How I Went From Working For Yahoo To Working For Myself

It’s going to get really bad — before it gets really good.

The other day I was filming a YouTube video and scrolling through the questions people were asking me.

In particular, one of them stood out to me, “What do you do for work, and is it what you wanted to do growing up?”

What a peculiar question. Nobody ever asks that anymore, “is it what you wanted to do growing up…”

I grew up in a pretty traditional household; my cousins had a dad to write fat checks for their kids to go to college, they were all gifted cars for their 16th birthdays, clothing from the coolest stores. They’re all married now with kids and a degree in the medical field.

Are they happy?

Who really knows?

I was raised by a single mom (the most fantastic person on the planet). I paid my way through college and dropped out when I realized what I wanted to do — college couldn’t give me.

I still cringe at the thought of how much money I flushed down the toilet.

I always knew that I wanted to do something creative; I spent months in bed with crumpled up papers all around me, fiercely scribbling lines and words and stories to share with people. I imagined myself making movies one day, directing people into winning Oscars and being nominated for the best film of the century.

I had dreams — and unfortunately, that’s all I allowed them to be for a long time. I went from job to job in the tech field. I worked for people I disagreed with, working on projects that didn’t set my soul on fire.

The life you desire will require sacrifice.

I live in Los Angeles; I had a pretty well paying job at Yahoo for a time. It was less than a 20-minute drive to work every day; I had the opportunity to work from home whenever I desired, the perks of having a great boss.

There was also a full cafeteria with free breakfast and lunch every day.

My day started at 5; I would go to the gym in my apartment building, then I would be in the office no later than 7–7:30.

I was out before 3. I was fortunate when I think back on it. The problem was that I got too comfortable. Working at Yahoo was only supposed to be for a few months; I needed a job while I worked to make my side hustle a full-time career. At the time, my side hustle was food blogging.

I created and designed my own website that I spent hours on every day; I woke up, had coffee, and would spend every minute in the kitchen — creating and trying out new recipes. That was my goal, however, once I started working at Yahoo, half of my day was gone, and by the time I came home — there wasn’t any time for me to create new recipes nor photograph them, the sun was setting, and the lighting wasn’t optimal despite having ring lights.

My 3-month plan eventually turned into 6, then a year — then two years.

I realized something needed to change — did I want to work a 9–5 forever with the potential of moving up? Or, did I want to take the plunge and jump into working for myself despite not knowing the outcome?

Working for yourself will be 10x harder than working for someone else.

Here’s the problem, when you work at a corporate company — despite them telling you, “come in whenever and leave whenever,” there’s still a specific time frame that you have to adhere to.

When you work for yourself, the entire day is yours, which was what I loved most.

I value freedom, I value my time, and the most significant selling point for me in having my own business is working on my own timetable. I told myself I’d wake up at 5 every day, go to the gym, get straight to work by 8 and work on my business till bedtime.

While I can confidently say I’m pretty disciplined and I do adhere to that schedule most days, there are times when I will sit and stare at my computer screen for hours. I’ll contemplate everything — my work, life, money, what I’m having for lunch — you name it.

When you work for someone — you have deadlines you’re trying to meet, a boss looking over your shoulder, and work that’s stacked in a neat pile that you know how to do.

Working for yourself is an entirely new language that requires both internal and external work. The only person you have to disappoint is yourself — and saying, “it’s okay, you deserve a break” can become an easy go-to when you’re struggling.

As the founder, CEO, president, managing member/director, you’re in charge of everything — which means that you need to be your own cheerleader. You need to be the one to boss up and tell yourself to keep going — and work harder despite setbacks/conflicts/or anything else that might arise.

You’re going to feel discouraged — a lot.

Starting something new — by yourself is always hard. It’s not a simple step-by-step process. It’s not easy to grow an audience, and it’s definitely not easy to sell a product.

Last December, I wrote an E-Book filled with tons of healthy breakfast and lunch recipes. I spent countless days on those recipes, edited tons of photos, and worked tirelessly on making the E-Book as aesthetic as possible.

It was my first one — I wanted it to be perfect.

I had a total of 9 sales.

Eight if you subtract the one my mom bought for support.

“Was I not any good? Were my salesman skills total crap? What was I doing wrong?” I asked myself these questions for weeks; I ended up lowering the price of the E-book almost 75% in hopes of people buying more and gaining a bit of exposure.

I felt like a failure because I thought I had done everything right. I put in the work, stayed up every night, and posted on social media. I was ticking off all the right boxes.

Here’s the thing about failure, though, it’s not a person. It’s merely an event that is so temporary that if you allow yourself to move forward instead of dwelling on it — you can learn from it and get better.

As Mark Cuban wrote in his book,

“It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and neither should you. When you finally get it right, then everyone can tell you how lucky you are.”

You’re going to feel really bad before you feel really good about your decision.

I’m nowhere near where I want to be in life. My goals seem to get bigger and better as the days go by. I believe it’s because I expose myself to so much energy and experiences every day.

I read every day; I explore LA, I listen to other people’s stories, and all of it inspires and shapes my dreams. Sometimes you need to see what others have achieved so you could understand just how much the world has to offer you.

I’ve had incredible months, and lately — I’ve had some crappy ones. I’ve contemplated whether the decision I made was correct — but only for a split second. I always go back to the way I feel when I wake up — I feel free.

And that kind of feeling is one that I could never give up, ever again.

I remind myself of the people I look up to that have failed time after time; J.K Rowling had Harry Potter rejected by 12 different publishing houses. It’s still mind-blowing to me that she experienced that and still experiences rejection with her other work after the massive success she earned from HP.

Like, if I was a publishing house and J.K Rowling came to me, I would publish the napkin she scribbles on.

You’re the one who is going to determine the amount of success you reach. You can give up after a few months, or even years of failure, or you can keep going because you know somewhere inside of you that everybody who has ever achieved something in their life is because they kept pushing despite the rejections and failures.

As Michael Jordan says,

“I’ve failed over and over and over in my life — and that is why I succeed.”

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