Entrepreneurialism Archives • Page 2 of 2 • Matt Ryan

Attended my first gathering of a MeetUp group last night. It was the Philly ‘burbs WordPress MeetUp in King of Prussia. Awesome group of individuals. Welcoming. Supportive. Helpful. Kind. Smart. Sharing. Talking to these folks and then listening to 2 short techie nuggets and a great presentation by Jim Breslin, the founder of West Chester Story Slam, I am convinced that I’m going down the right track.

I was inspired by what I experienced to follow what my heart and my gut (and my wife) are telling me. That now is the right time to step out on my own and do what I really feel driven to do, even though my bank account, looming retirement, desire to eat and maintain a roof are telling me to go get that corporate job again.

My time at Home Depot taught me well: “Let’s do this”.

I’m going to move forward and launch my web development, design, implementation, maintenance and consultation business (that’s a mouthful). Even though I’m still working through the business plan, I have set up some meetings with potential mentors and resources and have begun to network in the WordPress community. I’ll be living in that world for all of my work. I’ve done considerable research there and I feel comfortable that my programming skills, experiences and management style will be most compatible.

More (much more) to come. Wish me well.

I read a post today from LinkedIn Influencer, Raj De Datta, CEO and Co-Founder at BloomReach. “Entrepreneurs don’t Interview. They Commit.” . At first glance I passed over it as something I didn’t want to get into on a Monday morning; but then something pulled me back to it as I read through some of the other Pulse news from today and this past weekend.

I am now into the second week of my second trip down the unemployed path of life. My wife and I have been reworking the budget, reshaping upcoming plans and trying to put a framework around what has the potential of being another extended period of greatly reduced income.

Last time, I began putting the pieces together for my business. Business plan, 5 year plan, researching the market, pro-bono clients, all while still looking and interviewing for the right career job. The job offer did come along and I took it with some trepidation. I had to. The hours at the local orange big box home store were taking their toll on both me and my marriage.

I could go back there – that big box store, I’m confident of it. Or, I could tweak the resume and polish up the job agents and get the search thing working again in earnest. I could put in the time and find that corporate job – along with all the security it offers [sarcasm implied].

Or, I could make the commitment this time. College tuition bills have ended; the car is paid off. Is it time to commit to being an entrepreneur? Is that person inside of me confident enough to move forward and commit? Do I truly want to start a company?

I do.

God, I hope it is not the hi-test coffee in me screaming this morning.

Let’s do this.

Is it time to commit?