I’ve admitted it before, but in case you haven’t heard, I am a reformed MBA who’s recovered from time spent in the corporate world. I’ve always had big ideas, and I’ve done a lot of side work, first in construction, then web design and programming, and pretty much anything in between. When I got married, my wife supported my side endeavors, and the extra income they brought, but she was risk adverse, and couldn’t really stomach the idea of me going it on my own full time. There were stints between contract work where I did my own thing, but as soon as the next big opportunity came along, I usually jumped at it.
Then, about 4 years ago, my wife was starting her clinical years of medical school, I was getting more frustrated by the day with my job, and we had a daughter who was spending way too much time in daycare. In short, between the guilt we felt over sticking our daughter in daycare 10+ hours a day, and the long and difficult hours we were both working, we were all miserable. Close to our breaking point, we lasted about 3 days in this situation before my wife took an emergency leave of absence from school, and by the end of the week, I had also left my job. I’m not sure if it was more of an act of inspiration or desperation, but at that moment, we finally took the plunge into making our own business a full time endeavor.
It took some adjustment, but by the start of the next quarter, my wife was back at school, and I was home balancing life as a full time Dad and a business owner. My company, Neraida Vision Systems didn’t take off like I hoped, but it was a huge learning experience. Because failure was not an option, necessity caused me to take a step in another direction. As a result, my next company, Natural Wood Floors, was born about a year later.
So that, in a nutshell, is how I ended up taking the big leap into full time entrepreneurship. I always love to hear startup stories, so jump in and share what inspired you to take charge of your own life, quit that day job, and start a company of your own!
