It’s funny, but I can’t remember when or where the thoughts of starting a business first appeared to me. It is something that must have happened gradually.
Some of my earlier memories are from a summer vacation at a beach house in Portugal when I was 11. I remember buying snacks in the supermarket only to resell them to family members along the poolside. Trivial, I know, but it was my first lesson in buy low, sell high, and profit the difference. When I was a freshmen in high school, a friend and I somehow came to the conclusion that we are not workers–we need to be in charge of people. That’s a bold statement! But, that friend is now a CEO his own company. As for me, I doubted my potential too much, and chose the safer path in life.
Between my bachelor’s and master’s degree, again there was a window of time perfect for delving into entrepreneurship. I read all the article, listened to podcasts, and watched plenty of epidsodes of Dragon’s Den/Shark Tank for what its worth (not much). But, as a tried and true theory junkie, I never took action.
It was during my master’s degree that had a semi-breakthrough. To graduate I had to work on a year long project, my thesis. My thesis ended up being the closest thing to starting a business to date. The only difference was my customers were my professors, and instead of being paid with money, I was going to be paid with a diploma. But the rest was there: research, planning, doing, presenting, and many long and lonely nights working. Never the less, in my occassionaly spouts of procrastination, I started finding entrepreneurship communities that intrigued me.
At the end of my masters the time was ripe I was out of money, and had to find a job. I wasn’t living on the streets yet, with €16,000 I still had a runway. But with a €80,000 student loan debt, my options were limited to getting a job.
I worked for 3 years, saving money and paying off debt to point of financial stability. Then this past April, I quit my job.