Evan Walsh is human. He writes code at Harvest. He writes words on Twitter.

Ya bimbo

If you’re familiar with the Internet startup world, you’ve probably heard the term “pivot” being thrown about. What does pivot mean?

Eric Ries says:

“I want to introduce the concept of the pivot, the idea that successful startups change directions but stay grounded in what they’ve learned.”¹

I’m kind of obsessed with stuff like this, even though starting a startup still eludes me (for now). I talk about all this to talk about this: I’m in the middle of a pivot.

Now, how does a person pivot? How do you change direction and stay grounded? Well, I’m not totally sure as of now. I’m trying to understand, though. You see, I sort of had my hand forced in all of this. Let’s go back to the beginning and then we’ll go back to the end.

The beginning before the end, I guess.

I was in college as of this time last year. I was attending Herron School of Art & Design with an intended major of “Visual Communication Design”. VC, in the school’s parlance. I thought it was what I wanted to do. I was doing what I thought society wanted me to do because I thought society was right.

Then, summer came. And I became restless.

I dropped all my classes and I went looking for a job. I wasn’t going to let an institution tell me I could be successful. And I found a job. I actually made quite a lot. My contracted, yearly salary was $45,000.²

Woah. Like, mad woah. That was more money than my mind could handle. It was like telling me “You will make 10,000 gold bars a year.” I was taken aback and I threw myself into my job. I worked too many hours and let my life sort of become consumed by all this.

Lemons.³

Then my mom got cancer. And my job wanted me to move to Austin.

I found all of that out in a span of a few days and I was supposed to leave quite soon after hearing all this news.

Sometimes, you come to a fork in the road. And either road is the scariest thing you’ve ever had to do ever. That’s where I was about a month ago. So, I took the fork that seemed right.

I was unhappy with my job. I felt unfulfilled for various reasons that aren’t important for your purposes. So, I quit.

No job. No education. No problem?

I’m scared now. More scared than I’ve ever been. Listless doesn’t even describe it. But, every day, I feel a step closer to truly becoming the person I want to be. One’s own vision for one’s life shouldn’t be set in stone. I thought I was going to be a video game design when I was young. Then I pivoted to web designer. Then web developer. And now, I will stick with web creative⁴ for now. I’m on my way to becoming something I won’t regret as much.

“So many people forget why they even wanted money in the first place, seeking it blindly and fanatically.”⁵