Hi. This is the Daily Overpass. My name is
Eric and I make apps. Now, today I want to
talk about taking a leap of faith.
Ok. So, today I want to talk about leaps
of faith. Now, every time I advanced in my
life personally it's been because
I've taken a leap of faith.
It's like, there's been a difficult decision and
there was a safe option and a leap of
faith option. The safe option is you doing
you do what's expected and the
leap of faith being the scary one. A lot
of times it was really scary so you know
a few weeks like about a month ago I i
told you about how i came to the came to
England and I got a job in IT and I you
know went from working in a Dairy to
having an IT job at barclays capital
will eventually i left Bartlett's I was
there for like two years
you know got you all my qualifications
on my microsoft certifications and
everything and then I moved on to
another cycle smaller company so it's
like closer to home
you know I didn't have to commute so
much it was kind of nice weekend we had
another baby on the way and just move to
a point to this new company and on it
was not a good experience i was
therefore have set for three years and i
was i will go into the details of it i
mean because it's you know it's
everybody has horror stories of places
they used to work you might have them
where you work too but as well as kind
of environments where it just felt like
when you go in and it just felt like a
weight being put on top of your
shoulders you know like you just kind of
stand being there you felt like you're
constantly being watched and criticized
and and just you know you just want to
move on and you end it
it was a guy i started at a certain
salary for three years never had a
salary increase in that was what one of
the issues even though the company was
sold
you know the the matter is only like
it's a small company like seven people
but like you one day the managing
director drives in with a Porsche and I
don't know if you've ever had to ask for
a raise but it's just so difficult we
have to go hat-in-hand you know say
excuse me I'm just wondering if you know
if I can get a raise in it who Eric yeah
our policy is to pay the market average
so you know regardless of how long
you've been here so it was it was one of
those situations where I don't want to i
mean if you can if you can be started i
will tell you like those of thing your
horror stories but I'm sure they've got
you know horror stories about me because
i don't know if you've ever worked at a
place where there's somebody who's just
like man this sucks this video this job
this is terrible this kind of I'm
ashamed to say at the at eventually it
got to be I was that guy like I should
have left long before i did but so what
i had done was like after working there
but i think it was probably six months I
went home to San Diego and you know to
visit my family and I told everybody who
would listen how terrible my job wasn't
all that kind of stuff and they're like
oh you should quit yeah I should I and I
went back and then you know over the
next few years I you know I sent out see
these so you know I had two interviews I
did all these guys try to find something
to move to another permanent job and you
know and you didn't find any i mean the
desert was like the doc the dot-com
bubble bursting right so there was there
were no jobs second fine so so you and
like you know so it's been 22 years
later after my first trip to San Diego I
go back and everybody i say so Eric what
are you doing now tops i'm working at
this company is it so where you working
there before I say yes I thought you
hated it there as it
yeah but there's no jobs out there and
all this kind of stuff and it was just
you know victim victim victim victim
right so on the plane home from San
Diego's on my own you know I i came up
with this idea I could start sketching
these ideas that i will make them like
i'll make them ask for a raise but i'll
put together like a presentation like a
proposal saying why I should get that
race right so and you know and if they
don't then I'll move on because at that
point it was kind of the point i was i
was like i don't care if i lose this job
right so so that so it's a few sketches
of paper and then like I woke up early
the more first day of due back at work
you know after my holiday and I just
sort of front of this big five or six
page presentation of why I needed this
raised and I put like a figure there and
you
basically saying you know this is the
rate of in place and charts and graphs
you know the rate of inflation my salary
you know the you know yet additional you
know stuff that I've taken on the the
amount of grown since I've been there
you know all the additional
responsibilities that the parts of the
companies that was you in charge of and
all this kind of stuff and also looking
at the revenue of the company which went
from from nothing to you know a lot
right so but they did but you know so
and I process in a into worrying that it
was so strange because we have a meeting
that morning I talked about always do
spin so tough with Eric being gone
because blonde I was just like yeah
whatever and then i gave so I gave him
the i went in and i met with a with the
the director and I get from this
proposal and he looked over go okay
he says on what we could never ask for a
raise or anything like that it was
always will look at this in two to three
months so we looked at it and he said
mm so if we look at this over the next
two to three months I said no and then
read this book on negotiation that's all
seems pretty naive here right so I ever
this book on negotiation and i told him
i know i need to I need an answer by the
end of this week and then he said you
look at music do you have another job
lined up and okay this is the part where
the story kind of changes this is this
this story has moments of of courage and
moments of cowardice this is one of
cowardice
so he says do you have a job lined up
and I said yes right in NES yes where i
talk like and like I said walking
because I seen a sign like I'm the
interstate whatever on the motorway
right so so so then he said yeah he'll
consider it so then this week I'm kind
of waiting to hear back from them so he
went and discuss it with the other two
