When Just Okay Is Not Good Enough

Why We Made The Decision To Shut Down Our Profitable Startup

In 2010 I left my stable job as a Market Manager for a multi-billion dollar staffing company to start an online media company. While working in my full-time position, I figured out that small businesses were looking for an affordable way to showcase their products and services using video. With my background in film and television production, I knew I could meet the demand, and quickly demonstrated that businesses would pay upwards of (brace yourself) $300 for me to produce a professional video for them!

At 35 years of age, having worked for 6+ years for my father’s company and other large corporations prior to that, I was anxious to get out on my own and make my own mark in something. Sensing the benefits would outweigh the risks, I decided to go “all in” on the video business, and tendered my resignation with my employer. I was off to the races.

Flash-forward ten months later. I’ve got my own office, my own business registered with the state, I even have a part-time employee. I’m making a little bit of money — not as much as I had been in my regular job, not even close, but I was in charge, I was calling the shots, I was doing what I wanted to do when I wanted, so I justified the temporary financial setback as a small price to pay for the luxury of self-employment.

And then, a funny thing happened.