Macrame at 20,000 ft
I like to follow the successful people that have taken a similar journey to become professional photographers and social media personalities. Matt Granger is one of those folks. I'll probably talk a lot more about Matt in future submissions. Today's entry was inspired by something said by a guest Matt had on his YouTube show, TogLife. It resonated with me and here's why.
A few times in my career I've stepped off the corporate curb onto the streets of self-employment. The first time was simply because I fell into a great opportunity and the other was because I had become disenchanted with my job and needed a fresh start. It's a very strange feeling - that moment when you decide to leave the relative comfort of a steady paycheck. Matt's guest on last week's show was the successful Instagram photographer Rob Mulally. Rob was talking about quitting his day job to become a full time photographer and described the sensation perfectly. "I've jumped out of a plane with the idea that it's possible to make a parachute. I'm sort of free falling and figuring out as I go and I'm slowly putting the pieces together." Rob, you nailed it! Although, I'm more inclined to fabricate that parachute as quickly as possible - timing is everything.
Sound scary? Well, yea, it is. But is it any more scary than the idea of spending your entire life on this little blue ball in space working the daily grind, collecting a paycheck in exchange for most of your waking hours and perhaps a little piece of your soul? Don't get me wrong, my career has been a cool balance of challenge and reward and the IT field is ever changing so it's never boring. But when you get to upper management, you're no longer the guy that gets to solve the nerdy problems and play with the cool tech toys. You get to supervise all those smart kids with their ponytails and Birkenstocks, and you're now the policy wonk who gets to balance budgets and write reports instead.
© 2016 Images by Design
So, back to Rob's analogy. Denise and I are gathering up the metaphorical nylon sheets, buckles and cords we're going to need before we get on that plane. And for me, the flight can't leave soon enough. I'm actually pretty excited about doing a little macrame at 20,000 ft. and falling. I've done it twice before and not only survived but feel I'm much richer for the experience.