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Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

"Why I Quit My Dream Job" – with entrepreneur Leslie Samuel

Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

Investing, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.73.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2016

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#44: When Leslie Samuel immigrated to the U.S. at age 17, he hoped for the American Dream: an education, a secure job, and a traditional career path. But during his college years, Leslie realized he had an entrepreneurial streak. He made a few attempts at working for himself. He failed. He lost money that he'd set aside for his wedding. He tried investing in the stock market. He lost more money, savings that he'd set aside to pay his tuition. But he didn't quit. Leslie graduated, married, and accepted a job as a high school science teacher. He felt happy and secure. Yet his entrepreneurial itch persisted. He started building an online business in his spare time.  Leslie began earning an extra $14,000 per year on the side, a nice supplement to his income. A few years later, Leslie landed his dream job as a university professor. He loved his work. He earned a solid income. His wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Everything seemed perfect. But his entrepreneurial calling persisted. Ultimately, Leslie made the difficult decision to quit his dream job in order to become a full-time online entrepreneur. In this episode, he shares why he made this tough choice – and how he handled the fear and doubts that blocked the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You can afford anything but not everything.

0:05.0

And that's true, not just of your money, but of your time, focus, energy, attention,

0:09.0

any scarce resource in your life.

0:12.0

What are you going to do with that one short life?

0:14.0

Are you going to create financial independence?

0:16.0

Are you going to become an entrepreneur?

0:18.0

Are you going to retire early?

0:20.0

Your options are open, and you can do anything but not everything.

0:25.0

So what matters most?

0:26.0

That's what this podcast is here to explore.

0:28.0

My name is Paula Pant, I'm the host of the podcast, and today we have a very special guest.

0:33.0

His name is Leslie Samuel.

0:35.0

He immigrated to the United States at the age of 17 from St. Martin, a small island in the Caribbean.

0:41.0

And at first, he thought that he was going to pursue the American dream.

0:45.0

Go to college, go to grad school, get a degree, get a secure job, make some money by house, live his life.

0:54.0

But then he learned about entrepreneurship and suddenly things changed.

0:58.0

First, he started a blog and began receiving emails from people in developing countries

1:04.0

that expressed to him that even though they couldn't afford traditional education,

1:09.0

they were learning a lot through the blog that he built.

1:12.0

People from third world countries and all over the world were saying,

1:16.0

hey, I have no access to textbooks.

1:18.0

We can't afford textbooks.

...

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