辭職創(chuàng)業(yè)后，我才明白…

By+Cheryl+Liew

“創(chuàng)業(yè)”聽(tīng)起來(lái)是個(gè)很酷的想法：做自己最感興趣的事，擁有自由的工作時(shí)間，自己當(dāng)老板，說(shuō)不定還能掙大錢。然而，人們往往只看到創(chuàng)業(yè)者的風(fēng)光，卻忽視了他們?cè)诒澈蟮姆N種犧牲：工作占據(jù)了生活的大部分時(shí)間，沒(méi)有穩(wěn)定的收入來(lái)源，需要獨(dú)自面對(duì)失敗的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)……個(gè)中甘苦，恐怕只有親身經(jīng)歷過(guò)的人才會(huì)明白。

For the past two weeks I spent my Chinese New Year just like everybody else—visiting relatives， gorging1） myself on new year goodies and collecting angbaos.

But amidst the joy and festivities2）， there was a deep dark fear inside me.

“So where are you working at now？”

That was the sentence I really feared to hear all through Chinese New Year， even more than “When are you getting married？”， even though that was just as scary.

Admittedly at the start， I didnt have a hard time telling friends and family about my decision to leave my job as a mobile developer to start up. I was a little worried about the response people would have， but was generally not too bothered by comments and opinions dished out3） to me.

“Why do you want to quit your job？” to “I thought your job was paying you quite well？” and “Why start from square one4）？”

Those were the questions thrown at me when I mentioned that I was quitting my job to start up with some friends. And for most startup founders here in Singapore， Im pretty sure these questions are nothing new.

Even so， I thought I knew what I was getting into when I “threw in the letter.”

I knew I was going to have to work hard. I understood the financial circumstances I would be in. I acknowledged that it might fail. I thought I had already got most of them sorted out.

At the same time， I was super super super psyched5） that I could be a part of building my own product.

Even so， I never really expected to face these issues.

A Lot Less Time with Loved Ones

I knew very clearly that I would spend a lot of time working on the startup. I used to work long hours in my previous job， so I thought it would be nothing new.

Then I realised that I had a lot less time to spend with friends， family， and the boyfriend. It eventually took quite some time for everyone to understand that quitting my job to run my own startup affects how much time I get to spend with them.

It was also tough for me because suddenly I realised how difficult it was to allocate time for outings with friends， family dinners， and for going on dates with the boyfriend. I was occasionally working late nights， and sometimes on weekends， so it became increasingly hard to schedule meet-ups with loved ones.

The Emotional Rollercoaster

I always thought I had a high AQ （Adversity Quotient6）） so it couldnt have been much worse than working as a mobile developer.

But boy was I wrong. At the start， I spent so much time thinking about possible ways to improve on what we were doing， I almost burnt myself out. It seemed like there was no way to stop constantly thinking about the startup.

To add to it， it seemed like no one else around me， friends or family， understood the kind of issues I faced， or could relate to the kind of work I do as a startup co-founder. Soon after， I felt that there was a disparity7） between the kind of conversations we used to have and the ones we now had， perhaps because of a change in my perceptions. It felt like they couldnt really comprehend the million and one things that were going through my head and I was struggling to convey the message across in the best way possible.

At some point， I felt like I was alone on a deserted island.

But I am very lucky to have a really supportive boyfriend and friends and family who， despite having a hard time understanding my circumstances， make it a point toaccommodate8） me in whatever way they can.

Losing a Constant Stream of Income

One of the most common questions people ask me when they find out I quit my job to start up is “Was it hard for you to lose your income when you quit your job？” That is definitely a yes.

Having to cut my expenditure to about a third of what I used to spend when I was working was definitely not easy. This was despite the fact that I had actually already planned out my finances before quitting my job.

Now in hindsight9）， when I was forced to lower my expenditures， it was suddenly clear that a lot of the things I used to buy， I didnt really need. At the same time， my ego took a beating10） as I still wanted to be as self-reliant as possible.

After starting up， I had to accept the reality of having people pay for my food and give me treats， simply because I could not afford to pay them back based on the current amount of money in my bank account.

Doing Things I Dislike

One of the most important things I learnt while building a startup is having to do things （a lot of things） that I dont do well or I dont really like to do.

