My Entrepreneurial Leap Story
Being an entrepreneur is not something you do, it is something you are — Gino Wickman
Now that I am 100% dedicated to building out my business, I have started listening to more podcasts. One of my favorite podcasts is Smart Passive Income by Pat Flynn. Pat’s YouTube series, The Income Stream, is one of the major reasons as to why I quit my job to pursue my dreams, so it seems fittingly that I listen to his podcast now for motivation. Recently, he published two episodes that discussed the concept of an entrepreneurial leap (e-leap). The concept here is simple, but yet so many struggle with. Being an entrepreneur is not something you do, it is something you are. E-leap signifies the moment where you commit 100% being an entrepreneur. It is the moment when you explicitly decide to leave behind the corporate life and you pursue entrepreneurship 100%.
Pat shares his story about how he got fired from his dream job in 2008 and then did not know what to do. If you are not familiar with Pat’s story, here’s the 5 second version. He gets laid off, writes a guide for passing the LEED exam required to become an architect. That product begins to generate him 20–25 thousand dollars a month. Every day, from the moment he was laid off until he made his entrepreneurial leap, Pat continues to apply to architecture jobs, hoping he finds a job. Even though his product is doing extremely well, he still believes that a job as an architect is what he is supposed to do in life. In the podcast episode, Pat recalls the moment when he finally made the leap and stopped applying to architecture jobs. The moment where he realized that selling his product was having a bigger impact on his community. The moment where he decided to let go of pursuing a career as an architect and committed 100% to growing his Smart Passive Income. And this moment is the entrepreneurial leap.
The moment when you finally let go of the shackles holding you back from chasing your dreams and building your own small business is when you make the entrepreneurial leap. Making this leap is scary. I’ve been unemployed for one entire week now, and at least twice a day, the thought of applying to a new job pops into my head. Being unemployed and chasing your dreams is not natural. We are taught that if we do well in high school, we can get into a good college. If we do well in college, we get a good job. And if we do a well in that job, 35 years later, we can retire. But 10 years into that 35 year journey, it just did not feel like it was what I was meant to do with my life. I quit my job to pursue my dreams. To build products and services that can help small businesses become more digital in a time where it is nearly impossible to physically do business.
I’m glad I listened to this podcast episode right at the start of my journey into entrepreneurship. If I had not stumbled upon this little gem, I most likely would have given up on dreams and gone back to applying to jobs. It seriously is scary not knowing if you’ll make any money, get any clients, or how you are going to pay for your bills. Having a job brings in that steady income that allows you to live the life you think you are supposed to have. But no, I’ve made my entrepreneurial leap. I have resisted and will continue to resist the urge to go back to the safety of a corporate job. I will chase after my dreams and see this thing through. Things are starting slow, but they are going well. I have already made a couple thousand dollars freelancing, and I continue to find new clients. I have 4 out of 18 sources of income already in motion. Over the weekend, I started number 4 and 5. I am making investments in my education right now which will enable me to pursue more sources of income. I am taking things one day at a time, but given a few months, I know that this will be all worth it. Making the leap was the right choice for me.
Have you made your entrepreneurial leap? If not, let’s discuss. I’m here to help you live the life you were meant to have, not the one society said we needed to follow. Come join me and chase your dreams!
