I quit my job. With nothing lined up but a vision and endless optimism. Why, you ask? It's not that I have anything against my current company, I actually hold them pretty dear to me. It's just that relentless feeling of "so, this is it, huh?" when you enter a job. Everyday I would go to lunch and listen to the same banter, go to my desk and plug away at the same excel spreadsheets, make the same phone calls and fax the same stuff I forgot to sign so I have to send an email to disregard the prior fax and re-fax a correctly signed copy. All the while spending my days half split between knowing I was destined for greater things, and currently underachieving, and day-dreaming about a robot ninja strike on my office that would leave the entire place in chaos, with everyone looking for a hero that was just shirtless and enough and covered in coconut oil enough to barbarian strike them down with a massive, group-oriented sleeper hold the likes of Brutus Beefcake. (For tips on how to properly administer the sleeper hold on your friends, children, and neighbor's dog) It was just the doldrums.
When I entered the workforce at the ripe age of 23 (a lot of people go to school for seven years), no one in the business college told me "hey, you're going to most likely hate what you do for a living." But they knew it. Know how I know? Because looking back I realized most of THEM hated what they did for a living. They were all surly guidance counselors at a SUNY school. Who the hell wakes up as a wide-eyed five year old and goes: "Holy shit I want to be a public college guidance counselor!!!!" No you don't. You want to be a space cowboy, riding a stallion made of lava into a star system made of lucky charms and magic. Instead you help kids with Chlamydia pick classes they're going to cut in order to catch more Chlamydia. I digress.
In short: people who hate their jobs were (and are) in charge of grooming the future workforce of America. They refuse to let them know the terrible fate that awaits that graduating class; that they too will most likely hate their jobs, or worse yet, actively push them AWAY from pursuing their dreams. Preaching things like:
"Stay in school or you WILL pump gas, it is the only job available to the uneducated."
"Space cowboys don't exist."
"Porn is only for people less hairy than you, unless you find a wolfman niche."
Alright, this isn't an anti-guidance counselor/college rant. It's actually the opposite (college is incredibly important for a lot of reasons, not all of them involving cheerleaders). But for sake of security, and stability, like SO many others, I was stuck in that mundane office routine. The same one that drives men to cheat on their secretaries with their wives just to infuse a little action and romance into the monotony of having an office affair. It just became too much. I have youth. I have wanderlust. I have unbridled ambition. Combine that with an offer I believe in with a trustworthy friend. Event coordinator Chris never stood a chance. I took the leap of faith that most secure people preach against. I sat down, incredibly nervously in front of my boss of three years and said: "This is tough for me, but I'm giving you my notice." Done. It's real.
So I'm no motivational speaker, and I'm certainly not presenting this as a "safety in numbers" feelgood campaign for my own benefit, but all I'm saying is to all you Space Cowboys out there, don't be afraid to strap on a six-gun, a cowboy helmet, and hop on that lava-steed to set a course for the stars. Especially if you have no family, and no real responsibilities...now is the time. Get after it. In the time you spent reading this you could have been one step closer to your goal. And don't remmeber: the hardest part is always the first step.
So here we go with my first step, with a partner, a vision for how running a business should be, and a pocket full 'o 5 bucks and dreams. No, I'm not an actor (yet - still pitching Wolfman porn to producers), no, I'm not a writer (this is a hobby, not a job), but this is no less the story of a starving dreamer, an artist whose pallet is his ability to sell and network, whose canvas is the world of Social Networking. Bring it on, professional world: Your knight in shining sandals is ready to casual Friday the stale right out of your team-building exercises. Enter: The Antiprofessional.
Days left at the old job: 14
New Client Meetings tomorrow:
Four in Astoria: 12pm -5pm
One in Long Island City: 6pm
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