One Year After Starting My Business... What Was the Biggest Gain?
On August 31, 2017, I quit my company and chose a way of life without being employed.
And I did it with a reckless resolve — the polar opposite of low-risk approaches like starting a side business while still employed or saving enough to live for a year — "I'm not prepared and haven't decided what to do, but I have to do it now!"...
A year has flown by.
So how did it turn out....
I can eat a healthy diet centered on home cooking, and I can exercise consistently because I can go to the gym when it isn't crowded, and these have a good effect on my work too.
Now I can proudly say, "I'm glad I chose a way of life without being employed by a company!"
Of course, it hasn't all been good.
Right after I quit, I was full of anxiety, and the state where my bank balance only decreased and never increased took quite a mental toll.
After my unemployment benefits finally ended, just when I thought I'd landed a client paying enough to live on, it got cut off early, and I ran out of money to get by and relied on a loan.
I have more regrets of the "I should have done that" and "if only I'd done this back then..." kind than I can count on both hands.
Of course, I'm still just getting started, so I'll probably make many more mistakes from here on.
But the biggest gain, which nothing can replace....
It is that I was able to form the mindset of "taking responsibility for everything myself, and not depending on anything (not blaming others)."
- If I don't provide decent value to clients, I'm the one who gets hurt
- If I don't manage income and expenses properly, I'm the one who gets hurt
- If I don't keep my promises properly, I'm the one who gets hurt
- If I don't know enough about taxes, I'm the one who gets hurt
Put the other way around:
- If I provide great value to clients, I gain great value
- If I manage income and expenses properly, I can protect my money
- If I keep my promises properly, I gain great trust
- If I know about taxes properly, I can keep as much money as possible
- Something like that.
There are many systems in the world that can be classified as "dependence."
Systems such as pensions, welfare, insurance, and dependent support that depend on the state; employment systems and benefits that depend on companies; loan systems that depend on financial institutions; and so on.
If you observe these systems carefully, they look convenient at first glance, but in most cases they give you small gains while costing you big losses.
It also seems to me that the more you depend on these things, the harder it becomes for your luck to turn around.
In fact, when I was relying on unemployment insurance and loans, everything I did was spinning its wheels, and my luck was at its lowest.
Starting a business is also called going independent, and I felt the meaning of that soak into every corner of my being.
If you are about to start a business, ask yourself "Is there anything I depend on right now?" and make a list.
It may be good to cut those ties as much as possible before starting your business.
And going independent the way I did is high-risk, so I think you'd better avoid it (lol). If I hadn't been single, it would have been over...
After all, nothing beats starting with a side business while you're still employed and starting your business once you've saved more than enough living funds.