Life's Forks in the Road

I have had a chance to reflect this week about my interview with my entrepreneur and what goals I am setting in my life. I may have mentioned this in previous posts but I am at a very peculiar crossroads in life. I am nearing the end of my academic journey and have been steadily employed at my current position for over five years. There is little overlap between what I am studying, business management, and my current job, emergency medical technician. I have known for some time that I am not interested in continuing in my current position. However, it affords me the opportunity to obtain my education while also providing for my family. Thinking about the brave steps entrepreneurs face in starting their own businesses made me question if I have that same courage to forge my own path.

Ultimately I believe I do. I have come to the situation where I have three possible paths laid out before me. Option one is to pursue more education and hope for an even higher paying job upon graduation. This option would mean my withdrawal from current employment and a full time commitment to school. Option two involves me finishing my current slate of classes and transferring within my company or finding work elsewhere upon the completion of school. This option gives is the least stressful because it involves very little change until a new job is acquired. The third option is to strike it out on my own. I have formulated a few business ideas but still need to iron out the business plans for each. This option would allow me to slowly begin my business while I work at my current job and then once slightly more established leave my current employer. This one is scary because it is the most foreign to me.

In my interview it gave me hope and anxiety simultaneously. Hope because I know people can do it, I can do it. Anxiety because failure can be really hard sometimes and I am not sure I am ready for it. I hope to follow the advice in the “Think Big” video where Taylor Richards mentioned just being a normal guy and not anything special. His encouragement pushes me into the more hopeful side over the anxiety.