Written by “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
It was year 2018 when I had a risky decision to jump over a cliff of unknowns. I moved away from the safe and stable and made a bet on my career.
From a corporate employee, I decided to become an independent consultant and acquire clients on my own. I left the steady and secure life of receiving a guaranteed monthly paycheck, generous benefits and the confident feeling of having a job the morning you wake up.
Bold move, so they say.
Mid 2018, my client from Hong Kong resigned from his company. We had an emotional meeting over the phone. At the end of the call, he said, “You have a huge potential in building your own NetSuite Consultancy firm. When we worked with <this partner>, their developers didn’t even know what NetSuite is. They were just self-studying!”
I thanked him for his comment and jokingly said, “Why not? Maybe in a few years, we might meet and I might have built my own firm by then.”
“I might have retired by then.” he joked back.
After the call ended, I paused for a moment and contemplated. Me? Building my own firm? How would I do that? I don’t have a business background; let alone graduate in a prestigious school. I don’t even have the funds. Heck, there are even better NetSuite Developers out there and most of them are males.
I constantly whispered to myself, “It’s impossible. I’m not good enough.”
I was clouded a lot of self-doubts.
I was full of insecurities.
“It’s impossible. I’m not good enough.”
Then, something unexpected happened.
Late 2018, I closed a deal with a huge NetSuite partner in Europe. They were struggling in finding the right NetSuite developers to speed up their development projects. I was asked to provide developers for them.
It was a defining moment for me.
Good thing that in my previous work, I had a chance to work with talented NetSuite professionals. It wasn’t difficult for me to find the right people.
After a month of working with them, I had a chance to re-read this book, “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield.
The book felt so timely. In the book, it asks two questions to pass the Resistance question. Here’s the Test Number One:
I answered, “Totally Committed!”
“Okay, so I answered safely.” I thought to myself.
There was then a second question that had eight choices:
I quickly answered, number 9! Because I have no choice.
I continued reading, hoping that I chose the right answer.
That is right. I was given a mission before I was ready. You know those moments where you’re shouting:
I DID NOT HAVE A CHOICE but TO DO IT!
Then I realized, I passed the Resistance test.
I am ready.
I am totally committed.
I am doing it because I don’t have a choice.
I may not have the most impressive qualifications to win this game.
I may be entering a a male-dominated field.
In this competition, I am an underdog.
The odds aren’t in my favor. The universe is not meant to support me. I had to fight fiercely for it. I had to rely on myself alone to pursue this.
But I still carried on, because this is what my heart told me. And my heart is passionate about taking risks to create a lasting positive impact on other’s lives through NetSuite Consulting.
Update: After two years and n number of projects, I decided to rebrand and rename my company into Ceana Technology. Read our story here.
Ceana Technology is a NetSuite Development firm based in the Philippines. It is founded by a passionate Filipina NetSuite Developer who has a vision of helping bridge the gap between international companies wanting to succeed in their NetSuite business unit and driven Filipino NetSuite talents who are enthusiastic about sharing their industry talents. She believes that the global shortage of exceptional NetSuite professionals can be solved by onboarding the world-class NetSuite professionals from the Philippines.