Hey Everyone! I have great news!!
I am quitting my job.
Not yet, mind you. But that's the plan.
August 21st, 2015. That's the date. Why then? Well, first off, it's a Friday. Gotta have that weekend. Second, it is a little after my 5-year mark, which is when the company says you're "invested" and you get to keep your retirement money they contribute. And lastly, well, because that day has been planned since I was 16.
Not the day specifically, mind you, but I have always planned on owning my own business. It has always been my "Plan A". In high school and college I had planned on having my own computer business. Having a small, in the wall place where I work at a desk fixing computers for people's homes. It'd expand and I'd hire on some helpers. Later the plan changed to be my brother and I, just working back to back in a small office. Sure, it'd be cramped, but working on computers and being able to bounce ideas off one another, have lunch every day, catch up, be best friends, man that'd be the life. It didn't work out exactly the way we wanted, but that's OK. I have a stable job in the IT field and he is a dad and has a job elsewhere.
And even though I no longer want to work in the IT field, the idea of making my own hours and producing my own work is still something I want and I won't have it any other way. And now that the project has made some amazing headway the past few months, I can actually see it being something towards the end of the year, which means I have something close to 8 months of saving and funding and planning in order to do it on my own without a bi-weekly paycheck.
Most importantly, it will be something *I* want to do.
I don't have it all figured out, I know that. There is still a lot to get done. But I now have a deadline.
The other thing is just the stress that's been lifted.
Now, when I say stress, it isn't with the job itself. My job is rather easy, I have time to do side, personal projects (like writing this currently) and a lot of the tasks are repetitive and easy. But the company itself is just falling apart. Every day I feared of being let go, desperately searching for a job to make sure I have an income, Every day our boss would give us a new "time filler" task because our Utilization was low that month and our new parent company didn't like the numbers. It is just a high stressed environment with the motivation of, "Do it or your fired." But not anymore. I don't need this job anymore. I'll do my best damn job this year, but only because I have an end to it.
The next thing I'll talk about is the project. I knew you were waiting on an update, don't lie. The project is something that continuously impresses me. We've gone from a good idea to something that is becoming real. We have character templates, and schedules, and planned meetings. We now not only have an animator, but a special effects guy who seems eager to help.
I have some artists dubbed as colorists because of their school schedule, others have just finished finals and are on Template duty again. I had one artist in specific who was tied up in the work/school combo and couldn't help for a few months, but has recently chimed in and said he's back in full force and wanting to do the storyboard. After a few days of impatiently waiting I messaged him and he responds the same day with, "I have some stuff done, but I've redone it 15 times to make it better." And that is just something that... I dunno, it's like a compliment that you just know is genuine. Just makes you feel good.
Speaking of feel good, my older brother Jeremy came over to my moms for Mothers Day and I got to sit with him and talk with him, which I don't get to do often enough. But I got the time that day and I sat with him and told him about my project and showed him a few screenshots from the Group, and he was as happy to hear it as anyone would I imagine. One of those, "I'm impressed! But that's not what I'm into." Kinda like a really cool model train set. Only super impressive when other train model enthusiasts come to visit. Anyway, I showed him and I guess he sensed my excitement and listened to my plans of the show, potential comics and other side stories involved.
What really made me feel good was the text he sent the next day. "Was really cool to see your dream start coming to life like it is!"
I think it just says a lot. It shows he was thinking about me the next day, he's not criticizing, and he realizes how much this means to me. It's the words of encouragement behind the message of compliment, a win-win, a genuine feel good message. And I loved it.
Thank you for Reading, and I'll see you next time.
~Just a thought.
The first step before anybody else in the world believes it, is you have to believe it.
There's no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A.
-Exerpt from Will Smith
