What's the Riskiest Move You've Made in Your Career? Did It Pay Off?

Hamza Afzal Butt
9 replies
Hey Product Hunters! We've all had those moments in our careers where we took a leap of faith. Whether it was launching a bold new product, pivoting to a different market, or making a major career change, those risky moves can lead to incredible rewards—or valuable lessons. I'm curious to hear your stories. What was the riskiest move you made in your career? Did it pay off? What did you learn from the experience?

Replies

Lorenz Sell
There was one moment in time when I was living in my car to continue working on my startup. At one point I found an investor who was willing to invest $500k but he was trying to squeeze me on terms that just didn't feel quite right. I was desperate for the money but I said no. He ended up changing his mind and investing anyway. In retrospect it was the right move because it made him respect me more and it gave me the confidence to know that I could say no.
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@lorenzsell That's an inspiring story! Your determination and self-respect in a tough situation paid off in the end. It's a great reminder that sticking to your values can lead to success and build stronger relationships. Thanks for sharing!
CY Zhou
Taking a leap of faith, I left my stable job to start my own business. It was terrifying, but it paid off by giving me the freedom and fulfillment I always wanted.
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Hakim Zerhouni
The riskiest move I made was starting my own digital marketing consultancy. It was daunting but ultimately paid off with valuable client relationships and personal growth in entrepreneurship.
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Iris Matt
Leaving a stable job to start my own company was risky but ultimately rewarding and learned lot of new things
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@iris_matt Good to know! what business are you running?
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QING LI
The riskiest move I've made in my career was transitioning from a creative background in writing movie scripts to diving headfirst into the IT industry. It was a significant shift, moving from a domain where I had established skills and comfort to an entirely new field that required learning new technologies and methodologies from scratch. Did it pay off? Absolutely! This move allowed me to leverage my creative skills in a new and exciting way, leading to the development and launch of PDFtoPDF.ai. This product transforms scanned PDF documents into searchable text, utilizing advanced OCR technology. The shift also opened doors to endless opportunities within the tech industry, allowing me to continuously grow and adapt. What did I learn from the experience? Embrace Continuous Learning: The IT field is vast and always evolving. Embracing the mindset of continuous learning helped me stay relevant and innovate effectively. Transferable Skills: My creative background was not wasted. Skills like storytelling, problem-solving, and attention to detail were incredibly valuable in the tech space, particularly in product development and user experience design. Risk and Reward: Taking a risk can lead to unforeseen opportunities. The success of PDFtoPDF.ai taught me that stepping out of my comfort zone and embracing new challenges can lead to substantial rewards. This transition was definitely a leap of faith, but it has been a rewarding journey full of growth and new possibilities. It reinforced the idea that it's never too late to pivot and pursue a new path if you're passionate and willing to put in the work. Looking forward to hearing other stories!
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@pdftopdf Your transition from writing movie scripts to IT is truly inspiring! Developing PDFtoPDF.ai shows how valuable creative skills are in tech. Embracing continuous learning and taking risks has clearly paid off. Great job, and thanks for sharing your story!