180th Day of Freedom...

180th Day - what I have & have done not...

18th Sep 2018 marks my 180th Day of Freedom.
Free from a white collar Job which I both Loved and Loathed.
Loved the Travel, ears of the bosses & peers, meeting with Bankers and the Beers in the evenings in the snappiest of pubs.
Business attired and wheeling the next deal. Talking Economics and Investments with Treasury and the dealing rooms.
And working on business best practices and technology transformations.
Everywhere remote and conceivable - from Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Kuwait, Russia, South Africa to Switzerland and many many places in between.
Loved the attention and all, from the bosses to the clients.
And the decent pay that would make a corporate man happy.

Loathed only one thing - the Politics of office and the high handed Corporate affairs.
i.e. Dos and Donts. Company rules. Or to say - policy.
And the approvals for anything from an office stapler to trying to get an upgrade to a business class ticket because the flight was over 8 hours.

I wore the hat and worked relentlessly for 14 years with the same company based in Sydney.
Built teams globally, (in Philippinnes and India), chased Goals and KPIs and earned bonuses.
Crammed the daily hours with meetings and emails.
With a singular goal to maximise the company profits as a result.
To be the best professionally and be updated with the Technology trends.
From Blockchain to AI and Big data just to name a few.

Until one day when it just snapped.
When my boss called in a Strategy meeting reserved for a privileged few, the next day.
High on Octane, prepared for my preso and went in brimming and with a snappy coffee in hand, ready to wow and please.
It was announced we should be aiming at a 10% QoQ growth. From the HQ. No ahhs or buts.
That is a 46.41% per annum revenue increase per annum across all my accounts!
And that we needed to run the line with company policy and showed us some colorful graphs on which accounts were the big winners and which weren't.
Statistics to muscle in the outcomes.

It happened then - all of a second or two. On April 2nd.
It just dawned on me that I was preparing for this day since May '07 since I bought my first IP in Sydney, 11 years in the making.
Just to do one thing meaningful and prepare for this inevitably - to build a desirable portfolio with an income stream.
And I had had done that isn't it, what am I waiting for then?
Simple.
I encouraged myself, doubts aside, stood up and showed my slight descent humbly and said I could not work on these KPIs.
To my boss's bewilderment and everyone present.
And respectfully exited the room.

More happier today, 180 days behind.
Working at a meaningful pace and energy, and making a real difference, I believe.
To myself and the investors who stand beside (you know who you are...)
Encouraging and snapping the best wholesale under-market & real cashflow positive deals.

BTDT.... (been there done that)

To live life on your own terms. That was the goal eventually.
And now, it's a present. Tick.
6 months and not turning back, ever.
Tick again,
Is it a Friday or a Monday I know not,
because I am living the day, for the day, and just not for the weekends only...

Perhaps, as a start-up, I am working 80-100 hours a week now just to avoid 40 for someone and something I don't believe in.

 

Much success to you Bala and congratulations on all your hard work.
You summed it up in 1 line
"To live life on your own terms", what we all aspire to do.
Just the beginning of a very exciting journey for you.

 

Looks like the jet-setting and the lovely perks are ready for a payback time. In most companies, all the goodies don't come in free. One day, someone will ask for the returns. If one can keep on delivering the KPIs, no matter through whatever means (afterall, it is not their concerns), then you can keep the seat. If not, next please! There is always someone who say, I can do it!

 

Congratulations on the financial freedom!

After having a terrible day at work today I wish I was in your position.

 

Snap! Same day was had here and same sentiments from me. Congrats @GentleChief

 

I guess the "f-kyou" money does buy happiness. Congrats @GentleChief !

 

You betta believe it fu**in does. And a whole lot more.

 

Hope you are feeling better today and have taken control of your week!
As an entrepreneur, or a small-medium business owner, one would also find that they have their fair share of these 'terrible days' you just had.

So it's okay & take courage, you can work through these...

Just keep it going - remember Donald Trump is having the hardest day of life today.
You are not alone ;-)