Here's to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do...
Be my own boss
This statement is something that always has rang true for me:
I don't want to work for somebody else, on somebody else's passion. I want to work towards the projects that I feel passionate about, use my talent and skills to build something that comes from me, and to work when and where I want to, and have the time to really focus on making my changes to the world.
But, was I really trying to get there?
For the past few months preceding me quitting my job, something was slowly snapping inside of me. A growing feeling that actually, I'm wasn't heading down this path, this ultimate goal that I want to reach for myself. I'm throwing myself into working for other people, getting caught up in the working world of a in-house UX. And I was stagnating. Throwing yourself into somebody else's grand idea, no matter how exciting and awesome it may be, has always left me feeling like I should be doing this on my own ideas - that if they can do it, why can't I?
The reasons why I thought I couldn't do it mostly stem from fear. The feeling that at 25, I'm still relatively inexperienced and that I'd need to get some more wisdom under my belt before I could feel "safe" enough to branch out on my own; being scared of not being able to support myself; being scared of having all of that responsibility on my shoulders; scared that people would laugh at me when I told them of my aspirations. I was fearful, so therefore I was content to stay in my little happy place of comfort. A bad move.
But, a funny thing happened when my brain finally rationalised all that fear stuff out for me. When I realised that all my supposed reasons were coming from a place of fear, pushing me towards staying my safe course, a little voice in my brain that was previously muffled by all that fear starting to speak out, niggling at me. Telling me that I didn't have to be scared, that I could make a change. And I started to believe it.
The voice was made so much stronger by the fact that it was slowly being nurtured from a weak, sickly little whisper into a strong, booming, operatic shout by hearing Rob talk about his aspirations and dreams for world domination. Talking with Rob helped affirm everything I had been thinking and really helped me to cement some ideas in my mind. I started to feel that inexorable pull towards an end decision that I hadn't actually made yet - I knew what decision was right for me, it was just a matter of doing it.
So, in September 2011, I made the biggest decision of my life to date; I handed in my notice!
Rob and I formed Leonis Software shortly after and we are currently working on one or two very exciting things!
Being a co-founder and a director of a company is the best decision I could have made. I'll save it for another post to talk about why, but I am really having the time of my life being my own boss. Yay!