managing directors ok it was a small
company just like seven people and then
then I got a call from one of them
saying we can't do this because it's our
policy
blah blah blah and he said but we can
give like like a bonus like a small but
it was just it was really it was really
small and I i thought i had to stick to
my guns and I said I'm sorry I'm gonna
have to leave right so so so that was
just being
it was at the time I was up and up to be
honest with you I should've left years
earlier I wasn't doing them any favors I
wasn't doing me any favors at the time I
was just you know better so I so I love
so i gave my notice that day so I had a
30-day notice and pretend job to go to
so I had no job lined up and it was it
was the most scary time of my entire
life so I served out this notice period
and you know it's really hard to find a
job like to go to interviews when you
when you already have a fake job that
you're supposed to be going to have no
excuses so so over the course of the
next month of the the notice period i
kept you know I then I was really
looking for jobs doing see these
everyday sending them out to everyone i
was going to any interview that i could
get to I want to go see one a recruiter
I don't want you to see me in person but
he looked at me says he says are you
telling me you left a perfectly good job
in this market and I was that was asked
if that was the most scary thing I
thought this is this you know I really
really made a mistake right and when I
said something about you know I have
confidence in my abilities and all this
kind of stuff something that I was
shaken by what he had said so it and you
know so the month passes and we have my
leaving do my leaving do is just it was
it was just it was sad because it was
like you know they gave me a gift and a
big speech Eric where you going on to
keep me in this BS story which i think
by now everybody knew it was BS right
they knew I didn't have a job to go to
which is why they would never you know
you they were all they have to do is
wait
all they have to do is wait for me to
come back and beg for my job back so i
left and then you know the next day and
then I started really searching for a
job and I started uh you know doing
series every dad no money had no job I
had no savings and and I'm the only
breadwinner of the family so you know a
wife and two kids at the time and you
know and and no income and I did have a
project that was doing freelance which
was like eleven hundred dollars and I
are
700 pounds and I was a in which have
which I finish because out loads of free
time when I wasn't looking for a job and
then also I am we borrowed some money so
it but it was it was a point where
people will do it was people were asking
you know what when I said I couldn't
afford to go out or anything like that
they would say oh you lost your job and
again the line just you know your bi say
yes because I didn't have I didn't have
the courage to tell them that I had left
a perfectly good job and put my family
and endanger really and I had two little
boys with the bright little faces
looking up at me and and the ave him
they like the fact that i was home but
it was I really felt like a failure
I felt like a you know like felt like a
failure as a father I felt like a
failure as a husband and a failure as a
man because you start looking at other
people and everybody has a job and you
start thinking I'm you know and I just
left and I was you know trying so hard
to find one and every interview I went
to I was desperate that was desperate
for the job so i was trying to find a
contract was trying to be a contractor
except figure 5b contract a permanent I
wanted to be a contractor and uh but I'm
go to things that took two interviews
they say will you people really want to
be a contractor uub employee employee
and I said yeah sure that would take
even less money right at that point I
was just desperate and again as it you
know this is a think the cowardice comes
in a little bit here is a i wish i could
say it was a bold leap of faith but
there were times where i would kind of
leap the fact back to the old company
that maybe the other job at followed
through or something like that
hoping that they would say so we'll all
talk to some people so you can get you
your job back and I was like yeah but my
wife was like you why would you go back
there you know it should
by the way this is what this is one of
the situations where you feel like
you're alone and you realize hey man
we're a team and everybody was just
backing backing me up and it was a nice
yes it might have to get a job growth at
the waitrose Waitrose's like in the UK
it's like a grocery store chain so it's
going to get a job at waitrose to to pay
the bills and
I set a deadline of like a month and a
whole month
no jobs it was just like it was it was
terrible i mean i met with companies
that said you know I you know we can get
you an interview someplace but you have
to swear you don't look for a job
anywhere else and I said yes which was a
lie because I still kept looking for a
job right it was my it was my life on
the line it was my family it was all
that kind of stuff so and strangely you
know I get a you know after a month and
after like my deadlines almost at the
end of my deadlines I get a call from a
recruiter that says you have to come in
for an interview in London and then I
get a call from another recruiter say
come to another interview ended so I
went down and I and I took this test at
the recruitment office and they said I
did better than all the other candidates
and everything and so I and then the
other recruiter said we want you to meet
today and as I can't i'm in another
interview and they said okay meet
tomorrow so I had this two interviews
lined up and then i went to a so into
the first one which is at BBC worldwide
and I want met with them and and it was
it with it went well they offered me the
job the next day so my first contract
which was a short one is only like 10
weeks I end and then the next the next
day the the other company
oh that was until the next day the BBC
offered me so I went to the other
interview and they offered me more money
for a longer contract but had already
accepted the BBC but it was like who
write it was like Christmas was saved as