I used to be quite outgoing， but after working as a developer for some time， I started to develop the characteristics of a hermit11）. And as a startup cofounder， one of the important things we need to do is to go out and talk to people.

Having been a little bit of a hermit for some time now， it was really difficult at the start to ease12） myself out of my shell to go out and talk to people. It was also really hard to go around telling everyone what my startup was about.

At times when we had to talk to a few potential clients in a day， I didnt even want to talk to anybody when I got home. I had burnt through my “human quota” of the day， and all I felt like doing was curling in my shell and not coming out.

Facing Failure

When startups come to mind， a lot of people tend to think about entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and the like； and think that running a startup is a sexy13） idea， because we get to have flexible working hours， do what we love， and in a few years time， make big money.

But no one honestly tells you about the potential of failure.

Of course， no one wants their startup to fail， but at the same time there is no guarantee that your startup will become the next unicorn14） either. Many have told me how awesome it is to be an entrepreneur， to be working for yourself and doing what youre passionate about. But who knows what will happen？ I could end up spending a few years on a startup that couldnt pick up15）， bust16） my savings， and at the end of the day， I would still need to go back to working for someone else， whats worse， with less savings in my bank account than I started out with.

Going back to Chinese New Year and the “deep dark fear，” hearing people ask where I work still makes me take a deep deep breath； it makes me fear the huge tirade17）of questions that people will throw at me， and having to explain time and again to the waves of distant relatives. To add on to that， the social pressure for people to show off their exceedingly perfect/smart/handsome/well-to-do child to your family just makes Chinese New Year lose a little of its festive joy.

That being said， its been a heck of a ride since I quit my job and took the plunge18） to start up. I still enjoy the experience of building my own product， instead of building products for other people. But despite all the stress and sacrifices， its strangely satisfying and exciting once you find that there are happy customers using your product.

After reading this， if you still feel excited about the notion of starting up， why not take the plunge and try your hand at starting a business？

Just follow your passion！

在過(guò)去的兩周里，我跟其他人一樣度過(guò)了中國(guó)春節(jié)——走親戚，收紅包，大吃特吃新年的各色美味。

然而在享受喜悅、歡慶節(jié)日的同時(shí)，我的內(nèi)心卻縈繞著深深的恐懼感。

“你現(xiàn)在在哪里工作？”

這是我在春節(jié)期間一直非常害怕聽(tīng)到的一句話，甚至比“你什么時(shí)候結(jié)婚？”更讓我害怕，盡管后者也同樣可怕。

不可否認(rèn)，起初當(dāng)我告訴朋友和家人我決定辭去手機(jī)開發(fā)工程師的工作去創(chuàng)業(yè)時(shí)，我并不覺(jué)得困難。雖然有點(diǎn)擔(dān)心人們的反應(yīng)，但總的來(lái)說(shuō)我不太在意別人對(duì)我的評(píng)價(jià)和看法。

從“你為什么要辭職？”到“我以為你的工作待遇挺不錯(cuò)的，不是嗎？”，再到“為什么要從頭開始呢？”。

當(dāng)我提到我要辭職去和幾個(gè)朋友創(chuàng)業(yè)時(shí)，以上就是人們向我拋出的問(wèn)題。對(duì)于新加坡的大多數(shù)創(chuàng)業(yè)者而言，我很確定這些問(wèn)題早已屢見(jiàn)不鮮。

即便如此，在提交辭職信的時(shí)候，我以為我知道自己將要面臨什么。

我知道自己必須得努力工作，我了解自己將會(huì)面臨的財(cái)務(wù)狀況，我明白創(chuàng)業(yè)可能會(huì)失敗。我本以為我已經(jīng)把大部分問(wèn)題都想清楚了。

同時(shí)，我為能夠參與打造屬于自己的產(chǎn)品而感到非常非常非常興奮。

即便如此，我卻沒(méi)有真正預(yù)料到會(huì)面臨下面這些問(wèn)題。

少了許多跟我愛(ài)的人相處的時(shí)間

我非常清楚地知道自己將會(huì)花費(fèi)大把的時(shí)間在創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的工作上。在我上一份工作中，我也常常需要長(zhǎng)時(shí)間工作，所以我以為這不是什么新鮮事。

