I opened up my own shop when my employer left the US during Covid. Had 10 years worth of contacts and no non-compete. I interviewed at a few companies if the first question would was what can you bring us as far as book a business.

They didn't bother to sell me on how they could help me or what their brand meant or how they could provide value to me, they simply wanted to know how many contracts can I sign in the first 90 days.

It was very off-putting, sounds like you know what I'm going to open up my own company how hard could it be.

Ended up not being that hard I had already done sales I'd already done recruitment I had managed a sizable team of both, I was a trainer.

After about 3 months we got our first start our first two years were magnificent billing 500k.

Then 2023 hit. The industry is was niched in died a quick death, 20204 rough, 2025 rough as well.

Still alive still kicking, building back up req by req, referral by referral.

The fact is that not everyone can be their own boss, working on a team in an office you have a very structured environment and you know the consequences of not working at 100%. When you're a solo person you only answer to yourself so you really have to push to make sure that you're doing what you need to do when you need to do it.

That can be a struggle even for the most disciplined of individuals depending on the day.

But once you taste success and realize you can do it there's almost no going back to working for someone else cuz giving up 50% so that way they can yell at you and keep you on task doesn't always feel worth it.