Someone on Quora asked:
I am a 24 year old and I have changed 2 jobs and now planning to quit the 3rd job. Besides this I run a product start up in the remaining time.
I wanted to work for 1 year in my 3rd job (it’s been 8 months), but considering the potential of my start up, I want to quit the job.
I plan to give my start up at least 2.5 years and I am sure I will be able to sell the product. (Already sold a few units). My fear is in case something wrong happens and if I plan to take a job again or go for higher studies after 2.5 years. Would any college or company be interested ? or my profile would be too much negative to be considered.
This was my response:
My resume lists employers across the board. Employers hate it. It’s already quite hard enough for my resume to get pushed through the software in regards to key words. It is even harder to get an interview after they review my resume.
You’re hopping jobs by choice. I was hopping jobs by force. I never wanted to leave the real estate industry. I was on track to make $50,000 a month. I was going to buy a Lamborghini and tell everyone to pound sand. But then again, I was 23 years old kid. I made $100,000 two years prior and I was as cocky and arrogant as can be. However, the real estate market crashed when Bear Stearns went down in a fire sale, and I was left holding my empty bags. No longer was I able to stare through my glass windows in the corner office of my suite on the 30th floor of the Gas Company Tower while watching b2 bombers flying over Dodger stadium on opening day while drinking scotch at my dry bar. Now I was just poor and without an income. Not a penny.
So I thought of what else there was to do. What else could earn me that Lamborghini? I decided that the stock market would be able to change my life. There are movies all over about people making fortunes on wall street. So I decided to become a stock broker. Little did I know, that AIG and WaMu would burn and collapse as well. So again, I was out of a career.
That was just in one year.
Then next, I went to work with a startup. We did well until we pivoted. Then everything fell apart. So I went on to do things outside my field, then went back to another startup. That one was underfunded, so even though we captured over 1,000 vendors to accept our product, we were eaten alive.
By this time, I knew what I didn’t want.
I didn’t want to try to get rich. I didn’t want to build something from nothing. I didn’t want to hop jobs.
I wanted to set my roots and build a foundation. So I went to work at a Global Fortune 100 company. I had hopes that I would move up in the ranks and retire in middle management. From my expectations so far, that dream seems like a one off. So I’m looking for a new career. A new place where I can place my roots and build my foundation, until the day I am dead.
You should be doing the same. You should be setting your roots and building a business that you will stick with until you are dead. Not any wishy washy stuff where you think about what you want to do today, then are off to another project tomorrow.
Want to know why the rich get richer?
They have a secret recipe to success. One that they don’t want anyone to know about.
What is this secret?
They put all their eggs in one basket, then they make it work. Then spread myths about how people should diversify. You should never diversify unless you have millions in the bank.
So you want to capture the market?
Put your eggs into one basket.
Commit.
Make it work.
Or someone else will take the market away from you.
Why?
Because the business world is shrewd. If you aren’t fully committed, someone else will be. Then they will take the market away from you, leaving you with nothing.
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Originally posted on Quora.