I desire a job I love

My entrepreneurial and career ambitions all boil down to that one line. I know that in a position I’m passionate about, I can better influence my own fate, and lead a very satisfying life. Beyond that I wish to work with others who also enjoy what they do. Ideally my efforts will help create more jobs that people can get excited about.

The following is a brief background of our startup efforts over the past year. If you know the story you can skip ahead to Going with the Flow.

Product Market Fit Requires a Market

One of the areas we’ve struggled with at Victus Media is finding a market and traction within it. “If you build it they will come” only works if you’re Kevin Costner or James Earl Jones. We had to learn this the hard way with the initial ad based functionality of the IMM. Now with GarageDollar we have a market clearly in our sights and are rapidly exploring interfaces and tools that will ease the process of marketing yard sales.

Going with the Flow
I had come to the conclusion that I would have to build that job with a startup/small business, but there may be alternatives I haven’t considered. As much as I relish the challenge of building and running a business with my own effort, and diving into the web stack from top to bottom, I have to balance that need with a minimum lifestyle.

The cost of a modest living for myself, my wife and our two little bark boxes (dogs) is 70k per year after taxes in our area including debt. My wife Michelle can get us halfway there, which makes a clear target of 60k gross that I need to pull in per year. I’m confident that I can earn enough with part time work, a combination of short term contracts, or freelancing. But I’m not confident I can love those types of work. I believe in longer term commitments and sustained value.

What if I could earn that lifestyle and equity in another business venture?

Businesses which are looking to branch out and grow in areas which overlap with my areas of expertise* can benefit from my enthusiasm, while I can help build a business I believe in. I won’t own much equity at the start, but I can earn it over time while building the value of the business. I can satisfy my need for a position I greatly enjoy, while helping build a nascent business. I’d like to thank regular reader and commenter Leland Creswell for opening my eyes to opportunities that fall in this category.

notes
*= see I’m a founder first which ironically details many of my skill areas if you’re curious

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  • http://twitter.com/emerigent/lists/memberships Emeri Gent [Em]

    Who am I to say what anyone should do, but I can offer kindness and one more ounce of inspiration, so please accept my thoughts as a thoughtful gesture and a simple gift. You know me, I think aloud and in doing so pour forth thoughts.

    Sometimes our best intentions are not good enough, they don’t answer the call, they don’t hit the mark and the best we can do is vocally send out our support as a rally cry that itself is worth its weight in gold because that is all we all need to hear.

    I am the kind of fool that always wants to make a difference but don’t have the kind of answers that people really need at a core transition points of a life.

    The best I can do right now is look for additional materials online that you may find an affinity with and that won’t divert your attention away from that which matters, which is how you go about shaping your future business or career decision at this important time.

    I found this book called “career renewal”, which might help as a sounding board for your plans, but since I am not an engineer, I have linked it because it seems helpful.

    Career Renewal (for Engineers, Scientists etc)
    http://books.google.com/books?id=uUd7V2Tl3NYC&p…

    In between finding our flow and the building of expectations, I am not a fan of burning the ships metaphor anymore. IMHO we live in age where flexibility counts for more and where being adaptive means achieving a relaxed state of mind rather than a warrior spirit.

    I find that the very things that help us in the turbulence of business, sometimes get in the way when we need to invite possibility into our life and where we need to reframe things so we can see things a new light and with confidence.

    In this regard, we city folk can make simple things very complicated, like I probably am doing right now, then we both need to listen to Jack . . .

    “You City Folk . . .”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxY31-FcDVA

    It is easy to get into the frame of mind such as “What is the Question Neo” but I think the mindset one requires in any transition point is the one that is portrayed in the City Slickers video above. I find that whatever we tell our minds, our minds will earnestly (and sub-consciously) work on.

    You have already mentioned the crucial things in your life:

    1. Michelle
    2. Your Friends
    3. Your Network

    but above them all you clearly know your number. With that number, whether it is $30K, $60K or $100K, it is easier to work backwards with the year in mind and set our focus on how we are going to achieve that number. So you are already ahead of the curve that most people are on, because most don’t think that way, and don’t look at tomorrow in the way you already have.

    Yet that tomorrow is about that one thing and this is one of those transition points where the challenge and your capability meet.

    Looking at this another way, how many times in a life will you have to do this most important of all work, which is to figure out what you want to do with your life, to think clearly what it is you want. So I would suggest to embrace and relish this moment and to also recognize that chaos and confusion have their place in life if we welcome them as gifts and not as problems. Life has a way of self-organizing when we embrace it.

    To welcome such is the catalyst and it is like welcoming the universe into one’s life, the abundance mentality means taking care and welcoming a transition point such as this. I can’t help you with your “one thing” but I know that life is about knowing what gets us in flow and finding that sweet spot between challenge and capability.

    There is I find, a joy in finding this one thing (which is about your life not anyone elses), for there is in this opportunity, the chance to embrace humility. To ask for help is a great thing. Ask, ask and ask when you know why you ask.

    I do believe in the power of asking for help and I also recognize the power of inspiration and though I am certainly no career advisor or qualified in any way to give advice. I wrote this because your a good man and I feel proud to share my thoughts at this most important time in your life, as I think out aloud.

    The road ahead Mark, is itself one step at time, but of course once you have found your “one thing”, your compass, your true north. For sure this is not an easy process and there is always a pain in any transition, but it is a good pain, because it is the most important hard thinking a person can do in a life.

    “Step by Step” by Whitney Houston
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVyO0I_kJuw&feat…

    Peace and my best to you Mark. I hope these stream of thoughts were helpful and not a hindrance to you.

    [Em]

  • http://twitter.com/Ovurmind Viktor Ovurmind

    I don’t know who is tackling at this right now because I see lots of middle men in the field who treat technologists as a human resource pool rather than a community. Employers need a secure and reputation based source for talent and tech talent need to collaborate in a fluid project and peer based system.

    [v.o.M.]

  • http://www.victusspiritus.com/ Mark Essel

    I needed every line and character of your reply today. You have a rare gift for timing your message just at the moment it is needed.