lifes a dance, you learn as you go
So life has been pretty crazy as of late, and I figured I’d take this 3:30am moment to update you all. If you’re a regular reader of this blog most of this should be no surprise, and if it is, I apologize for not keeping in better contact.
But yeah, so about a month ago Symantec Corp, whom I had worked for since college moved me from my sunny home in Orange County to the place I would soon call home in Boston. That lasted 4 days before I got a call from the bosses who informed me that I was a casualty of the latest 5% RIF (Reduction In Force) and that today was my last day. Needless to say I was a bit blindsided by it as we were a very strategic group that was heavily involved in the success of the company vision, particularly with the consulting partners, if not consulting delivery as a whole. But alas, corporate life is prone to such frustrations. So in a matter of 15 minutes life went from peachy to turmoil.
I spent the next several hours in a personal strategy session, as being so new to the partner and consulting realms I don’t feel like this was my given career and I needed to find a new senior partner manager position. I decided this was going to be the perfect storm for me. I have enough in the bank to last me a few months, and have determined I am going to try and make a go of being an entrepreneur. I flew home from Toronto and got back to my home office, ordered a personal laptop and have gone to work.
I am now working on 3-4 projects looking to expand to 5-6 projects and hoping to have revenue to pay the bills within the next 3 months. My overhead is 700 bones, (I love being a single schmuck in these situations) and if I can cover that I’m in great shape and will keep doing this till I die. I love the work, I love working on startup ideas, I love the creativity process, and I love boot strapping. So my 12-14 hour days that were so long with Symantec have turned into 18 hour days of pure joy. It’s a nice change, and will be nicer still when I make some of these stick.
So I will be moving from Boston in January to Toronto to live in my buddies basement while we grow two of the projects and plan to be back in Missouri sometime towards the fall with some new projects for the states as well.
So if any of you guys have great business ideas you’ve been meaning to start, give me a call. Lets rock and roll. 
Lessons learned though, there have been many.
First, it can’t happen to me is a stupid mentality and needs to be done away with immediately. A company is in the mix to make money, and despite what logic would dictate, you have no idea what they’re thinking. Prepare yourself, pay down debts, keep some savings. It goes without saying, but had I known a month ago how things were going to go, I would have saved a bit more aggressively, and now I just wish I would have been smarter.
Second, the how could this have happened to me is a stupid mentality and should be done away with immediately. My initial response was to be incredulous but that was very quickly replaced with ‘strategize and adapt’. The latter served me much more. You have to ask yourself what doors of opportunity are open, and they may not be what you are thinking. For me, I don’t plan on finding a job that is going to pay me as much as I was making in this recession, so I had to think, if not a job then what. Arrive at a position that allows you to keep progressing.
Third, loyalty is lost in today’s world, don’t bemoan that, use it. A company will never think ‘don’t fire bill, we promised him a job for a few years’ so why do we think ‘I should stay here for x years, that’s the good thing to do, they’ve invested in me’? A company does what makes it money, for employees, they should treat their career like a chess match, with each move being strategic, but the key there is they are moving. You have no business riding down a sinking ship cause it’s the ‘right thing to do’. Don’t get me wrong, you be ethical, if you commit to a time frame, keep it, but commit cautiously, and move where opportunities open to you.
Anyway, good luck to all of you who are meeting similar fates, but on the bright side, adventures are back and I’m waking up smiling again.
you are so wise, Mr.Alan…… good luck in your adventures!! (and may one or two of them make ME rich!!) Teheheheehh! Just kidding! …seriously, I was kidding.
Wow! you even make a job loss sound great! Amazing…I am proud of you though. Keep up the good work, and don’t stay gone for too long. We miss you.
Per usual, you have a rosy attitude about things, my friend. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I got let go from PhaseOne earlier this year, but then you moved in with me and I had something to keep me busy, and by that I don’t mean you and our friendship, I mean GTA IV.
Mr. Doan,
You’ve accomplished more in your life than anyone I know and with good humor, wit and smiles. You’re also proud of your roots and should be! Keep eating the Blue Bunny ice cream!
Love, Kay