Basically, I was fired
I used to work in corporate marketing, but the truth is, I didn’t really connect with it.
The money was good, the perks were pretty cool. I got to travel a lot.
But on some level, I knew I wasn’t happy.
I just figured “this is how it’s supposed to be though, right?”
I distinctly remember being called into my manager’s office and them offering me a “PDP” or personal development plan.
But a big part of me knew that frankly, I didn’t care if I failed the plan.
I really wasn’t motivated to prove myself to anyone in the company.
So I took a kind of redundancy package. If I left now, didn’t make a fuss, and moved on, they’d give me some cash.
In hindsight, I could have held out for more.
But large corporations prey on the naivety of their staff.
And when I left, I was pretty disheartened. I felt like I’d been let down.
I was angry, disillusioned, and young.
So I did what any sensible young man does when given a settlement, and who leaves a job with no job prospects on the horizon.
I went to Vegas.
No word of a lie.
I basically blew through my redundancy package in a week.
BUT I remember very clearly almost losing my last $2000.
That’s when I sobered up. Went back to my hotel room. And started writing out a business plan.
I took their little notepad and wrote out what I was going to do.
No Glass Onion or Digital Marketer napkin story I’m afraid. I have no idea what I wrote.
I just remember writing 3 things.
- I’m not going to work for anyone else again
- I’m going to start my own company
- I’ll do marketing for other people
And that is how things started.
10 years later, I’ve stuck to those 3 core ideas.
How’d you get started? What’s your origin story?