而后我才意識(shí)到我少了更多與朋友、家人和男友相處的時(shí)間。最終，過(guò)了很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間后，身邊所有人才明白我辭職創(chuàng)業(yè)有多影響我與他們相處的時(shí)間。

這對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)也很艱難，因?yàn)槲彝蝗灰庾R(shí)到，要?jiǎng)虺鰰r(shí)間跟朋友聚會(huì)、與家人聚餐以及和男友約會(huì)是多么困難的一件事。我偶爾會(huì)熬夜工作，有時(shí)周末也會(huì)加班，因此和我所愛(ài)的人約時(shí)間見(jiàn)面變得越來(lái)越難。

情緒上的大起大落

我一直都覺(jué)得自己是個(gè)AQ （逆商）很高的人，因此創(chuàng)業(yè)不可能比當(dāng)手機(jī)開發(fā)工程師糟糕到哪里去。

但是我簡(jiǎn)直大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)。起初，我花費(fèi)大量時(shí)間想各種辦法來(lái)提升我們當(dāng)時(shí)在做的產(chǎn)品，幾乎心力交瘁。我不斷地思考與創(chuàng)業(yè)公司有關(guān)的事，似乎根本沒(méi)有辦法停下來(lái)。

除此之外，我身邊似乎沒(méi)有人（不論是朋友還是家人）能理解我所面臨的問(wèn)題，也沒(méi)有人能認(rèn)同我作為創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人所做的工作。我很快就感覺(jué)到我們?cè)?jīng)的對(duì)話與現(xiàn)在的對(duì)話有了差異，可能是因?yàn)槲业恼J(rèn)知發(fā)生了改變。我覺(jué)得他們無(wú)法真正理解我腦海中的千頭萬(wàn)緒，而我則在吃力地以盡可能恰當(dāng)?shù)姆绞桨研畔鬟f給他們。

有時(shí)，我感覺(jué)自己仿佛孤身一人置身于一個(gè)荒島上。

但我很幸運(yùn)能夠擁有非常支持我的男友、朋友和家人。他們盡管很難理解我的處境，卻堅(jiān)持以自己力所能及的方式來(lái)遷就我。

失去穩(wěn)定的收入來(lái)源

當(dāng)人們得知我辭職去創(chuàng)業(yè)，他們最常問(wèn)的一個(gè)問(wèn)題就是：“辭去工作就沒(méi)有收入了，這對(duì)你來(lái)說(shuō)是不是很艱難？”答案肯定是“是的”。

不得不把開支減少到原來(lái)工作時(shí)的三分之一左右當(dāng)然不是件容易的事，盡管我在辭職之前已經(jīng)為自己的財(cái)務(wù)狀況做好了規(guī)劃。

現(xiàn)在回頭想想，被迫減少開支后我才突然明白，我過(guò)去常買的很多東西其實(shí)并不真正需要。與此同時(shí)，我還是想盡可能地自食其力，所以自尊心也受到了打擊。

創(chuàng)業(yè)之后我不得不接受以下現(xiàn)實(shí)：讓別人給我買吃的、請(qǐng)我吃飯，因?yàn)楦鶕?jù)我目前的銀行存款，我沒(méi)有能力回報(bào)他們。

做自己不喜歡的事

在創(chuàng)建公司的過(guò)程中，我學(xué)到的最重要的事情之一就是不得不去做（許許多多）我不擅長(zhǎng)或是我其實(shí)不喜歡做的事。

我曾經(jīng)是個(gè)很外向的人，但是做了一段時(shí)間的開發(fā)工程師后，我開始變得有點(diǎn)離群索居。而作為創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人，我們需要做的一件重要事情就是走出去與人交談。

這樣有些與世隔絕地生活過(guò)一段時(shí)間后，要我慢慢放開自己到外面與人交談，一開始真的很難。同樣讓我覺(jué)得很難的是要四處奔走告訴所有人我的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司是做什么的。

有時(shí)我們不得不在一天里跟好幾位潛在客戶約談，回家后我甚至不想和任何人說(shuō)話。我已經(jīng)把當(dāng)天的“社交配額”用光了，只想蜷縮在自己的世界，不再出去。

