Six months ago, I was an in-house legal counsel, supporting the Asia-Pacific region’s business development for a multinational corporation.
Today, I’m working from my home office desk, building a startup, that exists mostly in my head and Google Docs.
And sometimes, when I’m doomscrolling through LinkedIn/Instagram, I wonder if I’ve lost my mind. 🙈
Everything seems to have changed.
Here’s what they don’t tell you about leaving a successful career to become an entrepreneur: that pit in your stomach isn’t just about the risks ahead – it’s about what you’re leaving behind. 😨
You see, while my former colleagues and friends from college are announcing their promotions and sharing photos from their corporate retreats, I’m celebrating small wins like “figured out how to set up a website without crying.”
The FOMO hits hard when you see your peers climbing corporate mountaintops, while you’re back at base camp, studying a completely different mountain.
I have started noticing the similarities between this new journey with the solo travel trips I have taken in the past, especially the initial ones.
Do you remember your first solo trip? That mixture of excitement and terror when you realized you were completely on your own? 🫣
Starting a business feels exactly like that.
Just like solo travel strips away the comfort of familiar faces and places, entrepreneurship can strip away the identity you’ve carefully built over the years.
During my travels, I learned to trust my gut about which street food was safe to eat.
Now, I’m trusting my gut about which aspects of business I should focus on first.
But here’s the thing about solo journeys – they force you to build different muscles.
Your tribe – the people who spoke your language of monthly reviews and strategic initiatives – suddenly feels distant.
Their problems are no longer your problems.
Your problems are… well, entirely your own.
The entrepreneurial world doesn’t always help too.
My social feed is an endless parade of funding announcements, rocket ship growth stories, and “overnight” successes.
It’s tempting to think I’m falling behind before I’ve even properly started.
But here’s what I’ve learned: those stories are like perfectly filtered Instagram travel photos – they show the destination, never the delayed flights, lost luggage, or wrong turns. 😑
From my solo travel, I learned that the best moments weren’t the picture-perfect sunsets, but the unexpected conversations in tiny cafes, the wrong turns that led to hidden gems, and the quiet moments of figuring things out on my own.
Building a business is teaching me the same lesson. The joy isn’t in the highlight reel – it’s in the daily small wins, the client/customer conversations that make your heart sing, the problem you solve that nobody else saw.
Yes, sometimes I miss the certainty of a monthly paycheck and a clear career trajectory.
But I’m slowly learning to measure success differently now.
Instead of celebrating the signing off of a new project, I appreciate the joy of hearing a client who says “You helped me solve my problem.”
Instead of team happy hours, I find joy in days when I make progress on my product or when I get approached by a new client and it feels like everything finally clicks! 😀
And while my old tribe is important, I’m slowly building a new one – other crazy souls who chose to leave their comfortable lives to build something meaningful.
I am starting to become intentional about measuring my progress in the problems I help to solve, in the depth of understanding I’m building, but most importantly in the clarity of purpose I feel even on the hardest days.
To my fellow career-transitioning entrepreneurs: when the FOMO hits (and it mostly will), remember that you’re not falling behind – you’re taking the scenic route.
Every time you resist the urge to pivot to the path of least resistance or the latest trendy idea, you’re building resilience. 💪🏽
Every time you choose long-term impact over short-term hype, you’re laying another brick in your foundation. 🧱
Because here’s what I’ve realized: entrepreneurship, like solo travel, isn’t about reaching the destination fastest.
It’s about creating a journey worth taking, and maybe, just maybe, building something that lasts longer than any corporate promotion cycle.
The view from my kitchen table might not be as impressive as that corporate office.
But the vision of what I’m building? That’s all mine.
And that makes all the difference.💜
P.S.: I hope you too are building your new tribe slowly and intentionally or perhaps feel free to join mine! 🙂
