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6 Powerful Lessons I Learned Early in Entrepreneurship A half-dozen key takeaways after trading my corporate job for the messy, fulfilling and thrilling world of entrepreneurship.

By Mark Flynn

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In October of 2020, I left the safety of a well-paid executive job for the unknown and exciting world of entrepreneurship. I can still remember my mother's shocked expression when I informed her that even though we were in the midst of a global pandemic and I had a second baby on the way, I was going to follow a life-long dream of setting out on my own.

The way I looked at it was that I had been preparing for this moment for the last 16 years. When I finished university, I took the traditional route and accepted a job with a successful global consulting organization, despite having the opportunity to break out on my own. "I need more experience," I would offer as an excuse, year after year, as I climbed the corporate ladder and ignored that call into the unknown. The older I got, the louder it became — so loud in the end that I had to take action. After engaging the services of a coach and building clarity on what I was passionate about, I set a timer for 365 days, then started working backward on what was needed to set up what became High Performance Coaching. At this writing just over seven months into that journey, I wanted to share with you some of the biggest things I've learned while moving from the comfort and security of a corporate job into the messy, fulfilling and thrilling world of entrepreneurship.

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