The hardest thing in the world is to simplify your life, everything pulls you to be more and more complex and so, I think what I learned from fly fishing, is that, if we have to, or we're forced to go to a more simple life….its not going to be a more impoverished life, it's going to be really rich. - Yvon Chouinard, CEO of Patagonia
Yesterday, March 1st, 2023, was the day I received my first paying customer for the business I’m starting and I have to say the feeling was incredible. The journey here has been something else, so I thought I’d share.
On May 27th, 2022, I quit my traditional job in VC. I initially tried to raise some money for an idea that didn’t work (it was a pretty bad idea). I ended up closing that company and focusing on bootstrapping a new business. Since then, I’ve cut my living expenses by half, mainly out of necessity to increase runway rather than prematurely raise capital from investors. Almost 80% of this reduction in cost has come from reducing my rent by moving into a smaller apartment.
All my friends are going the other direction, they have fancy jobs, most getting promoted, putting down deposits for houses, buying cars, etc. Somehow, I couldn’t be less envious. In the past 8 months, I’ve chosen a simpler life that’s yielded astounding benefits.
In the past 8 months, I’ve become smarter about my money, keeping a budget and removing a good 10 unnecessary subscriptions (turns out excel is just fine for all of this, screw those fintech apps). I’ve become stronger physically and more ambitious. Thanks to a friend of mine, I signed up for a Olympic triathlon and have completed 2 months of training with 90% compliance, including learning how to swim and bike properly for the first time in my life. I’ve started cooking more, reading more, and writing (cheers substack). I’ve cut my wardrobe in half, sold half the clothes on Vinted, donated far too many bags of unworn items, and sold most of the rest of my stuff on gumtree. Probably my favorite thing that’s changed is that, I’ve cut down on screen time. I used to spend 5-6 hours PER DAY on zoom. I hated it, it drained all the life out of me. In the last 6 months, I’ve taken exactly 3 zoom calls.
Ok, BUT (there’s always a but)….Its not all been fun and games. After my wife leaves in the morning to go to work, 90% of my day is spent alone. In London, it can be brutal, the overcast winter days drearily pass into nights, while its just me and my thoughts. I hate this part about entrepreneurship. No one ever told me it would be this lonely. I wish I could hang with a band of ragged founder types every day, but its hard to find a community like that easily.
There are, however, some silver linings to the simplicity that being alone affords. All this alone time has meant I have more time to explore. I know the streets in my neighborhood without needing google maps, and slowly that radius is becoming more and more of London. I’m starting to recognize the vendors behind the cashier registers. After 3 consecutive visits to the espresso stand in my neighborhood park, I made friends with the guy serving coffee. His name is Kayvan and he now gives me a bigger slice of apple cake then the other customers. I feel good about it, I think he does too.
What’s my point in all of this? To boast? Not exactly. I’m just keen to share my journey. To those who want to hear, it turns out there is something beautiful in seeking simplicity.
I realize that I sound a bit nuts to have given up a high paying job only to wax poetic about walking in nature and home cooking. I realize that my business could fail, that I could end up with no money and no “professional success”. But even if that all happens, I’ll never be robbed of this feeling now. The beautiful feeling of simplicity, which I’ll always seek.
*A warm thanks to all the new paying subscribers who joined in the last few month. It makes bootstrapping a bit easier, not to mention just makes me feel a tiny bit of euphoria that another human being cares enough to support my writing.
*The quote above is from the podcast called “How I built this” run by Guy Raz where he interviews Yvon Chouinard, CEO of Patagonia. This interview has had a tremendous impact on my business philosophy.