Posted Under: Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today we are talking to Ed Muzio, our next guest under the “Our Heroes” series.  Ed is a former employee of Intel where his work ranged from planning future technologies to running development programs for employees. Ed took a sabbatical from his company to reflect on his career and allow enough time to prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition.  He managed to accomplish quite a few things during his transition like helping his parents and starting  and running a non-profit during his sabbatical.  Let’s dive deeper into his success story…

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

EM: My name is Ed Muzio, I was a manager and technologist at Intel Corporation, I did a variety of things from planning future technologies to running employee development programs

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

EM: I took a Sabbatical (benefit offered by the company) and without really planning it, ended up doing some reflection about the direction of my career. I think I’m a bit unique because I didn’t hate my employer, actually I liked working there, but I realized that I couldn’t go in my desired career direction without leaving. I wanted to do what I’m doing now and consult with individuals and groups to make them better at their jobs and happier in them and I simply couldn’t do that work at Intel at the level I wanted to. At the time, I had a general sense of that fact but I wasn’t as clear on my desired work. I just knew that I had to leave for my own long term success, even though I was comfortable there, I loved the people and mostly enjoyed the work.

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

EM: I made a plan to take about 8 months to depart, during that time I systematically exercised my stock options and mentally and financially prepared for a change in income, and also a change in daily responsibilities. I also lined up some interim projects to keep myself from feeling useless. During my transition time I co-founded and ran a non profit for teenage mothers, and provided some assistance to my parents’ financial business, to ease my transition into my new career.

DD: What are your suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs?

EM: Don’t assume that you know exactly what you want to do. Remember, once you have the freedom you will need some time to reflect and fine tune your vision. Don’t assume that the rest of the world works like the corporate world. The job may seem frustrating, but there are many good things about it – infrastructure support, PC help, and an automatic assurance that the people around you have a basically high level of capability. Those things aren’t present in the outside world, so you have to be ready for a change in your expectations.

DD: How are you doing and how do you feel now?

EM: I love my career, I am excited each day to go to work, and I’m having lots of fun. I’ve also been successful as I’ve written two books and grown the business each year. I really struggled to let go of the fixed paycheck and the benefits and the security, but the life I’ve recreated for myself made it worth it!

DD: That is Ed Muzio, Founder & CEO of Group Harmonics, a consulting firm specializing in increasing output and reducing stress at all levels in workplaces; and the author of two award winning books – Make Work Great (McGraw-Hill, June 2010) and Four Secrets to Liking Your Work (FT Press, Feb 2008). His success story is a reminder to all those who are not content in their present work situation, take time away from the cubicle prison and reflect on your career. Ask yourself what is it that you want out of your career? Such reflection by itself is a great mental preparation for a smooth and successful transition into a new career whether it’s going to be another job, or self employment, or entrepreneurship.

Success to all!