Let the adventure continue

I just quit my job.

Well, not really, it was three weeks ago. And even then, I really quit my job four months ago, I just didn't tell my boss.

Why did I do this? At 24, I was essentially the #2 at a young and growing company, doing something I was good at and that I liked doing. My boss was better than I could have asked for. I had a ridiculous number of vacation days, including two weeks paid at Christmas. I was interacting with some of the most creative and successful songwriters in Nashville on a daily basis. Shoot, I was exactly where any music business grad from Belmont dreams to end up.

So why would I give this all up? Because I needed to.

The company had become something I didn't recognize; certainly not what I had signed on for. We were running a business model that was not sustainable without the owner absorbing significant losses for the foreseeable future. To top that off, the owner didn't care about losing money. You would normally think that's great news: no pressure to turn a profit, great job security, all that jazz. But, for me, that was the worst thing I could have found out. My future went from one determined by my performance and the company's success to one determined by the whims of the owner. In this light, I was essentially being paid to be the owner's friend, and in this light I knew it was only a matter of time before my friendship became too expensive. And that's saying something, given my salary.

But, as I said, I love doing what I did. And I'm good at it too! So I decided to start my own company, doing exactly the same thing I did, just for myself now. It is so freeing to think that I can now control everything about my life. I now make my own schedule, I can take on the clients that I want, I can have the fee structure that I want; my future is wide open!

I've said several times over the last several weeks that the rest of my life begins now. And that's true. But that was true four months ago. That was true a year ago. At any moment, we make the choice to keep doing what we do or to make a change. Choosing to stay where you are is still a choice, and you live with those consequences for the rest of your life. So I guess now I just made a different choice. It's like I've been reading the same part of the "Choose Your Adventure" story that is my life for the last two and a half years, and this time I chose Option B.

And now the adventure continues. I've been at this point several times in my life, and it always feels the same, and it always feels right, and it always works out best. There are nerves, there are fears, there are unknowns. But there is promise, hope, and peace, and that's all I need.

Here's to the future!

And in honor of the Olympics, I give you one of the greatest recordings in music history:

Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell