At a crossroads | had my FTE, now what?

[lark]

Hi!

I’m Henry, 25 from the UK. I read Millionaire Fastlane from a YouTube recommendation then quickly picked up Unscripted which I am halfway through I've been blown away by both as it couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I hate my job and all the crap that comes with it.

I work in software, as a product manager ( the guy who works out what to build and why we are building it ) basically the company entrepreneur. At first, I liked it, great team, startup, and great culture, but then suddenly my bosses boss decided to put me on a performance review, with absolutely no prior informal warning. I had a formal hearing straight away, containing some of the most ridiculous reasons as to why I should be on this. They brought up everything from items of work that I did BEFORE my probation to not being in the office at least once a week ( I later proved that I was in more than that a week) which is not even performance related. The tactic was to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. I knew it BS. I have won 3 awards at the company within 10 months and have been working and stressing my a$$ off with so many projects. I went to the hearing and it was so poor, HR and my boss were present but not the person that decided to put me on this. They agreed with my points, should have been an informal discussion beforehand, reasonings weren't serious enough for a formal process and were never brought up in my formal probation review. Even with all that they decided to give me a written warning on my record. I appealed the decision. But that followed the same procedure. I knew they wouldn't overturn it due to office politics but I wanted it on record that I wasn't happy. Within a month I smashed through all my set targets and I was off 'formal review'.

The whole thing left me with a sour taste, not just for the company but for the whole damn thing. What was the point? What shocked me the most is this wasn't some big corporate enterprise but what was a fluid startup. Product management is a thankless job, you are the spark that ensures the business creates the right features for its customers, it's time-consuming and stressful. Why am I busting my a$$ for someone else's product and vision? I knew from then that I had to escape the 9-5 and all the BS that comes with it.

I'm now at a crossroads. I'm still at the same job, have no idea why, have absolutely no ambition to do well and don't care about the product as they clearly don't care for me. I've floated my CV around and have been very successful but only applying to roles I think I would care about. But I have no idea why I am even bothering to apply. I'll still be unhappy working for someone else's dream. But the pay is much better.

Thing is, I don't have a solid plan for what I want to do, I have two options, but not massively sold on them. I have to pay rent until Aug but I have savings that can cover that and thankfully a family that will take me in, but am very much in the mindset of me going into another job and always having a stable income. Very safe.

Here are my options:

1. Start a YouTube channel. These won't be point-and-shoot vlogs or self-development videos. But funny educational documentaries that will have animations, and illustrations crafted by me. There is a distinct lack of funny educational channels on the platform. I have played around with the software and can do both, not amazing, but good enough. The downside is to make one video takes at least a month, and YouTube violates the rules of control and time. Also, the algorithm almost completely ignores new channels and will be very lucky to start making anything within 6 months.

2. Start a SaaS or E-com business. I know SaaS software business well, as I have been working in it for 3 years. But will need to learn to code. E-com is pretty easy to get started but I have no idea what product to choose just yet. I have a better vision in terms of what to do for YouTube but the violations and slow to make any kind of money are putting me off.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I really want to quit my job as it's a time sink, but the lack of a clear vision or the lag time in making money with YouTube is grating against me. Thanks for enduring my TED talk.

 

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[ZCP]

Sounds like it wasn't a FTE.

If you want it bad enough, you will find a way, right?

 

[Subsonic]

Hi!

I’m Henry, 25 from the UK. I read Millionaire Fastlane from a YouTube recommendation then quickly picked up Unscripted which I am halfway through I've been blown away by both as it couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I hate my job and all the crap that comes with it.

I work in software, as a product manager ( the guy who works out what to build and why we are building it ) basically the company entrepreneur. At first, I liked it, great team, startup, and great culture, but then suddenly my bosses boss decided to put me on a performance review, with absolutely no prior informal warning. I had a formal hearing straight away, containing some of the most ridiculous reasons as to why I should be on this. They brought up everything from items of work that I did BEFORE my probation to not being in the office at least once a week ( I later proved that I was in more than that a week) which is not even performance related. The tactic was to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. I knew it BS. I have won 3 awards at the company within 10 months and have been working and stressing my a$$ off with so many projects. I went to the hearing and it was so poor, HR and my boss were present but not the person that decided to put me on this. They agreed with my points, should have been an informal discussion beforehand, reasonings weren't serious enough for a formal process and were never brought up in my formal probation review. Even with all that they decided to give me a written warning on my record. I appealed the decision. But that followed the same procedure. I knew they wouldn't overturn it due to office politics but I wanted it on record that I wasn't happy. Within a month I smashed through all my set targets and I was off 'formal review'.

