Hello! My name is Sean, and welcome to my blog! I started the blog as a way to document and share my travels with the world.
Life as a Traveling Consultant
I started my career as a cybersecurity consultant working for one of the Big 4 accounting firms. As a fresh college graduate with next to no debt, it was a dream job for myself. I got paid well, got to travel to interested places, and get paid for travelling. What could go wrong? *picture*?
As it turns out, travelling for work ended up not being the best thing in the world. As a consultant, I had to travel to client sites often to do my job, so I ended up travelling every week. My standard routine would look like this:
- Sunday morning, take a taxi to the airport to get on a cross-country flight to my client, usually end up arriving in the evening
- Check-in to the hotel at 10 p.m. usually starving since they don’t typically serve dinner on the flight
- Order McDonald’s or chicken wings from the hotel, since most of the locations I traveled to are usually shut down by 6 p.m. on Sundays, wasting my $50 meal allowance on $5-$10 meals
- Monday through Thursday working at the client site
- Thursday evening get on a plane to come home, usually arriving after midnight
- Work from home Friday
- Spend most of Saturday getting any errands done, and preparing for my next trip
- Rinse and repeat every week
My first year at the firm, the above schedule was my life for the entire year. That’s not to say that constant travel didn’t come with its perks, I was able to make Delta Diamond, Marriott Platinum, and SPG Platinum (Rest in peace SPG) in a span of 6 months. But looking back at those times, it was clear that the traveling consultant life was not a sustainable one, lest you want to give up things such as family, friends, and dating.
Why Pay for Travel, When You Can Get Paid to Travel?
I spent a total of three years at my firm before I ended up leaving. Overall it was a great experience, and although most of the places I went to were in the middle of nowhere (Who would’ve thought that the major corporations’ HQs were all in the midwest), I also did get to travel to some cool places. I’ve been to India, Japan, Singapore, and the UK, all on the company’s dime. It was a great time, and I was able to use all the money I was saving from not having to pay for my travel to build a bit of a nest egg. I probably would’ve stayed, too, if it wasn’t for the opportunity that presented itself. *Picture*
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
From Consultant, to Founder
A month before my third anniversary at the firm, I was approached by a former colleague of mine with a business proposition. He wanted me, along with a couple others to join him in creating a new company, focused on building an application that would help protect the personal data of customers’ online. After some long deliberation, I decided to jump onboard, and quit my cushy six figure job to pursue one of my dreams of being an entrepreneur.
The next year and half proceeded to be quite possibly the hardest time of my life. From a cushy corporate job to a random office room that we rented, it was incredibly challenging to build an application from scratch, while also attempting to build out all the functions of a successful company. Although we had some successes, such as securing $100k in funding from an accelerator to help continue building the business, after some business disagreements I ended up leaving the company I founded, and the business shut down shortly after.
The Present Day
I’ve been fortunate enough to find a company that values my entrepreneurial experience. I don’t have any regrets in taking any chances, and I want to use my blog to inspire others to take a chance in their own lives. If you managed to read all the way to the end, thank you! It means a lot to me that my story was interesting enough for you read. In the meantime, why not read another post, and consider giving my blog a follow.
Pathfinders 