One | I Quit

I quit my job. I am a 23-year-old, still living at home with my parents, I had a steady job but just decided I wanted to quit. I didn’t really have a plan, I just had an idea. I was gonna start my own business.

At 17 I decided that I was going to make a career somewhere within the creative field. Whether that was with music because I played guitar in a couple bands at the time, or with photography, or videography…. I didn’t really know. But I knew it was going to be something creative. I also knew it was going to be “business-y.” I have always been interested in business and surrounded by business. I ran my own grass cutting business at a young age cutting lawns for a couple neighbors and of course, my grandma. I had an imaginary business which is weird to admit but I think really has helped and compliments what I am doing now. After listening or reading this feel free to ask what it was! I love looking back and laughing about it now.

At 18, I enrolled into Television Broadcasting at a local college where they taught me the fundamentals to Television Broadcasting. This included editing, shooting, working with talent (kinda), building relationships, etc…again the fundamentals. In the creative world school to some is a waste of time and money and what you learn you can obviously learn online in less time and for a fraction of the cost. But the one thing sitting behind a computer trying to learn doesn’t do is build connections. For me without school I wouldn’t have made the connections to what are now my mentors, colleagues and most importantly like-minded friends.

After busting my ass and graduating college as a almost honors student and working a ton of jobs for local creative agencies, production houses, and national T.V stations I got offered a job. The job was at the college working for the Public Affairs and Communications Department where I created over 200 videos and took what seemed like over a million pictures to showcase everything the college was doing. It was a big boy job – I was making a salary which was awesome. I was able to buy my first car, take my girlfriend a bunch of great dates. I was able to hit up the local bar down the street for a beer or 2 or 3….on the weekends with some friends. It was great.

The job was in The Office of the President. It was sorta like working in the principals office but the president didn’t discipline the students – instead he did everything he could to make the college a better place for the students to learn and work. It was really a great job. Everything the college did went through the president’s office in some way shape or form which for me, was a blessing now looking back. I met a TON of people and not just profs and other people who worked at the college. I worked with Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau when he visited the college. I got the chance to sit down and interview other great politicians and super successful entrepreneurs and business people who are now giving back to the college because well…they’re so successful and want to give back. I got the chance to talk to and make connections with people who are in the spot where I ultimately want to be in. Which again has helped shape and compliment what I am doing now.

Fast forward a year into working at the college. I started to get bored. I was doing the same thing over and over – waking up, going to work, editing a video, taking a couple photos, going to the gym (when I had the motivation to go), going home, re-peat. It was a never-ending cycle. The last few months of the job also included the longest faculty strike in history for Colleges Ontario. As you could imagine, tensions were pretty high! I started to find my self getting distracted and watching YouTube a lot (Sorry to my old boss who I now consider a mentor and friend.) I started seeing other people doing their own thing and making a living from a business they created.

This is when I got the idea. I’m going to quit. I am going to quit, start my own business, make more than what I am making at the college. Pick the jobs I want to pick. Move out. Start a family. Become a millionaire. And be the person getting interviewed by the college videographer because I am so successful. Okay… maybe most of that or all of it was a dream and not going to happen. But I think you get the point. I needed to do something more that was going to tickle my fancy I guess you could say for a lack of a better term.

This is when I started having the conversation. First, my girlfriend. Then with some friends. Then…my parents. I was terrified to tell my parents. This was probably the hardest part of the whole process. Like I said…I am still living in their house and eating their food. But I got the courage and told them….I think I am going to quit my job and start my own business. Just so you know, they supported it but obviously were skeptical…as most parents would and should be. I had now told my friends and most importantly my parents. I put my notice it to the college and as of December 22nd 2017 I would no longer have a job or income. That’s when it became real. I was leaving my big boy job making salary and benefits and I was going to own my own business. I didn’t really know what that entailed or looked like. I just had an idea.

JMorris Media was now my full-time gig as of January 1st, 2018. I dove right in. I had never properly run a business before. I never had to worry about client contracts, payments and all those sorts of things. I didn’t really know what I was doing. But what I did know was I had great connections and I needed to use them. I used the connections I had made throughout my time at the college both in school and professionally. I lined up my first client….at the college! It was for double the amount of money I was getting paid before for HALF the number of hours. I was stoked. I lined up my second client. I lined up my third client. And by the end of 2018 I lined up 14 paying clients. I have learned a ton. Running a business isn’t a walk in the park. It’s stressful, its lonely, is fast paced, it’s a mental game, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I have learned more than I ever have in the last almost 10 months than high school and college combined. I have continued to make connections and most importantly I am not getting distracted. Yes, I still watch YouTube and have hard days, but I work through them.

Quitting my job has been the best decision of my life. I am continuously learning which is something I think comes with owning your own business. I am happy. And I am constantly seeing where I could go next. This is where this blog or podcast or what ever this is comes into play. I recently started writing down a lot of my plans, and ideas and really seeing what else I can do and where else I could go. I want to share my journey with you. Who knows…. maybe you’re going through same thing I was or am or starting down the same path!

I may only be 23 but I am a professional working in the professional world which most of you listening or reading this are too. I have built a sustainable business in one year and plan on doubling my business in 2019. I don’t know if this will happen. It is just an idea. But hey…doesn’t everything start with just an idea. 

- Jacob Morris
www.jmorrismedia.com