I wrote this article a ways back and didn’t finish it, but I wanted to publish it for my memory:
When I graduated from George Washington University in 2013, I knew that there was going to be an interesting journey ahead of me. Like most college graduates, the thoughts of “what am I going to do with my life?” and “wait, so I’m an adult?” crossed my mind. However, the thought that consumed my entire being was “did I just make a big mistake?”
Before NYC
I was offered a job in Washington, D.C. for a little over $50k in the tech space (though it wasn’t for a tech role). That’s a decent salary for someone’s first real job and the coworkers and company was very nice. It might surprise you to learn that it was the only actual job interview I’ve been on. I don’t mean to say that to brag, I say that because I was pursing a job after college halfheartedly.
I had looked at a few job ads, gone to some career fairs, did some initial phone interviews, but the one thought that I kept coming back to was “Is this what the real world is like?” Am I going to work for this company for 10 years, and then start making a good salary? Am I going to spend my days at their beckon call, having them determine when I can eat lunch, get up in the morning, and what vacations I can take?
If you knew me during that time period, you’ll know that I was obsessed with the startup space. I had a launched a bunch of companies in college and literally, I think the only thing I talked about with my friends was startups. The one reason I wanted to turn 21 was so that I could finally go to tech networking events that took place at a bar. In fact, I think news about startup, technology, and business was the first thing out of my mouth on some of the dates I went on in college. Not the best topic to begin a conversation haha!
I remember I was discussing these frustrations about the workplace and my failed businesses with my parents on the phone one day. Usually, the things that they cared about most was good grades, work experience, and making sure that I understand that I need to plan for the future. However, this time their message was a little different.
I was telling them about how this one business I was running was generating a little bit of revenue (like $500 a month) and my mom, who to me is one of the more financially risk-averse people, asked me what I was doing. “I think you should just go for it,” I remember her saying. “If it’s doing that now and you’re only working on it part time, you can make something out of it.”
That statement kind of hit me like a bucket of cold water. I had always thought that I would try to build a startup company in college, but if things didn’t work out, I would do it when I was older or try to build it on the side while I work at a job. I didn’t really think I could do it from scratch right after graduating, but that statement made me think differently. If she believed that I could and she’s one of the more financially risk-averse people, then I should believe that I can.
Funny enough, later when I turned down that good job, she was a little skeptical, because how often do you get offered a job? However, at that time, I was so set on making this business work and empowered by her earlier confidence, that I didn’t care. I was going to do it or be broke until it worked.
Around this time, I started researching the cost of renting an apartment in NYC, how much it costs to feed yourself on a monthly basis, etc. I also began literally brainwash myself into believing that I could do it. Throughout the summer after graduation while I was at my parent’s house, I watched a ton of motivational footage and listened to motivational speakers each day. I started developing mantras like “If you have enough energy to watch TV or have a beer, you have enough energy to keep working.”
Looking back, this seems a little extreme, but remember that I was starting at literally $0, had no successful startup experience, and knew that, even at the basic level, I would need $600 per month for an appt in the NY area plus all the other expenses.
To give you an idea, I remember one time during my senior year of college, I was chatting with a girl I was dating and we were laughing over how my business had made $1 in passive income that day and that, if I put it together with my revenue from the previous day, I could buy her a cup of coffee.
Anyway, the plan was for my cofounder and I to get an apartment in the city and work every waking hour of the day on the business. Unfortunately, it became clearer as the months went on that it wasn’t going to happen. That was a big move on his part and neither of us were stable financially.
Eventually, from living at home during the summer, I had enough saved up for one month’s rent and emergency money. Considering that most apartments require a lease and for you to have stable income, it became apparent that I was going to have to sublet apartments until I could get my own. My parents were unwilling to co-sign (good financial choice on their part).
The Month-to-Month Sublet Lifestyle in NYC
A big part of the reason that I wanted to go to NYC was to check out the technology scene and be in the city! The girl I was dating at the time and a couple of my good friends also lived there.
