The Fallacy of Quitting Corporate
If you haven't already inferred by the heady title- yes, I quit my job.
First some house cleaning, while this piece feels heavy, I want to assure you I’m excited for my next venture. I'm starting a consulting business designed to serve arts institutions, art startups and small businesses—all while our economy is on the brink of a recession and the federal government is actively trying to defund said institutions…. what could go wrong! But seriously, I have an opportunity to pursue my dreams and I don’t take that privilege lightly.
Here are similar posts where I ponder and pontificate:
If you have the means, like the work and would love to make my day, please consider upgrading to paid. I’ve decided in the spirit of reciprocity, Angel Investors will get a curated gift of local artisans and businesses.
May our dollars to go back into the community as often as they can. Now without further ado….
“This occasion deserves real French champagne,” my husband pronounced as he raised a toast. I finally resigned after an eight-year career in tech to pursue my own entrepreneurial adventures. “Cheers,” I said before choking down the bubbly laced with irony.
Quitting one’s corporate job is exalted in the world of online get-rich schemes, motivational mantras, toxic bite-sized McDonald’s quotes, and overly generalized advice for entrepreneurship. This is the second time in my life that I’ve left a “corporate job” to pursue my own gig. The first time, I made a lot of money, didn’t pay my taxes for three years, and, as the algorithm ate up my business model, I began charging my newfound lifestyle to credit cards.
So many young people aspire to be a YouTube star, influencer, or entrepreneur, but the inundation of monetized aspiration fails to teach any actual strategies for success or impart genuine wisdom. These toxic sales funnels conveniently overlook the socioeconomic privileges many idolized CEOs enjoy. Steve Jobs famously started Apple in the garage of his parents’ home—he had “parents” and a “garage” to work out of, the very presence of parents being a marker of generational wealth, something his biological parents were keenly aware of when they gave him up for adoption.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau, around 600,000 children interact with the foster care system in one way or another each year. And while the poverty rate dropped by 0.4 percent in 2023, the United States Census still recorded 36.8 million people living in poverty.
As a former foster youth, I can’t write an aspirational post about the joys of leaving corporate life when the system never intended to have me there in the first place. The fact that I have a husband, health insurance, and so much familial support (mostly not biological) is the sort of privilege that incites survivor’s guilt. I’m one of the approximately 600,000 children touched by foster care each year and one of nearly 40 million people who made it out of poverty. I imagine those numbers will grow as the economy sits on the brink of crashing.
“The 64.8 million working Americans with less than $400 in savings and no retirement fund would be an average of 118 days away from homelessness if renting,” surmises one data-collection site.
I’m not trying to be all doom and gloom. I’ve always believed that art is a cornerstone of innovation, and without community I would never be where I am today. But I think a cup of realism is needed. People can’t afford to quit their jobs. Our community needs those of us with means to re-evaluate our budgets, consume less, and reinvest in the community itself, because 118 days isn’t enough time for anyone to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” and most people don’t have a safe home to return to if they lose theirs.