Here’s a story I’ve never told before.
In the spring of 2019, I was starting to think about leaving the New Yorker to start Inbox Collective. But I was still nervous about it. Was it the right time to leave? Was I ready to take on the responsibility of building a new business?
And that’s around the time a recruiter reached out to ask about a job.
It was a good job with a big title at a major news organization, making more money than I’d ever made it my life. I wasn’t looking for another job, but I interviewed anyway. It was the kind of offer I had to at least consider. I wasn’t sure what to expect.
Within 20 minutes of the first interview, I knew what I wanted to do next.
I wasn’t excited about the idea of taking another job. I still loved my job at the New Yorker.
But more than anything else, I felt excited about the idea of starting my own consulting business — well, equal parts excited and nervous. Whenever I feel nervous, that’s usually a good thing. It’s a signal that I really care about something.
So I started to ask myself: Why, exactly, am I still doing the same old thing if I’m ready for what’s next?
By the end of the month, I told my bosses that I was leaving to start Inbox Collective.
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That’s a photo of me talking to a group of newsrooms in Sydney in fall 2019, a few months after starting Inbox Collective.