After seven years in a high-paying finance function that seemed excellent on paper however made him depressing, a 30-year-old lastly give up. The job paid $300,000 a yr, and got here with a way of life filled with high quality eating, snowboarding, and standing. However deep down, he hated it.
“No dramatic blow up, no large revelation,” he wrote in a current Reddit put up on r/Entrepreneur. “Simply the quiet realization that I couldn’t hold pretending I loved it.”
So he left. He purchased right into a 40-year-old household enterprise and launched a Miami actual property startup, each funded out of pocket. As the only real builder, designer, and marketer, he shortly realized that entrepreneurship was a unique beast.
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“I actually thought I might simply present up and develop one thing. Completely delusional,” he admitted. He underestimated how laborious it’s to get consideration, compete in adverts, and drive income.
The actual problem, nonetheless, was the whiplash from shedding the outdated life. “The life-style freefall,” he stated, “has been completely brutal.” He misses the convenience of dropping $200 on sushi, snowboarding each winter, and having an id individuals immediately revered. “Telling ladies I am constructing corporations as a substitute of being the finance man at a giant fund,” he stated.
On prime of that, headhunters hold calling with mid-six-figure gives, tempting him with a straightforward return to consolation and standing.
Although he is nonetheless financially safe, with lots of of hundreds within the financial institution and investments, the shift in every day life has been harsh. No extra luxurious, no simpler social validation. “Truthfully, some days it’s embarrassing,” he stated.
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His put up struck a nerve with many former excessive earners and company dropouts sharing their very own sobering transitions.
One commenter who left a $430,000 wage stated in addition they practically gave up in the course of the early years of their enterprise: “Consistently considered scrapping it and going again to what labored. Now I work 15-20 hours every week, $10 million in income… 8 holidays this yr with my household.”
One other one who left a $500,000 tech job admitted, “I simply could not reside with doubtlessly destroying my prime incomes years, however there could be remorse if that firm makes it large.”

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