I left my big accounting work to fry the chicken and I will never come back

This also deposited test is based on a conversation with Henry Lee, a 46 -year -old franchise owner in Aurora, Colorado. It was published for duration and clarity.

The academics have never been my strong costume. My GPA was barely 3.0 when I attended a small school in Tennessee on a football scholarship. I specialized in finance and economics.

My goal was to go to the NFL, but when I realized that it did not happen, I started looking for a job linked to my major.

After working as an accountant for several companies, including Big Fours, I left my business career to open a fried chicken franchise. I’m so much happier now.

Once I got to my first big oven, I jumped around

My first job was for Prg-Schultz, a debt collection company specializing in the recovery of the sales tax. I found the job and put on a site.

After that, I worked as an accountant of sales tax at International Rectify. My manager told me that I should try to get a job at a big oven. I did not have an impressive curriculum vitae, but I applied, interviewed and was hired as a main tax acquisition in Deloitte. Working in the sales tax is incredibly niche, and I think it helped me get the job.

The work in Deloitte has opened many doors

Everyone specializes in accounting hopes to work a day in a big oven. Once you have one of these companies on your curriculum vitae, it doesn’t matter where you have attended the university.

I have not considered difficult work – I am rarely stressed and I do not take things too seriously. You should charge a lot of hours and have overtime. There is also a lot of office policy.

Over the next 10 years, I jumped to work in different companies, staying only about a year each time. At the time, people went to work in other companies for salary increases, this is how I found myself in Ernst & Young.

I have driven the highest possible salary bumps

A former colleague referred me to EY. We obtained reference bonuses, so everyone tried to refer as many people as possible. After that, another position opened with Deloitte in San Diego, and I left for another salary bump.

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My salary increased by two to three percent per year, it was therefore more profitable to move to another company and obtain a salary increase from 20% to 25% plus a signature bonus.

I was dismissed from my second role at Deloitte in 2008 during the recession. After working at Burger King as a specialist in the main taxes, I was referred to Accenture in 2011 as a main consultant by a former colleague.

My experiences in the four large companies were similar

My performance criticisms were generally good to medium. I did not consider myself a very efficient superstar or employee. The working environment was similar in the three. Only people were different.

Deloitte was fun because the inhabitants of my department were not tense. Ey was stricter overall.

PwC, where I started working in 2014, was my favorite business. I established a relationship there with an old Microsoft employee who referred me to Microsoft in 2013. Microsoft had the best balance between professional and private life of all companies.

Finally, I was tired of the internal policy of these endless companies and zoom meetings, which were a waste of time. I said to myself: “I could not be born to make taxes”, and the work was not revolutionary, enriching or stimulating. I was unproductive and not interested in work. They call it silent by leaving today.

I was considering what to do then. Growing up, my family had a Chinese restaurant. I missed Korean fried chicken in Colorado, which was so good in Los Angeles but terrible here.

I decided to open a Korean fried chicken franchise myself

I decided to franchiser with Bonchon because I failed to live in Los Angeles. I invested my savings in the opening of the first location and initial franchise costs by depositing my 401 (K) of around $ 100,000.

I suffered three weeks of training in the kitchen, during which I learned to fry the chicken, cook the dishes and prepare the vegetables. The training also included training on the front-of-house.

By opening the restaurant, I always worked at Microsoft but I left eight months. As senior tax manager, the salary I left behind was just under $ 160,000.

After opening the first location in Denver in 2018, the company took off

I bought all the franchise rights in Colorado and now I have six locations. I also have a boba tea shop, and my next company opens a 15,000 square feet of catering room with seven restaurants.

The most significant difference is that in companies, you should be at the office for 40 to 50 hours, whether you have work or projects to do. When you have a business, you work if necessary.

When I opened Bonchon for the first time, I cooked and directed daily operations in the kitchen. I worked about 60 to 80 hours a week, seven days a week. It was a version for the first year due to the steep learning curve.

As I opened my third location, I was unreservedly on daily operations and count my managers. I am much happier now.

I have a woman and two children and I can spend much more time with them now.

I would never go back, never to the company

Working in business is like being stuck in the matrix; After finding your way, it’s like night and day. You cannot go back there once you have experienced the freedom to do whatever you want.

When you leave the company, you realize that you are capable of so much, but leave security, the stable pay check and the benefits were frightening. I have increased net value, and get capital to develop or finance others is much easier. I would have liked to go much earlier in my career.