Episode 259 | Watch on YouTube | Listen on Buzzsprout
You’ve been working for twenty, maybe twenty-five years. You’ve done well — good salary, maybe $150,000 or $200,000 a year, sometimes more. But something’s changed. Maybe you’re tired of the corporate game. Maybe your company is changing under you. Maybe you just realized you don’t want to do this for another ten years.
Here’s the problem: you make too much money to quit. And starting over somewhere else doesn’t sound any better either.
The Golden Handcuff Problem
Success creates something nobody warns you about. You worked hard to get here — good salary, benefits, a reputation, seniority, expertise, a whole lifestyle built around that income. And here’s the strange part: quitting gets harder at fifty than it was at twenty-five. Success gives you options, but it can also make you feel trapped.
The Three Choices You Think You Have
Most people think they have three choices: stay where you are until retirement, find another job, or quit and start a business. Each one has a real cost, and none of them feel great.
There’s a fourth option most professionals never consider.
The Fourth Option: Company of One
Instead of asking “Should I quit my job?” — ask a different question: What have I built up over twenty years that has value outside my employer? Technical expertise. Industry knowledge. Relationships. Reputation. The ability to solve certain problems. The ability to teach. Processes you’ve developed. An understanding of a particular customer or industry. Credibility. Capital. Maybe assets you already own.
Your job may be paying you for those assets today.
That doesn’t mean your employer owns them.
What This Looks Like In Practice
An engineering manager could advise smaller manufacturers who can’t afford someone at his level full time. An HR executive could help growing companies build hiring systems. A project manager could run complex implementations for companies on a fractional basis. A technical salesperson might know an industry well enough to represent products, consult, train sales teams, or spot acquisitions.
Consulting is only one option. It could be teaching, advising, buying a business, creating a service, investing, building a product, or combining a few of those.
The goal isn’t “become a coach.”
The goal is options.
What Not To Do
Don’t quit. Don’t spend six months building a website. Don’t create a course. Don’t form an LLC because somebody on YouTube told you to.
Instead, find something you think has value, and test whether another person agrees with you.
That’s Company of One.
Your Assignment
Take out a piece of paper and answer four questions:
- What do people already come to me for help with?
- What can I do unusually well because I’ve done it for years?
- What problems have I solved, over and over?
- Who outside my employer has that same problem?
Don’t look for your passion. Look for economic assets — things somebody would pay to have solved.
Write down your answers to those four questions before the week is out — that list is where your options start.
Need Help Getting Started?
📍 If you want a place to start, and you’re just at a loss, go below to the link for Moving Past Obstacles assignment. It walks you through the first step..
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