Hey there!
I'm Oda, and I'm finally starting to understand the deliciousness of black coffee!
#Until about last month, I was drinking it just to look cool
There isn't just one reason why I decided to start my own business.
There isn't just one reason why I decided to start this particular business either.
So, when asked, "Why quit the fire department to start your own business?"
I can't give a simple, one-sentence answer.
But that's only natural, isn't it?
After 15 years of working exclusively as a public servant,
a man with a wife, three young children, and 35 years left on his mortgage quits his job and starts a business in a small rural town, eventually expanding nationwide and even worldwide?
Honestly, it's absolutely crazy.
There's no way such a move would have only one reason.
I've thought about various things, wiped the slate clean, felt the fire rekindle, and watched it fade again, over and over. Multiple reasons kept piling up, gradually becoming clearer, until I finally made up my mind.
To explain the phenomenon of "quitting my job as a firefighter to start my own business," there are essentially two stages.
1. The reason for quitting my job as a firefighter
2. The reason for choosing this particular business
Regarding the first one, if you're satisfied with everything in your current job, you wouldn't even consider quitting.
So there must be a reason.
And that reason isn't just one thing.
That's what I mean.
Here are a few reasons for the first one:
・I was at an age when the issue of extending the retirement age directly affected me
・I had given my all to the fire department for 15 years
・I realized that it takes a long time to change even one thing in the world of public service
※I figured this out by taking a lot of action for the development of the organization
※It's not a bad thing
※It just meant that the pace of the organization no longer suited me
・I couldn't be there for my family when they were worried about natural disasters and other emergencies
・I couldn't manage my own time in life
・My income had a cap, and I could see exactly how far it would take me
・I realized that you only live once
And finally
・I wanted my children to see their father taking on a challenge
That's it.
As for the second one, why this particular business, that's another story,
But this time
『I wanted my children to see their father taking on a challenge』
is the story I'm going to tell.
I have a five-year-old son.
He attends nursery school, and they have swimming lessons every Friday.
Parents are free to come and watch, so I always went on my days off.
And there, my son and his classmates were working hard, sometimes crying, putting their faces in the water, diving, and floating.
And their skills improved day by day, and some children were even able to swim about 10 meters.
My son was the same.
At first, he would cry before even going to nursery school, saying, "I don't want to go swimming" or "It's scary, I don't want to go."
At that time, I would tell my son
『To be able to do something you can't do, you have to do hard things! More than anything, it's important to always challenge yourself to do what you can't!』
every Friday morning!
My son improved day by day and now enjoys going.
It wasn't just swimming.
Before the sports day
he would come to me and say, "Daddy! Teach me how to run fast!"
and we would train together.
During the performance season, we would dance and sing at home.
He worked hard to write and memorize hiragana characters, wrote letters to his teacher and friends, and memorized numbers, counting all the way to 100 in the car over and over again.
In short, my son is constantly challenging himself every second.
And to my son,
I was saying, "Challenges are important!"
Then it suddenly occurred to me.
『Am I even challenging myself?』
『What has changed about me since yesterday?』
『What's more, what has changed since a year ago?』
I began to think.
Of course, I could feel that I had improved as a parent, but I felt like my career had plateaued.
It's only natural that this would happen as you move up in rank, but it just didn't suit me.
I prefer the version of myself that is always hungry and taking on new challenges.
And my wife and children must prefer that father too.
I wanted to continue challenging myself alongside my children.
I want to show them a version of myself that works with a good expression, even while crying, laughing, rejoicing, and feeling down.
This is one of the reasons I decided to start my own business.
Since there are so many anecdotes about just one of the reasons, it's only natural that I can't put it into a single sentence!
That's why I'm blogging!
I hope that when you read this article again someday, it will inspire you!
See you later, everyone!❤️