The Unpredictable Excitement of Choosing Door #2

Unless there is a risk, there is no fulfillment

I asked him, "Do you think I should leave public accounting and move to Mobile, Alabama, and join this software company?"

My close friend not only said "No." but, "Heck no!"

This was true of all the people I asked at the time. It was June of 1976. I was twenty-three years old. I had just completed my first year in public accounting. The whole time I was sitting there at my desk I felt like an imposter. I had the drive to learn and be successful but accounting wasn't it for me.

I was surrounded by people who loved what they did and they were good at it. Accounting and taxes were something I learned to do, but I never found it compelling like everyone else in the firm. And, to be truthful, I didn’t have a natural talent for it.

But this computer and software stuff, now that was exciting me. And here I was being offered the proverbial "door number 2." If I turned the handle and opened the door, I would be in a software startup. I was comfortable serving the CPAs that were our target market, but I knew nothing about software, teaching, installing, selling, or being an analyst working with programmers. Lastly, I knew nothing about Mobile, Alabama. At that point in my life, I never was west of I-95!

But there was something about Richard Brock, the founder/ entrepreneur. I never met anyone like him in my life. He walked fast, talked fast, and thought fast. I fell in love with the guy. I was so excited to be around him. Over time, I wanted to be him. He was excited and I wanted to be excited too. When his mouth was moving, I was learning. He taught me so many skills, but most importantly, he taught me how to start and build a business from scratch. He taught me how to be an entrepreneur.

But I didn't know any of this. Yet, I had to make my first big decision in life. Door #2? All I knew was accounting was a great, and predictable occupation. My path was well-defined. This is compared to my new alternative. There was nothing about door #2 that was certain and defined.

Within a short period, I decided to do it. I didn't want certainty. I wanted work that was challenging and fun. Work that caused me to step way outside my comfort zone. Work that introduced me to concepts and skills I would never get to learn in my current occupation. What I liked best was the idea that I would be forced to learn it all and do it all as fast as I could take it on. I was in.

I quit my job, and with it, my public accounting career. Then I had to listen to everyone I knew tell me I was nuts. I packed up my 1976 orange Honda CVCC with everything I owned and drove to Mobile, Alabama.

As I headed west from Miami, I had to take I-75 North, a road I had never taken. It led me to a life I never expected. A career I didn't understand. To friendships, I was yet to discover. And on to a life filled with excitement, success, failure, and challenges. It even led me to Kathy, the love of my life. She joined me about a year later, and we've been walking together for forty-seven years.

I learned great lessons from this life-directing decision. I learned:

You have to leave all you know, your support system, to experience opportunities you never dreamed possible. New places open the door to new people and a new life.

The richness of life is in putting yourself at risk to fail, and to fail big.