職場英語:放開手去創業 別擔心死不了的
People love to imagine a worst-case scenario. Especially when it comes time to quit doing what they hate and start doing what they love instead…
人們總愛想象最糟糕的狀況，尤其是在，放棄厭惡的工作開始做點自己喜歡做的事情的時候……
Cindi is a very bright young friend of mine with a great career in front of her. She’s about twenty-six, and she’s been working her tail off in New York in the graphic design industry since she graduated from college a few years ago.
Cindi是我的一個朋友，年輕聰明，有份很棒的工作。她今年26歲，自從幾年前從大學畢業就一直從事平面設計工作，玩了命地奮鬥在紐約。
Cindi grew up in a single-parent household, so there was never a lot of money around. That’s OK; her mom was one smart, fun, tough cookie, and Cindi and her siblings always got good grades at school, so it all worked out rather well.
Cindi在單親家庭長大，小時候家裏的錢從沒有過富餘，不過沒關係，她的媽媽聰明風趣又堅強，Cindi他們這幫小孩子們成績一直都很好，所以一切都挺好的。
While she was getting her degree, Cindi had to pay her way through college. Happily she found this job (a) she really liked (b) was really good at, and (c) paid really good money: waiting tables at this fancy restaurant in Manhattan. She held down that job for years.
上大學以後，Cindi得掙錢給自己付學費。令人高興的是，她找到了一份工作，一份（a）她喜歡（b）又幹得不錯的工作，（c）而且薪水很高：在曼哈頓的一家高級餐廳作侍應生。這份工作她幹了好幾年。
When I met her, Cindi was working for this small but kinda-sorta successful design agency, call it Acme Design (not its real name). It was founded by a pretty smart entrepreneur type, call him Joe Acme (not his real name, either).
我認識她的時候，Cindi正在一家有點小但是挺成功的設計公司工作，公司叫Acme Design（化名）。創立者是個聰明的有企業家特質的傢伙，我們就叫他Joe Acme吧。（還是化名）
When I met her, she was working all hours, doing a really good job. Busting ass, to put it plainly.
那時候，她一天24小時地工作，幹得棒極了。
A few months ago, the phone rings. It’s Cindi.
幾個月後，Cindi打電話給我：
“I’m thinking of quitting Acme,” she says.
“我想辭職了，”她說。
“But I thought you really liked your job?”
“我還以爲你很喜歡你的工作呢？”
“I did at first,” she says. “But I don’t think the company’s growing anymore. Plus, I think Joe’s gotten more interested in his new, far-too-young girlfriend than he is in growing the company. The same week he told us we weren’t getting any new pay raises this year, he bought the chick a brand-new Audi coupe.”
“一開始我是很喜歡，”她說。“但是我現在覺得這家公司沒前途。而且，我覺得Joe對他那個新的年輕的小女朋友的興趣，比對發展公司的興趣大多了。他告訴我們今年不加薪，就在同一個禮拜，他給他的妞買了一輛全新的奧迪Coupe。”
“Besides,” she continues, “I think I might want to start my own thing. I’m starting to get nibbles from potential clients wanting to work with me.”
“而且，”Cindi接着說，“我想或許我會有興趣自己創業。已經有客戶有興趣和我合作了。”
“I just want to pick your brain,” she says. “What do you think I ought to do?”
“我想聽聽你的想法，”她說。“你認爲我該怎麼辦？”
“Sounds like a good time to move on,” I say.
“聽起來不錯啊，”我說。
“Yeah, but I’m kinda nervous about it.”
“恩，但我緊張。”
“Sure, but that’s normal. . . .”
“這很正常……”
So I gave her my two cents:
接下來我給她講了我的一些看法：
1. Her mother is very supportive of her idea to move on.
她媽媽很支持她。
Besides, they get on very well. So she can always move back home to the suburbs if she needs to save money.
而且Cindi和媽媽關係很好，如果需要省錢她總能搬回到郊區的家裏住。
2. Acme Design is going nowhere, I can already tell. When a man starts trying to shtup his way out of a midlife crisis, you know there’s trouble afoot.
Acm設計公司沒有發展前途，我現在已經能判定了。如果一個男人試圖繞開而不是正面中年危機，那麼他就有麻煩了。
3. Cindi tells me she has no worries about going back and working for the restaurant. Not only was the money insanely great and she liked her job, she only quit her job at the restaurant because Joe Acme told her to.
Cindi告訴我說，如果不行回去餐廳打工也沒關係。在那家餐廳打工不光工資高而且其實她也很喜歡那份工作。當初辭職只是因爲Joe Acme作爲老闆要求她。
4. The money at Acme stinks. Pretty much everybody who works there is broke by month’s end. Which makes it hard to stand up to Joe Acme when he’s having a bad day or having a bad idea. She was making plenty of money and still doing her job at Acme before Joe made her quit the restaurant. And since she had to give up that job, she feels a lot more powerless than she used to—without any increase in revenue. Just the opposite, in fact.
