{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-post-ts","path":"/are-startups-the-anti-drake-why-i-chose-to-go-from-100k-to-0-real-quick/","result":{"data":{"site":{"siteMetadata":{"title":"Clausehound Blog","author":"Joshua Koudys"}},"markdownRemark":{"id":"60338c45-319a-5331-9d86-c659eaa18c1d","excerpt":"Originally posted on LinkedIn by Chris Snoyer, who is a member of Founder’s Only and occasionally guest posts here. TL;DR - Startups take time, you’ll start…","html":"<p><em>Originally posted on LinkedIn by Chris Snoyer, who is a member of Founder’s Only and occasionally guest posts here.</em></p>\n<p>TL;DR - Startups take time, you’ll start from the bottom and be there longer than you might think, but it will all be worth it (even if you don’t make any money).</p>\n<p>I just finished an application to enter our startup, <a href=\"https://www.withspiffy.com/restaurants/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Spiffy</a>, in a pitch contest with a prize of $100,000, and I had a funny thought…</p>\n<p>If you look at my LinkedIn profile, you’ll see that I cut my teeth as a sales professional at a company called TELUS, which is also the place I learned that I could have quite a comfortable life as a sales guy (<a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thought-week-salespeople-suck-its-your-fault-chris-snoyer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">and I have some of you to thank for that</a>).</p>\n<p>Some stars aligned for me to get that job out of school, and I was fortunate to join TELUS at an amazing time, and on a crazy-good team! I learned a TON from the rockstars around me, and we propelled each other to become one of the best teams in the country! As a result, we all earned some pretty good coin. Not Ferrari money, but enough that my mom told me to “F off” when I showed her one of my juicier commission cheques (with a smile on her face, of course!).</p>\n<p>TELUS also happens to be the company putting on this pitch contest, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that I’ve put myself in a position (by choice?!) where I’m now a <strong>long shot</strong> to <strong>WIN</strong> $100,000 from my old employer, who would have happily paid me that amount of money every year to be a member of their team. </p>\n<p>It was a great company to work for, and I still regularly suggest that people seek employment there, so why am I not fighting them for one of those open roles? <strong>How am I so OK with the decision to take my earnings from 100 to 0, real quick?</strong> As you might expect, it wasn’t such an easy decision at the time…</p>\n<h3>“You’ve got ONE year, Chris, ONE!” - me, to myself</h3>\n<p>This sounds like my parents scolding me, threatening to kick me out of a rent-free basement apartment at casa di mama, but this was a personal goalpost I had set. When I traded in a six-figure sales gig for one with a few less zeros (a grand total of one zero, to be exact), I told myself that if I couldn’t sort it out in a year, I’d go back to a corporate sales gig. As I negotiated with myself, I thought this seemed fair.</p>\n<p>Unfortunately, I didn’t make the cover of Forbes just yet… Fortunately, I broke my own promise. I don’t think I was more 3 months into the journey before <strong>I told myself I was never going back. Why?</strong></p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>I’ve developed a far more diverse skillset</strong> on this journey than I ever could have in a comfortable job, with a largely singular focus. The skills and increased confidence I’ve gain have been well worth the time invested.</li>\n<li>I have a strange appreciation for my new tax bracket. I have no doubt that the financial stress I’ve “welcomed” will pay dividends in the future. Being forced to <strong>optimize professional and personal output on a shoestring budget</strong> has taught me a lot about the inefficiencies in my life.</li>\n<li><strong>I am far more self-aware, and I love it!</strong> When you have to wear 98 hats to move a business forward, you really gain an appreciation for what you like/don’t like doing, and where your strengths lie. With a socially-acceptable two-year stint at each career-type job you take, that kind of self-discovery could take decades!</li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Looking back at my one year timeline, I can only laugh…</h3>\n<p>I read about too many “overnight successes” and fell into the trap, but I guess I am thankful I was so naive. Taking the leap would have been so much more difficult if I had known my earnings would have started at the bottom, and still been here…</p>\n<p>You can’t pay rent in hopes and dreams (I tried), so I’m not suggesting we all quit our jobs tomorrow, but I will implore you to spend more time out of your comfort zone, and challenge yourself in new ways (socially, financially, professionally).</p>\n<p>Self-awareness can be, and personal development absolutely <strong>should be</strong> a lifelong journey, but I like to think I’ve accelerated that curve in a big way! I think if more people focused on learning, rather than earning, they’d be pleasantly surprised with the results (socially, professionally, AND financially…)</p>\n<p>Cheers,</p>\n<p>Snoyer</p>","frontmatter":{"title":"Are Startups the Anti-Drake? Why I chose to go from 100(k) to 0, real quick!","date":"December 01, 2017","description":"Originally posted on LinkedIn by Chris Snoyer, who is a member of Founder’s Only and occasionally guest posts here.","author":{"id":"alva+ChrisSnoyer@clausehound.com","first":"Chris","last":"Snoyer","bio":null,"image":null},"tags":["Journey","ChrisSnoyer"]}}},"pageContext":{"slug":"/are-startups-the-anti-drake-why-i-chose-to-go-from-100k-to-0-real-quick/","previous":{"fields":{"slug":"/ontario-agreements-to-vary/"},"frontmatter":{"title":"4 Ways You Can Make Ontario's ESA Work Better for You","tags":["Employment Agreement","Human Resources","Employment","cmcivor"],"author":{"id":"cmcivor@cobaltcounsel.com","first":"Chris","last":"McIvor"}}},"next":{"fields":{"slug":"/bringing-coworkers-together/"},"frontmatter":{"title":"Bringing Coworkers Together","tags":["Announcements","aching"],"author":{"id":"alva@clausehound.com","first":"Alva","last":"Ching"}}}}}}