I no longer had the luxury of putting this off; I needed to set my fears aside and start my own business

The Background

I met Eli, a talented young man who produces videos, in Israel when we were on the way to a location we were using in a video we were making. He told me the following story from when he lived back in the States.

AS

 a young man, I took my first job as a plumber with a Brooklyn-based company. By the time I got married and moved to Lakewood a few years later, I was very good at what I did, and while I kicked around the idea of starting my own business, I was too afraid to take the risk. Many new businesses fail, and I needed to bring home a paycheck at the end of the month, so I found a job working for someone else.

There was one problem: I wasn’t making enough money. I worked up the courage to talk to Zecharia, my boss, and ask for a raise.

“Eli, I wish I could pay you more,” he said. “Honestly, you’re worth double what I pay you. But I just can’t afford that without damaging my bottom line.”

I continued working for Zecharia because I wasn’t ready to take the risk of starting my own company, but I knew I needed to make more money to support our growing family.

Then one day, I got a call from Pinky, a friend from the Brooklyn company who had taken me under his wing, almost like a mentor.

“I’m leaving my old company and going out on my own,” he said. “I want you to come work with me.”

That would be a dream, but I couldn’t do the three hours of travel between Lakewood and Brooklyn every day.

“I’m not even going to mention the offer to my wife,” I told him ruefully. “I can’t imagine she’d even consider it.”

A few days later, I happened to mention Pinky’s offer to her. To my surprise, she was all for it, so I called Pinky to tell him my wife had given me the green light. We agreed I would start with him after I gave Zecharia my notice.

MY first day with Pinky, just seeing his smiling face when I got to Brooklyn was balm for my soul. But my spirits fell when he told me he had only two jobs lined up.

“Two jobs won’t get us very far,” I said.

Pinky didn’t disagree. We dealt with those two clients quickly, and since we didn’t have any more work lined up, we went to a nearby beis medrash and started to learn b’chavrusa.

Days passed, then weeks — and still, nobody called.

After a month, my wife told me that while she loved the fact I was sitting and learning, we needed the money, and perhaps I should take a break from the Brooklyn venture and figure out a plan closer to home. I regretfully informed Pinky that I wouldn’t be driving in from Lakewood anymore. Then I squared my shoulders, picked up the phone, and called Zecharia to ask for my old job.

“I would love to have you back, but I already hired someone to replace you,” he said.

I no longer had the luxury of putting this off; I needed to set my fears aside and start my own business. I began by advertising locally.

Guess what? Within a day or two, the phone began to ring, and it didn’t stop. Virtually overnight, I was inundated with work — to the point where I couldn’t deal with the volume of jobs coming my way.

A week later, Pinky called. When I told him how it was going, there was an awed silence on the other end of the line.

“That’s exactly what happened to me!” Pinky said. “The phone here is ringing nonstop.”

We marveled at the ways of Hashem. The One Above had gifted us with a fantastic month of learning before helping us open our own businesses — granting us what we knew we needed, and what we didn’t even know we were missing.

Names have been changed

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1050)