Do what you love…

To the 10 year-old kid that wanted to be his own boss and create cartoons for a living… I’m doing this for you.

I had been mulling over the idea of leaving my full-time job for quite some time. You see, I really enjoyed my job, but I’ve always felt like I was destined for more.

I’ve been a dreamer my entire life. Being born into the internet age, it has always felt like absolutely anything is possible. It felt necessary for me to land a solid gig right out of college, so getting a full-time job as a web designer was a dream come true for me. For years, I was very happy being able to do what I love for a living. But then, to nobody’s fault but my own, I hit a wall.

At a point, you realize you are working on someone else’s dream. True, I was doing what I love, but what was the ultimate goal? I was working to accomplish somebody else’s dream, and that didn’t sit right to me. I needed to make a change for myself.

If you look around in this world, so many people are not fulfilled. They wake up, go to work, come home, go to bed, and do it all over again. They’re constantly counting down the days until Saturday so they can have a day to themselves. Constantly looking ahead and wasting their days until they are finally able to retire and live the life they want.

That is insane.

Call me naive. Call me stupid. Call me crazy. But I cannot live my life like that forever. Sure, some people are totally content working 9-5 every day and collecting their paycheck, but not me.

So, here I am. I’m starting this silly little thing called Cheat Day Design, and we’ll see where it takes me.

Look, the self-employed life is incredibly difficult, I get that. I’m going to wake up every single morning having no idea when I’m going to get my next paycheck. I may go a few months making absolutely no money. I’m going to be incredibly stressed. I’m going to face countless rejections and at times, I am going to question if I made the right decision.

With each of those challenges, there is a flip-side that is ten times more rewarding. I’m ready for the challenge, and I know that I have what it takes to make it in this world.

Fitness and design are the two things I am incredible passionate about.

Being able to give back to the fitness industry with my web-design expertise is going to be like living a dream for me. With the small sample-size of projects I already have, I’ve been able to make a difference and work with some amazing people. Of course I am going to miss the office life and all my coworkers of whom I have become great friends with, but I have this rare opportunity to make something of myself that most people can only dream of.

If this works out, I will get to continue to be my own boss and make my own schedule. I can take a day off if I need to, travel when and where I want, and work with some of my idols.

What if it doesn’t work out?

Well, I’ll worry about that when I have to. In my eyes, there is no reason this is not going to work out. I’m going to work my ass off to live this dream that I’ve wanted since I was a young kid. I owe it to myself.

10 year-old Matt… I hope you’re proud of what we’ve become.

I’m probably wouldn’t do anything differently if I had to do it again. Every little thing that happens to you, good and bad, becomes a little piece of the puzzle of who you become. Every successful person you read about – Warren Buffett, Bill Gates – they all say pretty much the same thing. ‘Do what you love.’ I know I did.

– David Foster

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