Overcoming My Fear of Entrepreneurship

For as long as I can remember, I've always had an interest in business, particularly the last 14 years. In my family, I'm surrounded by businessmen and businesswomen.

I was born in Germany to Zimbabwean parents, grew up in Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, and Ellicott City, Maryland, and now call Alexandria, Virginia home.

My dad is a retired doctor turned farmer, and my mom is a former medical technician turned entrepreneur. In Saudi Arabia, my dad had a tutoring business, tutoring students at the British School, as well as students preparing to sit for their GCSE (General Certificate in Secondary Education) exams. He tutored students in Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

In the past, my mom owned a concierge business, as well as a laundromat. She is in the process of developing a business based on a patent for a product she developed, a product which I'll not disclose at this time.

My maternal grandfather was a successful businessman and farmer, owning a grocery store, in addition to the farm. One of my brothers is an independent soccer coach. I have an uncle who is the Managing Director of SMC Drilling, a company representing of all Anglo American's mining interests in Zimbabwe, and several cousins who are all entrepreneurs.

Despite being literally surrounded by entrepreneurs, for the longest time I feared the idea of being self-employed.

I have a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Throughout most of my career I worked in the financial services and real estate sectors, with a one-year stint as a Federal Contractor and two months at a power utility company.

In early January of this year (2019), on a Sunday afternoon, I was driving back from H-Mart in Annandale, Virginia in my two-door red Honda Accord coupe, after having bought pork, chicken, tilapia, carrots, celery and broccoli. On that fateful Sunday, I was feeling like a loser. I had very little money left in my bank account after exhausting my savings, during the 13 months I was unemployed, from October 2017 until November 2018.

Everyday, I was waking up and going to a job at a power utility company, a job which I absolutely hated, and a job for which I was overqualified. Worst of all, it was costing me more to go to work in downtown Washington, D.C. than the money I was earning at the job. I needed motivation and inspiration, and so I decided to take a detour and drive through Great Falls, Virginia.

I came to know the town of Great Falls, VA as a result of an internship that I did at a brokerage firm back in 2005. Most recently Great Falls was listed as the 16th richest town in America, (Clabaugh 2019) although last year it was listed as a number two on 24/7 Wall St.’s list of the richest towns in America.

Driving down 495 I decided to take exit 43-44 for Georgetown Pike.

I turned onto Georgetown Pike towards Great Falls, VA and began driving on the hilly and winding road, towards Walker Rd. With every majestic home that I saw and passed, my mood improved. With each Porsche, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Rolls Royce Phantom that zoomed past me, I became re-inspired.

With hardly any money in the bank, and a job that was costing me more than I was benefiting from, I decided that I had nothing to lose, and that it was time to take the risk I'd feared all my life.

After driving around for an hour, I headed back home and started drafting my business plan. Two months later, I quit my job and began my own entrepreneurship journey.

It's the best decision I've ever made.

Entrepreneurship, is no doubt, my calling in life. I now own a Math and English tutoring business, and a personal services business which are slowly growing. I'm the happiest and most satisfied that I’ve ever been with my career. To supplement my income, I deliver food on the weekend. Everything is working out. I'm not making a lot of money yet, which I didn't expect to, but my business is growing every week. I'm able to support myself.

Each week another parent hires me to tutor their child in math. With each day, I gain more clients who hire me to run errands, deliver important documents, or grow through the 1975 Almanac, and create a spreadsheet listing the number of AM and FM radio stations each country in the world had that year. (Yes, that really happened, it is a task I'll never forget, for which I was compensated handsomely).

I'm the happiest I've ever been in my career. My fear of entrepreneurship is gone. I'm finally free!

References:

Clabaugh, Jeff. 2019. Great Falls, McLean, Potomac make Bloomberg's "Richest Places" List-2019. February 15. Accessed March 17, 2019. https://wtop.com/business-finance/2019/02/great-falls-mclean-potomac-make-bloombergs-richest-places-list/.

Fairfaxtimes.com. 2017. Great Falls named 2nd wealthiest residential area in U.S. May 11. Accessed March 17, 2019. http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/articles/great-falls-named-nd-wealthiest-residential-area-in-u-s/article_2842fde0-3697-11e7-9814-737dc6b689ae.html.