面對(duì)失敗

一提到創(chuàng)業(yè)，很多人往往會(huì)想到像馬克·扎克伯格那樣的企業(yè)家，認(rèn)為經(jīng)營(yíng)創(chuàng)業(yè)公司是一個(gè)令人著迷的想法，因?yàn)榭梢該碛徐`活的工作時(shí)間，做熱愛(ài)的事情，在幾年的時(shí)間里就可以掙大錢。

但是沒(méi)有人如實(shí)告訴你失敗的可能性。

當(dāng)然，沒(méi)有人希望自己的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司失敗，但同時(shí)也沒(méi)有人能保證你的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司會(huì)成為下一個(gè)獨(dú)角獸級(jí)的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。很多人對(duì)我說(shuō)成為一名企業(yè)家、為自己工作、做自己所熱衷的事情是多棒的一件事，但是誰(shuí)知道未來(lái)會(huì)發(fā)生什么呢？到頭來(lái)我可能把好幾年的光景都耗費(fèi)在一個(gè)不見(jiàn)起色的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司上，花光所有的積蓄，最后還是不得不回到職場(chǎng)為別人打工，更糟糕的是，銀行賬戶里的積蓄還沒(méi)有開始的時(shí)候多。

再回過(guò)頭來(lái)說(shuō)中國(guó)春節(jié)和“深深的恐懼感”。聽(tīng)到別人問(wèn)我在哪里工作，我還是會(huì)深吸一口氣。我害怕人們會(huì)喋喋不休地向我拋出問(wèn)題，而我則需要一次又一次地向一波又一波的遠(yuǎn)房親戚解釋。不僅如此，人們迫于社會(huì)壓力還要向人炫耀自己那極其完美/聰明/帥氣/有錢的孩子，這也使中國(guó)春節(jié)失去了一些節(jié)日的喜悅。

話雖如此，自從我辭去工作，冒險(xiǎn)嘗試創(chuàng)業(yè)以來(lái)，我經(jīng)歷了一段極不尋常的旅程。我仍然喜歡打造自己的產(chǎn)品，而不是為別人打造產(chǎn)品。盡管承受了很大壓力，做出了不少犧牲，但當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)有顧客在開心地使用你的產(chǎn)品時(shí)，你就會(huì)感到莫名的滿足和興奮。

讀了我的故事，你如果仍覺(jué)得創(chuàng)業(yè)這個(gè)想法令人振奮，那何不冒險(xiǎn)一試，放手搏一把呢？

追隨你的愛(ài)好吧！

1. gorge [ɡ??（r）d?] vt. 塞飽

2. festivity [fe?st?v?ti] n. 慶典；慶?；顒?dòng)

3. dish out：給予

4. square one：起點(diǎn)，開始階段

5. psyched [sa?kt] adj. 極驚訝、興奮或緊張的

6. Adversity Quotient：逆商，即逆境商數(shù)，也稱挫折商，指人們面對(duì)逆境時(shí)的反應(yīng)方式，即面對(duì)挫折、擺脫困境和超越困難的能力。

7. disparity [d??sp?r?ti] n. 不同；不等；差異；不一致

8. accommodate [??k?m?de?t] vt. 給……提供方便，通融

9. hindsight [?ha?n（d）?sa?t] n. 事后的認(rèn)識(shí)，事后聰明

10. take a beating：挨打；遭受打擊；遭受損失

11. hermit [?h??（r）m?t] n. 隱士，遁世者，與世隔絕者

12. ease [i?z] vt. 小心緩慢地推動(dòng)（或移動(dòng)），使緩緩移動(dòng)

13. sexy [?seksi] adj. 富有魅力的，迷人的，吸引人的

14. unicorn [?ju?n??k??（r）n] n. 獨(dú)角獸，指那些估值達(dá)到10億美元以上的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司。

15. pick up：（情況等）好轉(zhuǎn)，改進(jìn)，提高

16. bust [b?st] vt. 使破產(chǎn)；使失敗

17. tirade [ta??re?d] n. 激烈的長(zhǎng)篇演說(shuō)；長(zhǎng)篇的指責(zé)性發(fā)言

18. take the plunge：（尤指經(jīng)過(guò)躊躇）決定冒險(xiǎn)一試；采取決定性步驟