The whole thing left me with a sour taste, not just for the company but for the whole damn thing. What was the point? What shocked me the most is this wasn't some big corporate enterprise but what was a fluid startup. Product management is a thankless job, you are the spark that ensures the business creates the right features for its customers, it's time-consuming and stressful. Why am I busting my a$$ for someone else's product and vision? I knew from then that I had to escape the 9-5 and all the BS that comes with it.

I'm now at a crossroads. I'm still at the same job, have no idea why, have absolutely no ambition to do well and don't care about the product as they clearly don't care for me. I've floated my CV around and have been very successful but only applying to roles I think I would care about. But I have no idea why I am even bothering to apply. I'll still be unhappy working for someone else's dream. But the pay is much better.

Thing is, I don't have a solid plan for what I want to do, I have two options, but not massively sold on them. I have to pay rent until Aug but I have savings that can cover that and thankfully a family that will take me in, but am very much in the mindset of me going into another job and always having a stable income. Very safe.

Here are my options:

1. Start a YouTube channel. These won't be point-and-shoot vlogs or self-development videos. But funny educational documentaries that will have animations, and illustrations crafted by me. There is a distinct lack of funny educational channels on the platform. I have played around with the software and can do both, not amazing, but good enough. The downside is to make one video takes at least a month, and YouTube violates the rules of control and time. Also, the algorithm almost completely ignores new channels and will be very lucky to start making anything within 6 months.

2. Start a SaaS or E-com business. I know SaaS software business well, as I have been working in it for 3 years. But will need to learn to code. E-com is pretty easy to get started but I have no idea what product to choose just yet. I have a better vision in terms of what to do for YouTube but the violations and slow to make any kind of money are putting me off.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I really want to quit my job as it's a time sink, but the lack of a clear vision or the lag time in making money with YouTube is grating against me. Thanks for enduring my TED talk.

Don't do youtube as a means to make money. It will take you years and you won't ever built a fortune on there.

You talk lots about what you want but the market doesn't care about you disliking you job. You go and solve a problem for the market and then money will hunt you down.

SaaS or ecom are both alright but how about doing a physical local/brick and mortar business? Those can have mad margins and more than anything, you have less competition there.

If you want to do ecom, make your own product. Don't white label some crap from alibaba. Again, entry.
Do something that solved a problem and is hard to do.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

So if you read my books and you already have a specialized skill, why on Earth would you want to start a YT channel? Is there something in my book that makes you think that is a good idea? Did you read about the ENTRY and CONTROL Commandments?

 

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[Kirby73]

Hi Henry, i'm also based in the UK and there is massive demand for good product managers within Software dev, without knowing which company you work for or the size, based on what you have said I would say there is stuff going on behind the scenes your not privy too, for example the company could be having finance issues and line it up so they have an excuse to let people go.

I would take the skills to you have, your network and sectors you understand and look for issues in those where you can provide a solution to a problem.

I would not jump from employment too soon (I did) work on your project on the side until that project is generating x3 your salary and then you can consider going full time in your business.

 

[lark]

So if you read my books and you already have a specialized skill, why on Earth would you want to start a YT channel? Is there something in my book that makes you think that is a good idea? Did you read about the ENTRY and CONTROL Commandments?

My thinking was that the kind of videos I would make is not the traditional get camera, equipment ect, shoot and edit, then upload. But would be creating custom animations and would require a lot of research as it'll be in the educational space, so would be a slightly higher barrier to entry. Initially, control will be defied but would be active on other social media like TikTok and Instagram. So I won't be dependent on one platform. My future goal would then be to create a course on how I produce videos or something of that nature and get revenue that isn't dependent on YouTube. That was my thinking for that.

In terms of my 'specialized skill' I find it hard to see the value I have in my current position as I am a generalist and dependent on a lot of other business functions to do my job. But will 100% have a brainstorm on how I could use my product management skills. I also write non-fiction in my spare time for fun and would never consider that as a path but upon reading more of Unscripted that could be another option for me.

 

[lark]

Don't do youtube as a means to make money. It will take you years and you won't ever built a fortune on there.

You talk lots about what you want but the market doesn't care about you disliking you job. You go and solve a problem for the market and then money will hunt you down.

SaaS or ecom are both alright but how about doing a physical local/brick and mortar business? Those can have mad margins and more than anything, you have less competition there.

If you want to do ecom, make your own product. Don't white label some crap from alibaba. Again, entry.
Do something that solved a problem and is hard to do.

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, that's my one issue with YouTube the lag time. It was only an initial idea as I have previous experience in producing videos.

 

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