What even is a “regular” job? Semantics aside, the heart of our question is about those moments when the stress of entrepreneurship is mounting – do you ever sit back and wonder what if you had just been working for someone else, what life would have been like without all the stress?

Charlese Vidal

I LOVE being a business owner. When I graduated from esthetics school and got my license, I didn’t go out on my own right away. I was working as a freelance consultant for a beauty brand and then transitioned to wax specialist at a popular waxing chain and worked there for about 5 years before going on my own. I have had the “regular job” experience already, and while I learned a lot from those jobs, I wouldn’t want to go back to that. I am so grateful to say I am a business owner. I know that not many people can say they are living their dream and I am every day. While it does have its perks there are also so many challenges that come with it, giving up a 9-5 for a 24/7/365 definitely has me miss being able to clock out and not have to worry about things after work. Read more>>

Taylor Krzeszowski

For as long as I can remember, I’ve known I wanted to work for myself, especially in a creative field. I studied illustration and design in school, dreaming of becoming a freelancer—setting my own schedule and working with clients on a variety of unique projects. I spent almost 10 years as a visual designer in a corporate career before finally taking the leap to work for my own business full-time. Read more>>

Allie Landis

Growing up I had ZERO idea what I wanted to do (and the more adults that asked, the more nervous I felt trying to find my “calling”). I applied to the Business School at University of Rhode Island and was accepted! I picked Marketing as my discipline in hopes to be able to continue my creative, artsy side. As any business student, I had to take Accounting 1 & 2 and realized I was actually really good at accounting LOL (though, I have to credit my professor, she made the course interesting and easy to enjoy). There was a moment there I considered switching majors to accounting, but something in my gut said to stick with marketing! A friend of mine was the President of the Entrepreneurship Club that I joined (and later created their logo!) Looking back, it was invaluable to have not just my marketing major, but also the accounting path I briefly went down AND the entrepreneurship exposure! Read more>>

Michael Kessler

I’ve had some sort of “regular job” my entire life. When we moved to Florida, I was planning to open a mortgage brokerage, but thankfully, my wife talked me out of it. She’s seen me miserable chasing money and clout in jobs and careers I didn’t love and had zero passion for.

For the past 20 years, I’ve been involved in the film industry in some way, but I never fully committed to it. When the opportunity came to take the leap, my wife didn’t hesitate—she made me do it. That leap eventually became Bad Monkey Pictures. Read more>>