After visiting once to get a sense of apartment pricing, I made the big move and secured a place for one month. Yes, one month. Living on the edge much? (All the places I’ve lived in were priced $800-$950 per month). I also was working part-time virtually for a friend’s company to help out his business and give my income an ounce of stability.
There were only two things on my mind during this time. Work and work. I was going to networking events, working for my friend’s company, and working to build my company. My diet literally consisted of dollar pizza, fast food, and ramen. Thank god for dollar pizza.
As the months went on, I moved from Harlem to Long Island City to Harlem to Washington Heights to another area in Washington Heights and finally to Brooklyn.
During the first half of my first year in NYC, I was pretty much broke, putting all of my money and energy into building my business. I worked out of the free Wix coworking space and the various apartments. Still, even though things looked grim, I had boundless amounts of optimism and knew that some day things would be different.
Now, despite all of my hard work, the business that I was trying to build with my friend was not going well. Also, it was hard to find the types of clients in NYC that I was working to find for my part-time job due to the competitive environment. Pretty much, I was failing and hanging on by a thread.
Then, something happened. All the while that I was trying to build up this one business with my friend, a side project that I was working on took off. It didn’t happen all at once, because I had been working on the side project for a while, but it definitely started growing and I started taking it more seriously.
Going into the end of my first six months, my side project was doing better than the business I was actually trying to build!
Around this time, I had two horrible things happen at the same time. First off, the part-time gig I had was letting me go, because they were selling the company. Second, things were ending with the girl I was dating, which hit me harder than I’d like.
There was a lot of stress and emotions around this time period, but I came to the conclusion that the only thing to do was to commit to a mantra, which was basically “Success at any personal cost” (being tired or exhausted doesn’t matter).
So, I committed to my vision, scrapped the business I had come to NYC to build, and focused on the new one, which was showing promise. I went back to waking up early and going to bed late. At this point, I was officially “full time” on my business, but only because of necessity.
Over the next six months, I literally doubled the business I was doing with it and over the remainder of the year, built it into a business that was sustainably covering expenses. I’ve always believed that income is a by-product of putting good products, services, value, and vibes in general into the marketplace and my income also began going up as well.
I still had the very head-strong “success at any personal cost” mentality and worked every moment while I was awake on business in some way. Thankfully, the results were starting to show.
Settling down in NYC
Finally, I was in the place where I could settle down in a longterm place in a good area of NYC (Brooklyn). The road was tough, but I went from nothing to being at an average standard of living in a major city.
However, a big event in my life happened again (well it’s not really a big event, but it left an impact on me). I wrote about it here. It made me completely re-evaluate what my goals are in life, why I’m doing what I’m doing, and it’s changed my mindset a good amount.
The event made me re-evaluate my business goals, and the areas of my life outside of business. It helped remind me that I’m still young and I want to be my age and not make the fatal mistake of trading time for money (or the promise of future financial success). It’s made me think about what the term “success” really means, which led me to write this post on lifestyle businesses.
I moved to NYC two years ago, around my birthday in August. The journey has been full of ups and downs. Below, I’ve listed out a few of the things I’ve learned about business and life.
1. Working on the right thing matters more than working
The way in which you spend your time is just as important as the number of hours you put into a project. Some things that you spend your time on just aren’t going to matter, no matter how many years you do them for. Figure out early on the best way to spend your time in a business, and then spend it that way.
2. Your friends and family matter more than anything else
Money comes and goes. The experiences that make you smile and the moments that you look back on are had with friends and family members. Yeah, you might remember a great accomplishment, but those mountaintops are few and far in between.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the journey and the climb to the top of the mountain. Just don’t be careless with the meaningful relationships, friendships, and family relationships in your life.
3. Be passionate and good at what you do.
The first business that I set out to build was not in my personal strong suit,
4. Do things that have leverage or scale and are repeatable.
5. Seek to obtain what money buys, not money itself.
6. Always be mindful of how you feel.
7. Action matters more than thoughts.
8. Fear is almost always the reason.
9. Don’t take failure personally.
10. Happiness comes from appreciation.