Leave Your High Paying Job?

Why in the world would you ever leave a high-paying corporate job to become an entrepreneur?

Sounds crazy, right?

We can tell you that it definitely isn't. Many, many people just like you have done this to invest in a franchise and found success and a better life.

We have a few reasons for you to consider on today's episode.

Transcript

Pete: [00:00:00] Good morning, Nat. 

Nat: Good morning, Pete. 

Pete: Woo, I'm pumped up. 

Nat: Excellent. I can't imagine why you're pumped 

up. 

Pete: I am pumped up because, you know, I am a college football fan and I am super excited for the OSU Michigan football game, right? This is, this is going to be an awesome experience. I can't wait to watch that game.

Two teams in the top five, that's going to be an incredible football game. 

Nat: I know you like yourself a 

good football game. 

Pete: Ah, well, you know, I've got into it because my daughter goes to OSU, right? So, but unfortunately, my daughter is bad luck for OSU. Oh, boy. See, the two years that she's been there, Ohio State has lost to Michigan.

So I told her, I said, you're, you're not good for the, you're not good for the football team, 

but yeah, you're going to take her ticket tomorrow. 

She's not going, the game is at at Michigan. So she probably won't go to the game, but, but, but it should be good from a [00:01:00] standpoint. So I'm pumped up about that.

You know, I thought we'd talk today, you know, we work with executives all the time that are looking to own their own business. And, and I think about. The pros and cons of, you know, executives leaving their high paying job to become an entrepreneur. So I thought what we'd do is we'd, we'd talk about those pros and cons of me leaving my executive position to go invest in a franchise business.

Nat: Sound good. Yes. Do you think there's more pros or more cons if you had to guess? 

Pete: Well, I think they're gonna be pretty even based on the way I wrote it, but you know, we'll, we'll just kind of call it, well so, so so let's talk a little bit. We'll start on the positive side. Okay. Pros to a corporate executive leaving their job to become a business owner.

What would be one of them? Definitely 

Nat: entrepreneurial freedom, like, you know, being able to own your own business. And have your business aligned with what you're, you're, what you're interested in, what you want to do, your, your vision, your [00:02:00] values, all that. I think that would be number one 

Pete: for me. Yeah. I always say, you know, control your destiny when you're an entrepreneur, you're controlling your destiny or your, your independence and stuff like that.

So, I always 

Nat: say, I always say escape corporate 

Pete: America. Well, I, I like the term hire yourself, but that's a whole nother thing. All right. What would be another one? No, they're pro. Potential for 

Nat: higher returns. I think a lot of people, you know, you kind of know what you're going to make at corporate and, you know, if you wanted to make more or leave a legacy for your family, I think having your own business, you have potential for higher 

Pete: returns.

Yeah, absolutely. You're not capped, right? In a corporate world, you're capped. They're only going to pay you so much. You may get a bonus, you may not. But with a, your own business, when you own your own business, you, the sky is the limit. How big you want to build it, how much money you want to make, that's on you.

So certainly potential for higher returns. What would be a third one? One of my 

Nat: favorites is just not having to ask permission, basically, like the buck stops here. [00:03:00] So you don't have, you know, you have ownership and control. It's very, like, it's a 

Pete: good feeling. Yeah, when you own your own business, you can make the decisions, right?

You can set the direction of the company and you don't have to jack around with the boss. Right. Or artificial objectives. It's, it's on you, right? You get to have control and that's, that's really important. Not a lot 

Nat: of politics when you own the company. 

Pete: Unless you're, you're in inner conflicts with yourself, but, but jokingly side.

Yeah. You just don't have any of that stuff that I think wastes time and energy. All right. We'll be another pro to an executive leaving the corporate world to invest in a business. I think personal growth, 

Nat: like for me, when I bought my first franchise, it just, you know, it was an entrepreneurial journey.

 I met lots of new and interesting people that were kind of on a similar path or similar journey. And you don't, you're just constantly solving problems. And, you know, it's, it's, it's very interesting. You know, a lot of, you know, there's a lot of personal growth when you have your own company, [00:04:00] that's for sure.

Pete: Absolutely. You have to learn, don't you? I mean, when you invest in a business, you better learn, you better figure it out whatever it is. And I, and I like that, right. I like that challenge of something new, a corporation. You, you get the, you get the training, all that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, you know, a lot of times you're not.

You're not learning a ton more. And I think as you become an entrepreneur, it's a whole new world for you to learn about. All right, what will be another one? 

Nat: Well, I know my kids are always asking me for money. So I think 

Pete: Building 

Nat: a building a legacy. So maybe something to leave for the kids. That would be good Yeah, 

Pete: and a lot of times people when they leave the corporate world and they invest in a franchise They want to include their family members in the business, right?

Expose their kids to being entrepreneurs because our kids will need to be to do that And they're also building something could be a legacy where the kids could take over or it could just be An additional revenue stream for them or they could sell it and have that legacy, right? So Many different reasons.