a young picking up we're not going to
have Christmas rock up anything like
that you know you know all that kind of
stuff i mean it was really it's a
feeling that I would not wish on my
worst enemy
so I so it worked at BBC is reporting
before the end of that contract i found
another contract i didn't know that they
normally extend that was my first
contract so when they came to me to
extend that I've already got something
else and I want to go work at an
investment they get that bfp parable and
then it was like it was like pigment so
within the course of i guess for months
I double the amount that i was making
you know just like that but i was also
not going to be in that situation again
so it's so from then on that was like
that was my last permanent job and that
was a huge leap of faith which for the
longest time
felt like it was a biggest mistake I've
ever made in my life and that's just
because i had seen it to the end yet
right it was a it was there's a book
called a feel the fear and do it anyway
by susan jeffers or one of the things
she talks about says no matter what
happens you'll handle it
you always do right and it's something i
always think about you get it
sometimes you have to put yourself in a
situation where you have nothing to lose
or you have you know your back is to the
wall and you have to do things you
wouldn't normally do and that was one of
those situations where i did so from
there I worked you know many contracts
we have started that was when I started
off overpass I start all that kind of
stuff i would work a contract and I
would you know like other contractors
would spend all their money and I was
like constantly saving I was like I was
getting ready to be out of work again
and it was it was sort of like what I
took away from that situation is I will
never put myself in a situation again
where somebody is in control of my
education or somebody's in control of my
future where someone else's control of
my finances why one of the things as a
contractor that was really liberating
was that I was you know when I wanted to
to work on a new technology it was my
responsibility to learn it when I wanted
to do something new it was my
responsibility when in when I think back
to a company that was so jilted
and-and-and-and couldn't stand being at
it was there not that it was not their
responsibility to make sure that my work
was rewarding it was not their
responsibility to make sure that i was
paid enough it was not you know their
responsibility to make sure i had a
secure job really write it was that was
my responsibility and one of the best
things about being a contractor as being
as opposed to being an employee is that
a contract has an end date right it has
this you know I know that when I take on
a contract for six months on December 15
it's over so i have to start preparing
financially and emotionally to be out of
work right and you don't know how long
that's going to go but the fact of the
matter was I would take on a contract
and it would be like three years maybe
three years at a contract to keep
renewing and me and I have
believe me i would leave because i want
to start off my own agency or my own
software company and like I said I would
go and I would sit at my desk at home
and I was too scared to cold-call people
because that was the next leap of faith
right so i would eventually you know
after a few months go back and find
another contract but it was it was one
of those things yeah whatever i want to
wish that feeling on my worst enemies
that being out of work some of you guys
have been there before you've been you
know whether you were you were pushed or
you jumped you know you're in that
situation where you're out of work and
you're trying to make it to make it and
you look at everybody else around you
and having a job is just like a normal
thing right and Institute to leave that
mentality is really really hard now was
that day on I have a school dance for
one of my kids I did school disco and i
met with somebody who I had met at the
dairy although I didn't remember me
remember me and he was talking about the
job that he had four after the derry-o
close you had it for like eight years
but then that left but he's got a new
job and he's hoping that the new job
lasts for 10 years and my whole thing
was doing I would never want a job that
lasted 10 years right
what I'm going to contract for two years
I feel like man I gotta get a move on
you know thanks for getting stale here
alright anyway so the reason I I'm
thinking about that today I'm sorry for
the long story again you know it's you
it's for what he did with you know it's
gonna be really therapeutic hear me tell
you about the time I wet my pants in the
second grade or whatever so you know but
yeah thinking about now because now the
thing that's holding back the next big
leap and it's something that I know has
been there you know we all have these
things that we know this is what we
should do but it's scary like for me the
big thing is overpasses small like we
have so much planning were coming in we
got so much opportunity but overpasses
small and the problem will realize with
me is me getting ready to make that next
big leap and I have to decide whether or
not ready to do that too i take the safe
option which is just a small or we take
the big leap and grow and i'm not i'm
never good with the big leaps you know
like I i wish i could say with a big
bowl leave but those big bull bleep and
scratching and clawing you know that
kind of stuff you know trying to get
back
can a second guessing myself and all
that kind of stuff I think about my
little brother when we were kids we were
like to have like a bike ramps and stuff
out on the street where we jump our
bikes off of my brother with
straightaway jump right off of awful
awful wrap and I would go like to the
edge put on the brakes and look down as
it now I'm not doing that right because
i just i don't have that I can't just
dive off the diving board the first time
I'm constantly rethinking myself a lot
of times that the reason it takes so
long to get to where I want to go is
because of self-confidence issues which
I i hope we all have it was not just me
anyway sorry for the long story that's
it for today i will talk to you guys on
Monday