Acme的工資少得可憐。幾乎公司的每個人都是“月光族”。手裏沒積蓄，Joe Acme發脾氣或者想出什麼餿主意的時候，大家都沒底氣反對他。在Joe要求她辭掉餐廳的工作之前，CIndi一邊在Acme上班一邊在餐廳賺着大筆工資。辭掉餐廳那份工之後，她不像以前那樣充滿力量感了，工資不漲，花的越來越多。
5. Cindi doesn’t mind the idea of going back to the restaurant. I tell her to do it. At the very least, she can save some money that way. A young woman with an extra ten or twenty thousand in her pocket has a lot more room to maneuver than a girl who’s broke at the end of every month.
Cindi不介意回餐廳工作，我支持她這麼做。至少這樣能存點錢。口袋裏揣着萬把塊錢的年輕女人可選擇的生活空間，比一個每月底都口袋空空的姑娘大多了。
So a simple game plan emerges: She goes and gets her old restaurant job back, she moves back in with mom to save money, she quits her job at Acme, and then she works in the mornings and afternoons for her new design clients, since her restaurant shift begins at five p.m.
一個簡單的計劃就是這樣：幹回侍應生的工作，和媽媽一塊住省點錢，辭掉Acme的工作，早上和下午爲客戶們幹設計的活兒，因爲餐廳的輪班下午5點纔開始。
When she gets off work she goes straight back home—she doesn’t bother with the after-hours thing with the guys and the gals at the restaurant. No late-night booze, drugs, and club sessions for this girl. No, she’s on a mission. Her colleagues at the restaurant, sadly, are not. They’re too busy being young, fun, and too coked-up to tie their shoelaces, let alone do something interesting in the long-term.
每當下班Cindi就會直接回家，不去和餐廳的姑娘們小夥子們業餘打鬧。不喝酒到深夜，不嗑藥，不泡吧。Cindi不會這麼做，她有她該做的事情。遺憾的是她的餐廳裏的同事們沒有，他們忙着年輕忙着玩鬧，渙散地連鞋帶也不繫，更別提那些用長遠的眼光來看有趣的事情。
She’s still young. A couple more years of waiting tables won’t kill her—not if she’s saving money and using her off-time wisely to build her design business slowly and surely. I’d bet after a year or two, a girl with that talent and drive would easily be able to leave her waitressing job and start looking after her design clients for much better money, easily. And she’d still be well under thirty. What’s the worst that can happen?
Cindi任然年輕，只要她懂得節約錢，明智地用業餘時間去建立她的設計事業，過程緩慢卻也穩定，那麼在餐廳裏作幾年侍應生不會毀了她。我敢打賭，一兩年後，這個有天分有幹勁的姑娘能辭掉的侍應生的工作，專心她的事業更輕鬆地賺更多的錢，到那時候，她也不到三十歲，能有什麼糟糕的事情呢？
Some of Cindi’s twentysomething peers raised their eyebrows a little bit, though. “Going back to waitressing? Isn’t that a backwards career move?” they said.
可是一些和Cindi一樣二十來歲的年輕人不認可我的想法。“回去做侍應生？這不是在事業前途的道路上往後退？”他們會說。
No, it isn’t, actually. She’s still young and what she’s doing is consistent with what she wants to do long-term. There’s no disgrace in waiting tables if it’s part of a long-term strategy. If she were just doing it because she had no earthly clue what else to do with her life, that would be different. But she’s not.
不是的。Cindi還年輕，她現在做的事情符合她的長期目標。如果“做侍應生”是在一項長遠的策略中的一步棋，那可沒什麼不光彩的。如果Cindi做侍應生只是因爲她不知道她還能什麼其他的，那又是另外一回事。Cindi可不是。
“The good news is,” I say to her, when she was just beginning to hatch this Evil Plan of hers, “you won’t die.”
“好在，”在Cindi胡斯亂想些壞結果的時候我告訴她，“你死不了的。”
So she went through with her Evil Plan. I was so proud. And the really good news is, she didn’t have to waitress or live with her mom for very long. Three months and she was gone. Three months and she managed to bag half a dozen high-paying clients for her business. Last time I saw her, she was wearing very expensive shoes and had moved into this very hip apartment in Brooklyn. Like I said, I was so proud.
Cindi開始實施她的計劃，我爲她驕傲。而且真正的好消息是，和媽媽住以及去餐廳做侍應生的日子她沒過多久。三個月後她辭去了餐廳的工作，在這三個月中，她接到了6個大單子。上次我見她時，她穿着超貴的鞋子，而且已經住進了布魯克林的一間時髦的公寓。就像我說的，我爲她驕傲。
And her colleagues back at the restaurant? They’re still there. Choices were made.
Cindi在餐廳的同事？他們還待在哪兒。一切都在抉擇中。
