Crazy Dream -What may have kept me at my NY job!

In business, usa by Michael Michelini4 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot, and with my big shift from fixed office to coworking and freelancing, I think back to my time four years ago at Deutsche Bank and when I put in my notice to leave my job. My manager I guess kind of expected it, I had already filed with them (per SEC regulations) that I had a company setup years ago for selling online, but I told him officially I wanted to leave the day job and work on my hopes, dreams, and aspirations of an online business fulltime. He supported me! Heck, he even said he wanted his son to have a talk to me about entrepreneurship and small business when he gets older (yep, this offer still stands)

It was hard to quit my job, but after it was announced to him and to my fellow workmates, it was a sigh of relief. I actually did enjoy the team I was working with, I just wanted MORE CHALLENGING WORK. I w as working on Wall street, I saw psychiatrists and they would tell me how can I not be happy, I am working in a dream job in the center of the world, a dream to so many…..I JUST WAS NOT SATISIFIED OF THIS BEING MY LIFE, to go to a job to do work I wasn’t fulfilled doing, to repeat over and over, I needed to take more RISKS.

Anyway, in this dream I had, I mentioned that I wanted to do my own business full time, and then my manager told me, well “we have this incubator program” and if you stay with us, you can work there and we have a huge network of support services to get you on your feet, for a minority share of your business.

IMAGINE THAT! Yea, I know, “in your dreams

This dream came from some articles I read of Yahoo! Company setting up a free coworking space in Silicon Valley near its own office to attract entrepreneurs and startups, to inspire them to work inside Yahoo! Or maybe be acquisition targets, whatever the exact reason Yahoo setup this free coworkign space is to ATTRACT TALENT! Entrepreneurs HAVE GUTS, they are motivated to do something different, to change something, to make a difference….and I see Yahoo! Making a smart move having this coworkign space near their office, I am almost certain it will be a positive return on their investment.

Then you see Google now making some changes, with Larry Page coming in as CEO again, and trying to cut out the red tape as Google has grown to be so massive

INNOVATION IS KEY TO ANY COMPANY.

Just seems that as companies get bigger, they get more inefficient, slower, and “dumber”. I mean, really. I don’t know how Google can spin things around being so massive…. There have been blogs I’ve read that say Google should also have an internal incubator, and when staff want to leave to do their own startup, maybe Google can incubate them inside their own company, but LET THE STARTUP be free of all that red tape and office politic crap that slows them down……

Yet, then if Google were to implement that, wouldn’t every staff want to quit and work in the incubator? And by trying to quit, you would be rewarded.

Maybe the Richard Branson method is the best way, allow all these projects to be run independently from the parent company, don’t herd sheep, harvest cats as he says. I’m not an organizational structure expert, but I just can’t help but feel huge, massive technology companies are efficient and effective, and over and over I see startups that are bought out by these massive companies lose their key people, lose their drive, and flop.

Anyway, wonder what I would have said if my old manager had let me startup my company with the support of Deutsche Bank instead of leaving the company. I would have seriously considered it, heck, if I had known they had that platform I would have been applying for it as soon as possible! But these large banks are afraid to be different.

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Comments

  1. Hey mike!
    Glad to read your article again! Actually i put your paper as a learning resource. Very useful and meaningful!
    I can’t find a word to describe it, only Chinese—受益匪浅.
    About dream,i want to say everyone has their own dreams,but some people had pay action,some people didn’t. I can learn from you about your courage and determination.
    About job or business, even though i am a student,and i am study about literature,i think courage and gratitude are the most important things. Do you agree with me?

    1. Author

      yes, i have to agree courage and gratitude are important……but i also think self awareness and being able to see the strengths of others in order to build a team are important too…..

      but yes, courage we need to stay strong even in the worst days

      and gratitude that we are alive on this earth

  2. Mike- I was there when you left (wow so long ago)…it takes a certain mindset to work on the trading floor. You learned at an early stage that you didn’t belong in that capacity of business. I thought you were crazy for resigning at first but, I knew you just weren’t happy running in the maze trying to find the cheese.

    I think even if they had a program like you described, you would have still left eventually. There probably would have been so much red tape and constrictions that it would have stifled your original ideas from coming to fruition.

    You probably hear this from your family a lot but, I am so proud of you. I enjoy reading about your lessons learned and how you try and help others along the way.

    Sometimes it’s better to take the path less traveled!

    Norn

    1. Author

      hey Norn,

      yea it was four years ago , april 07 that i quit….actually it seems even further away than that….

      it was hard to quit, the money was probably the best anywhere for a punk kid my age…and right in wall street…but i dont regret it, i felt like a pawn in a big chess game. and i needed to explore, travel, and find out more who i am….seems i am still looking

      i know if i had stayed i would hve wayyy more money in my bank account…..But i know money isnt everything….its a tool to get things done in life, and it can end up controlling you

      thanks for saying you are proud of me, it mkes me feel good….some days this gets pretty exhausting and i think why to myself….turns out this blog has been my best friend along the way

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