Job #26

“If you aren’t moving up, move on.”

I’ve learned to trust my gut. At a young age I knew I didn’t want to live an average life but based on statistics, I could’ve ended up in a very different situation. I didn’t have the type of parents that provided me with any guidance and I learned a lot of things from experience. I didn’t have the type of family that encouraged me to go to college or really do anything with my life. In fact, the lack of motivation was all the motivation I needed.

I always wanted more out of life and at 16, I had my first job. By age 25, I had held at least 26 job titles. A lot of people who know me think I’m crazy BUT the fact that I’ve worked in so many jobs has made me realize that it’s never the work that makes a good employee leave, it’s always the people. If there is clear evidence of poor leadership, greedy bosses, and/or inequality, it’s obvious to someone like me. Although job #26 paid more than the previous jobs, I was the only minority and the youngest within the company. I was always being taken advantage of and always told what it “wasn’t my role” to do. After years of being there, I walked away and I decided that I would not work for anyone again.

This was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make, mainly because I genuinely loved what I did. I loved it so much that I overlooked everything else but because I allowed these things, they continued. I did not receive a raise or bonus for years when I worked unsupervised while continuing to outperform my colleagues and bring in money for the business. I was pretty good at what I did and I felt that I had outgrown my position but my boss refused to allow me to work in any other areas. Instead, he insisted that I work on some entry level tasks to help other people if I felt my work was “too easy”.

What did I do wrong? I’ve come from nothing and made a life for myself but this job is just that and it’s not a job I see myself doing for the next 5 years. Frankly, I would always want to be in a role where there was room for advancement, or at least that’s what I wanted.

I declined to take the easy work and wear myself out for a job that obviously didn’t care about my personal growth. I was depressed and I hated going to work. I didn’t have time to make friends in the city because I worked so much and I hated coming home and being alone. I told myself that I needed to pull myself out of it and I started going outside and doing different things.

One day I was at the park reading a book about wealth management (not that I had any wealth to manage) and I started to think about how much I love to read. There were books out there about anything a person could want to know and I started looking at things I wanted to learn about. Spirituality, copyright & trademark laws, and entrepreneurship. I started buying books every week and reading every morning and night. I came up with a plan on how to make money on the side and it was successful, to say the least.

Once I started generating my own source of income consistently, I began to think about my future and how successful I could be if I put the same energy I was willing to put into someone else’s goals into my own. I was mind blown by the thought of making unlimited income on my own terms and being able to enjoy my life.

I believe that the idea of being stuck and not being able to accomplish goals or being limited in what goals I could accomplish stressed me out more than anything. Why would I limit my potential to work for a company that would easily replace me if something were to happen to me? In the end, I realized I wasn’t going to move up and I made the decision to move on.

When I focused on the job more than myself, the goal was to get a promotion.

Now, the goal is to be semi-retired by 30.