Why I Left Apple & How I Started ManTalks

Over the years, many of you have asked me what it was like for me to leave Apple, leave the career that I had with that company and start my own business. And I recently got a question from one of the men in the alliance that kind of summed this up where he said, I'm wondering if you might share what going from your career at Apple to creating mantalks looked like. What was the timeline? Did you just wake up one day and say, this isn't working and I quit? Or was it a methodical, planned out transition? I asked because I have a really great career that I'm actually quite successful in, but I don't feel like it aligns to my bigger purpose. For me, just saying fuck it and quitting doesn't make sense, at least not where I'm at currently. However, I keep asking myself, what do I need to do now in order to move myself in that direction? So I've had many different iterations of this over years. I've never actually talked about it and so I thought I would just dive into this topic a little bit. So, you know, I was fortunate years ago to work with Apple. I consider them to be an incredible company. I mean, they're one of, I think, the biggest company in the world. I think they're the single largest company in the world and they employ some absolutely amazing people. And for me at the time, I joined Apple because I wanted to learn about business. I wanted to work with some people that really understood the foundations of what makes a business function and be inside of the inner workings of a high functioning business to see what it actually took. And so I was fortunate enough to work with people that had MBAs from some of the best schools in the world and experience with Fortune 500 companies. And so I didn't leave the company because I didn't like the people that I worked with. And I didn't leave the company because I didn't like the company. I thought the company was amazing and I still do. You know, I question some of the things that they do here and there, but I do think that overall they're a phenomenal company and they develop incredible products again for the most part. But I left the company because I'd always kind of felt this pull towards creating my own business, towards being an entrepreneur in some capacity. And I never really knew what that would look like. And I think for a period of time I actually lacked the confidence and the belief that I could do it. And so part of my working at Apple was twofold. One, I wanted to Get a handle on what it was like to be inside of a great company and to immerse myself in that and kind of get a degree in business experientially. And two, I had made this sort of contract with myself that if I could work at a company that I really respected, that I really enjoyed, and I still felt the pull to start my own business, that I would do that. And so it was about a year and a half into working with Apple. After a few promotions, you know, I really got to immerse myself within the company that I started my own business. And it wasn't a, you know, I quit and just went off and started my own business. I was quite methodical in some ways. And so I'm going to share some of the basic things that allowed me to leave my job, because the job that I left was, you know, it was the highest paying job that I'd ever had. It was more money than I ever expected myself to make. And it was with a company that I really respected and admired. So that might not be your case. It might not be the case of the individual that wrote me this question. You know, for some people, they might be watching this or listening to this or, you know, considering going through a transition to being an entrepreneur because they dislike the job that they're in, or they dislike the career or who they're working for, etc. That wasn't the case for me. You know, I walked away from something that I really appreciated and enjoyed, but I walked away because I knew that there was something more for me to do. There was something in me that really wanted to give entrepreneurship a try, to start my own business and to work for myself. And so the planning that I'm gonna describe here is what I call building your Runway. Building your Runway is really for the type of individual that is thinking about leaving their job, transitioning out, which, by the way, something like 65% of Americans right now have reported that they're looking for other employ or looking at starting their own business. So this may be like good timing for this video. You might actually know somebody, so you might want to share it with them. But for me, it was about building the Runway because I knew that who I was was not somebody that thrives by jumping off a cliff and needing to build the parachute on the way down. You know, some people really get off on that. Some people are really gifted at it and skilled at it. And I just knew that that wasn't me. I knew that if I quit my job and I had you know, three months of savings or six months of savings, and I had no business in place that it probably wasn't enough time for me to build that business realistically in a manner that allowed me to do it robustly, to do it with. To do it with pride and excellence, and to do it in a manner where I could contribute the fullest of what I had to offer. I knew that if I just quit my job and peaced out, even if I had a good amount of savings in the bank, I'd probably be pretty stressed out in trying to build that business, and I would feel the pressure to want to go back to the company that I was working for. And so I intentionally built a bit of a Runway so that when I left Apple, I had a pretty. I had a thriving business in place. And my goal was to have my company earning as much as my salary, earning me as much as my salary. And so that was a. You know, that was a pretty hefty price tag to put on it at the time, because I was making good money at Apple, but I thought that it was possible. So the first thing for me in building the Runway was developing a test phase. It was me playing around in this space, you know, because When I launched Mantalks, it was like 2013. Not a lot of these conversations were happening. There weren't a ton of organizations for men there. There weren't a lot of events happening that were focusing in on, you know, being a better father, a better husband, a better business leader, or just bettering yourself as a man in any way, shape or form. So I kind of wanted to test the market and see, you know, is this something. Was there interest in what I was going to do, and was I the person to do it? Because those two very different things, you know, you might be the. You might have this great idea for a product or a service, and you might not be the person to build it or create it or bring it to market. You might actually need to partner with somebody. And so I was curious about, you know, is there interest in this and am I the right person to bring it to market? So that was the test phase that took about six months. And I started that while I was working at Apple. I put on my first event, and it went really well, and there was a huge amount of interest. And the second event had a huge amount of interest. And so I put on a few more events. I started to have mastermind groups within the Vancouver area that I was living in. And I started to see, yeah, actually, this business model is Viable, it's workable, there's a good amount of interest for it and people seem to respond to me being the one to bring it to market. So that was the test phase. The next phase was the build out phase. So once I kind of tested out the service and what we