year. I was respected by my peers and superiors and had a path to Director. I bought a damn $600k house with a movie theater when I was 26! I was allegedly on top of the mountain, right? I share these things not brag, but to add color to the traditional success metrics that so many people strive for and how they left me feeling. I didn’t feel empty (thank you, daily gratitude journal) but I couldn’t help but always focus on the future. Was this really true wealth? Every metric I met or achievement I unlocked provided me with a boost of serotonin that eventually dropped back to base line. For years, I was obsessed with chasing the next outcome and struggled to enjoy the journey along the way. Finding enjoyment in the process was a constant challenge. Why was this the case? As I was grappling with my inner dialogue through this journey, my work was changing as well. I transitioned from maker to manager. I found myself reviewing and advising more than I was creating. Strangely, I began to have less choices in the types of problems I wanted to solve than I had earlier in my career. I like lots of moving parts that I can engage deeply and then quickly move on from when I’m ready, not relying on others to sign off on the switching. I didn’t have the autonomy in choosing my problem set to the level I desired. I also realized that I’m not at my happiest working for someone else. I don’t think I’m an ideal employee by any stretch–I work hard and deliver, but my emotional management can cause trouble. I’ve never particularly liked being told what to do. My mother tells dozens of stories of me rejecting authority from pre-school through high school. For whatever reason, I’ve always been wired this way. Being honest with yourself is difficult, especially if it means you may have to change how you live. When I considered the change in problems I was working on, the never ending quest for chasing material outcomes, and that I don’t like being told what to do, I knew I had to make a change. I had a lot of confidence in my abilities, why don’t I capitalize on this? I knew that at the end of the day, I will always bet on myself. I didn’t want to look back in 30 years and ask what if? I recognized that for me, true wealth is not what’s in your bank account. It’s your relationships with others. It’s owning your own time and being fully responsible for the outcomes in your life. I want to choose all of the problems that I work on. That level of autonomy is unrealistic unless you work for yourself. I also wanted to be geographically flexible–my years of traveling have only exacerbated the desire to explore and work from anywhere while I do it. So, what’s next? When I decided to leave I was going to take a few months off to travel then pursue a primary and back up plan when I returned. My primary plan was an offer to take over as COO for a start up a friend was running. Fortunately, it didn’t end up panning out–they ran into legal issues right before I returned to the US. Bullet dodged. My back up plan is now in full swing. In 2017 I began intensely researching entrepreneurship paths and what might fit my skill set. I knew I wanted to work for myself. However, if 95% of businesses fail within their first 5 years, was that the best risk/reward tradeoff? What if I could just buy something already successful? I started researching buying internet businesses because they could be run from any location. I was shocked when I found out they average 30% returns every year across the industry. I made four investments in 2019 and will double that in 2020. I’m targeting replacing my prior income by 2023. I think the rise of micro private equity investing is just beginning, and this is the perfect time to take advantage of the opportunity. Take big swings and bet on yourself. |
||||
 |
 |
|||
|
Real Wealth is Owning Your Time: Why I Walked Away from Half a Million by 06/13/2020, 1:10pm PDT  Yes, but only if you can afford it by 06/13/2020, 8:55pm PDT So basically he made some money at a BigCo and is now doing angel investing? by 06/13/2020, 9:17pm PDT |