Okay, what else? 

Nat: Well, kind of going back to kids, it's like that work life balance, right? So if you want to, you know, take a three day [00:05:00] weekend to go watch a football game, you certainly can do that, right? When you, when you own your own business. I think 

Pete: you always use the term, you only work half days as an entrepreneur, right?

Right? But the deal is, is that can be in your terms, right? So if I want to go to my daughter's soccer game, well, that means maybe I'm getting up early to get done what I need to do. Or when I get done with the soccer game, I'm going back to my office to, to get done what I need. But it's on your terms.

And, and I. That's one of the best benefits I got when I left the corporate world and invested in a franchise. I got the ability to have control of my schedule, and that was so nice to be able to be more involved in my family's lives. Yeah. How's that going? It's good. Yeah. You know, I did that. They're still pleased?

Well, they didn't, they didn't really like, you know, because I tried to take the corporate mentality to helping the house become more efficient as I was more involved in their lives. So I actually screwed up the carpool, but that's another story. Yeah. Anyways. Alright. [00:06:00] What would be another reason as a corporate executive, a pro, to leaving their position to become an entrepreneur?

I think 

Nat: learning new things or just diversification, you know, it's always fun to learn new skills or have new experiences. 

Pete: You know, what I like about it is, is that you kind of take that a step further, is a lot of people say, Pete, I'm really creative, but I get stifled when I'm in the corporate world, right?

I got to stay within the lanes. And so I can use my own creativity to do some really cool things with the business. So, you know, that innovation, creativity or driving new processes, things like that, that's, that's so important. All right. What else? I mean, I know this is one of your favorite ones, right? Is that you can, I use your term, become hyper local.

You can impact your community. You can have a real difference. Yeah. 

Nat: I think owning your own business or franchise oftentimes is hyper local. And, you know, it's like it's nice not to have to... Be taking that Monday morning flight and coming back on [00:07:00] Thursday. It's nice just to support your local Little League team and, Yeah.

You know, be involved in your community, give back and create jobs 

Pete: too. Yeah, and I like doing that. I'm involved in the food bank and stuff like that. But I'm thinking maybe I sponsor a team or something and I take a picture and I put the head on the back of the jersey. Right. What do you think? Like, you know, hire yourself.

And then my shiny bald head, you know, on the back, what, what, would that not be great marketing back to the creativity side? So no one can stop me from doing that. Yeah. I'd scare a few kids. Right. If you 

Nat: can write the checks, 

Pete: you can do it. Yeah. Well, it may scare a few kids, right? So, all right. So let's talk a little bit about some cons, right?

I'm leaving my corporate job. It to invest in a franchise won't be some cons to it. 

Nat: Well, definitely when you're getting started, you have a lot of financial uncertainty. So you're just not exactly sure, you know, what, what your P and L is going to look like. 

Pete: Yeah, when we started our first business, right?[00:08:00] 

I left a very high paid corporate job, all the benefits, and I started the business, and I'm not kidding you, my wife walked into my office every day and said, hey, are we going to make it? She's like, are we going to make it? And I kind of said, hey, listen, we'll make it. You just, you got to be patient. It takes some time to do it, but there is starting out.

You just don't have that, that safety net of that check as much as a safety net is not a check anymore because companies can get rid of you. But, but there is some sense to that a little bit. All right. What would be another con? Well, kind of going back to 

Nat: that buck stops here concept, I mean, I guess a con, a pro and a con is that the buck stops here.

So, you know, you have nobody to blame except for yourself. Right? So you have a hundred percent accountability. 

Pete: Yeah. Right. Whether you do really good or really bad, bottom line, it's on you and it's a hundred percent and there's, there's no looking to the right, there's no looking to the left. Look right in the mirror because you are, it's your business and you've got to, you've got to make it happen.

Alright, what else? What would be another con? I think 

Nat: just the the [00:09:00] time that it takes to get something up and running. You know, we all wish that it would happen faster. But we do, kind of like what you were saying earlier, have to be patient and give ourselves a 

Pete: little time. You mean you can't replace your large corporate income in two months?

Nat: No, I guess if you could you could sign me up for that project. 

Pete: Yeah, right. It just takes time and scale and it like anything else to build something it just takes time and so Certainly that that's one where you just got to be patient and you got to build the business and plan for it Right have enough working capital to build the business to get to where you need to go for sure All right.

What else won't be another one? 

Nat: I think, you know, if you think you're just going to buy a business and kind of coast, that's probably would be a fallacy. It's a lot of hard work at the beginning. There's, I always kind of think in terms of this concept of startup mentality. And I know a lot of corporate guys have that too, when they start a new position at corporate, you know, for the first collaboration.

Whether it's six or nine or 12 months, they're, they're there, you know, first one [00:10:00] in last one to leave. I think that's probably the mentality that is advised to take when you're starting a business. 

