Happy Pride Month!
How entrepreneurship gave me the confidence to be me
Nobody told me growing up that I needed to get straight A’s and a college degree.
Nobody told me that I needed to get a stable, well-paying job and climb the corporate ladder.
Nobody told me that I needed to find a nice girl, settle down, and start a family. (Ok maybe my Jewish grandmother did, but let’s roll with it).
But in upper-middle class suburbia where I grew up, when the dominant thing you see around you is one kind of path, you think that’s the path you’re supposed to follow too.
Do well in school. Go to college. Get a stable job. Get married. Start a family.
The problem was, the further down that path I got, the more and more it felt like the wrong path for me.
By the end of college, I was uninterested in becoming a professional engineer. With my degree, the opportunities available to me in defense, contracting, or corporate consulting felt suffocating.
And I knew by that time too that a wife and kids weren’t in my future either.
The problem was, I didn’t have any idea of what an alternate future could look like. That not-knowing is what kept me locked on the path I was on, simply putting one foot in front of the other.
But that started to change during a class project at the University of Maryland in 2007. It was the project that turned into my first business - a bike sharing company called weBike. And it was the first time I had a clear picture of a different possible path.
When I got bit by the entrepreneurship bug, I got bit hard. The idea that with my own ideas and hard work, I could create something of meaning - and make a living out of it - was intoxicating.
I learned I could pursue a purpose instead of a career path. I could chase positive change instead of the corporate ladder.
And most importantly for me at the time, I could do these things on my own terms, without having to fit within a corporate culture that I feared wouldn’t accept the fact that I was gay.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but being gay was a big part of what drew me to entrepreneurship. And in turn, creating and running businesses was what gave me the confidence to accept who I was and be open about it.
Entrepreneurship gave me the agency to create the life that I wanted.
Every business owner has a different reason or story about what led them to start their business. But one thing I’m certain of is that we all have that same desire for personal agency and the freedom to pursue our dreams.
That’s why I started BE Lean. To help business owners get rid of all the headaches, mess, and indecision that are standing in the way of them living the life that they want and realizing their dreams.
So if there’s mess and inefficiency standing in the way of your business’ success, let’s chat. I’d love to support you.
Happy Pride Month everybody! 🏳️🌈