were offering and what we were doing and what the business model was, then I went into a build phase of, of probably about 6 to 12 months of opening up events in different cities around North America and starting to build out the brand, build out the reputation, marketing, getting media spots and sponsors and all those types of things to elevate the brand itself and elevate the work that I was doing. And again, that was probably about another 6 to 12 months. Next was prepping for the exit. So once I had tested it, once I started to build it out, you know, the business was starting to work. And again I was still working at Apple, I was putting in 50 hours plus a week at Apple and I was probably working 30 to 40 hours a week on Mantalks. And so it wasn't easy. You know, I like, I really immersed myself in doing this and I did it intentionally because I knew that this was probably the most effective way for me to do this because again, I knew I wasn't going to peace out. I knew that if I just had enough, you know, even if I had two years of savings, it's not the type of person that I am. I knew that the type of pressure that I wanted to put myself under. And this is really important for anyone thinking about transitioning out of their career, out of their job, out of the business that they work for, maybe into their own, into their own line of work, starting their own company is define what kind of pressure you want to put yourself under. It's a really important question because becoming an entrepreneur is going to, no matter what, put you under a tremendous amount of pressure. And there's going to be many different pressure points that come in. And so the best thing that you can do is to start to learn what kind of pressure you thrive under. For some people, they truly do thrive in the last minute, build your parachute after jumping on the cliff on the way down kind of environment where they can quit a job and in the span of two or three months they'll have built a very robust business. For other people they're going to need to do what I do, which was to build the Runway while they were working for the company, which is a different type of pressure. Right. Because I was working again, 10, 12 hour days, sometimes at Apple. And I would go home and I would, you know, spend another few hours on my work, on man talks, on the weekends. I would work pretty much all weekend. So I was working seven days a week. And it was a lot, you know, it was a lot. And there was a tremendous amount of pressure on me in that moment. I still had family and a relationship going and I was, you know, balancing all those parts, health and wellness, et cetera. But that's how I wanted to build it because that's the type of pressure that I wanted to be under. I like carrying a big weight all at once. And I knew that I could balance my work at the company and my work outside of the company on my own business. And for me, that was the type of pressure that I wanted to put myself under. So how I prepped for the exit was I started to look at, okay, how much money does my business have in the bank? How much is it earning on a monthly basis? How much can I start to pay myself? How much are my employees making? And I started to create a bit of a P and L profit and loss statement. And look at, okay, if I was to leave my job in six months or a year, realistically, can I sustain myself? Can I pay myself the salary that I'm making right now at Apple, Do I need to take less, Can I take more? That kind of stuff. And so that preparation for the exit was really about making sure that the business itself was operating in a way where I felt comfortable leaving what was a very good, high paying job with a very reputable company and with a very clear career path. I had a very good career path ahead of me and I knew that. And so I had to make sure that what I was leaving, that I was going to step into something that not that it had all the safety in the world or all the security in the world. There was no guarantee that my business was going to work out. And there were certainly a few moments where my business almost didn't work out. And that's probably for a different podcast. But prepping for my exit was really about defining the timeline on when I could exit and what my business needed, what I needed personally and professionally, financially, and then working towards that exit. And then last was being a full time entrepreneur, stepping out of my career and into my business full time. And that transition happened in 2015. So again, I've been doing this for about seven years now, full time, nine years in total. And stepping out into the organization full time and doing what I'm doing full time, there was still a lot of variables that came into place. First and foremost, normally my day was scheduled, you know, when I worked for Apple was a very clear infrastructure. And so I stepped out into a business where suddenly I got to make my own schedule. And that might seem like a great thing, but for somebody like me who growing up had ADD and you know, wasn't very organized, still, you know, still organization is a thing for me, that was a big struggle. So I stepped out. And this is why it's the final phase is because even when you start your business, even if you've built up this Runway, even if your business is making money and you leave your company and step out into this, you know, thriving business, you're still going to face adversity and there's still going to be obstacles and trials that you are maybe feel unequipped to deal with. And so the biggest piece with that, the biggest piece with me stepping out into my business was that I had built not only a really good team around me, but I really, I built a really good community of professionals and entrepreneurs around me that could give me feedback, that could support me, that could give me guidance. And that was arguably one of the most important pieces as I stepped out into, into my business. And that's actually why I started the Man Talks Alliance. In many ways, I wanted to continue to develop the community that had supported my exiting my career and stepping into my business. So those are some of the, the steps. Again, what I can't emphasize enough is build your Runway. If you're the type of individual, set some very clear goals, right? Smart goals for yourself. So specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound. You can look that up. The time bound was the most important piece for me. So I set these six month markers, right? Six months to create a test phase, six months to kind of see is this the right product or service, you know, are people going to take to it? Is there an interest in it? Am I the person to do it then to start to build again, another six to sort of eight months to see if I can scale it to something that's sustainable for me and for my family and for the life that I wanted to live. And then prepping for the exit so, you know, giving my notice at my job, starting to prepare to pay myself a salary, paying myself a salary from my company to make sure that it can fit in with the profits, profit and loss with the business and then stepping into full time entrepreneurship and leaving the company behind. And so I hope that you enjoy those steps. I hope that this was helpful for you. If you have any follow up questions, feel free to DM me, message me on Instagram or you can comment if you're watching this on YouTube on the video below. Don't forget to subscribe, don't forget to comment, don't forget to like on whatever you're listening to this show on. And until next week, this is Carl Beaton signing off.