Pete: Yeah, a lot of hard work, right? Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, I use it. An example is that even if you invest in French, it's got all the systems, the process of procedures.

Bottom line is that the business from the standpoint is it takes a lot of energy to get that business off the ground. It's like a plane. You're going on vacation. Right. And in the cargo area, there's cargo, there's luggage, and then all the passengers. And it takes a lot of power for that plane to get off the tarmac.

But once it gets to a certain altitude, they can actually, I'm told, pull back the power. Not any different, right? It just takes a lot of hard work to get a business off the ground. Okay, what would be another one? I think, I'm trying to think, I think my other thing that's kind of hitting my radar is No PTO.

Nat: So like, if you want, you could take time off, but you're, you're going to have to, you know, pay for your own time off. So that's kind of. Can be kind of a mind bender a little bit, I think, for people that are not used to 

Pete: that. Yeah, right. You, [00:11:00] you can take time, but it's not like you have so many vacation days.

Not, you know, most executives don't able to use all their vacation time. But the idea is that it's just a little bit different, because you're always, it's always your business and you're always got to watch over it. Right. Even if you're in Hawaii, you got to understand what's happening to your business.

Yeah, you 

Nat: might have to log in and do billing and payroll because nobody else is maybe going to do 

Pete: it, right? Yeah. So what I like about, or one of the things that I think about as you, you leave the corporate world and invest in a business, one of the things that I think is so hard, what could look at as a con is that you have to be a problem solver at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where the problem came from your job as an entrepreneur is to solve that problem and you can't blame it on anybody else.

You just, Hey, listen, we, we, to survive with our business, we have to be a problem solver and that can be tough. Yeah. 

Nat: I think fortunately life does kind of teach us to be problem solvers. Right? Because I mean, we're a lot of [00:12:00] people are parents. If you're a parent, you definitely. I've been kind of helping your kids solve problems for the last, seems 

Pete: like forever.

Well, it doesn't go away, even when they, they go off to college and come back from college. You know, there are always, you're, you're, you're helping them solve problems, but it's like, just when you thought you heard it all, right. Yes. Yeah. Right. And it's just that that's just life. You're solving problems, but it's compounded when it's your own business.

Right. Cause it's your, your money's on the table and you've got to solve that. And you can't make excuses and it can't be because somebody else did something. It's you got to figure it out. And the pandemic certainly helped a lot of people work through that, that thing. All right. What else? You know, I think a little bit about like limited.

Resources. You know, when I was with these large corporations, we had resources to do things. You could say, I need another person or I need this. And it was I won't say easy, but you could get access to a lot of resources, training, stuff like that. With a business owner, you just don't have as deep a war chest when it comes to that stuff.

Nat: Yeah, if somebody calls [00:13:00] the main number and they're like, I want to talk to the HR department. It's like okay, just a minute, put on your HR hat. All right, this is the HR department. 

Pete: Yeah, yeah. 

Nat: They don't realize like a small business is, you know, there's not all these departments, right? Yeah. 

Pete: Right.

Absolutely. You know, and I think one of the other cons we'll use or, or, or things is that, you know, there's, when we enter in as a business owner, there's always competition. Right. And that's, you know, you're going into it and competition is heating up. It's, there's more and more businesses out there. I mean, franchising is exploding.

So bottom line is, is that you're, you're going into a competitive pool and you, you have to compete. Right. If there's no easy coasting and people go, I want a business where there isn't a lot of competition. And sometimes if there's not a lot of competition, there isn't an industry, right? Exactly. Right. So when you have competition, that means there's industry.

You just have to fight for that. That space. 

Nat: Yeah, that is totally I mean, that's a good, really good point. I, [00:14:00] I, I kind of like competitive niches because then, you know, that is a proven market. I always feel like I can, I can outperform most of my, most of my peers. So, but that's just, I 

Pete: guess, my ego. Yeah, absolutely.

Right. I mean, it's, and you don't have a choice. You, you've got to make it happen. And you've got to figure out how you build and grow your business. It's kind of 

Nat: like that one analogy or whatever, like when the bear's chasing you, you just have to run faster than 

Pete: the other person. I used that line with my family the other day.

 Well, I think you think about Elon Musk and Tesla. Right, right. You could like him, you not like him. But bottom line is with Tesla, you know, as he's trying to survive this onslaught of additional EVs coming into the marketplace or protect his market share, what's he doing? He's dropping his prices.

Right. He's lowering his prices to try to capture as much market share as he can before the onslaught. So, absolutely. All right. So, you know, when you're a corporate executive and you're thinking about leaving your corporate role to invest in a business, there are certainly [00:15:00] pros and cons, and it's been fun talking about them.

I gotta, I gotta tell you though, I gotta go get ready. I gotta get my, my, my my jersey on, my OSU jersey to get ready for this game. So, Nat, it's been a pleasure today. Thanks. All right. Go Ohio. You got it.