How (And Why) I Went From Part-Time Startups To Full-Time Entrepreneur

2. Leaving my comfort zone

   My favorite quote of all time is “A ship is safe in a harbor, but that’s what not ships are built for”. As humans, we’re not built to stay in our comfort zone (our harbor). We’re built to explore, fail, succeed and most importantly, to live life to our fullest. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

   I could have stayed comfortable at my previous employer where I made good money for a 25 year old, but I knew that’s not what I wanted out of life. I wanted to leave my harbor and venture into the turbulent waters. Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, which will in turn allow you to spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.

   Right now, I am still in the living “like most people won’t” phase, but I will never be able to live my life “like most people can’t” without taking a leap of faith and getting out of my comfort zone.

3. Following my passion

   I don’t think there has been a day over the last four years that I haven’t thought about my entrepreneurial dreams; it was an obsession. I am extremely lucky to have found three co-founders who are just as passionate.

   It’s usually a pretty good rule of thumb that if you can’t go a day without thinking about something, then you should probably pursue it. For me that was entrepreneurship, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same for everyone.

   A good portion of the population isn’t passionate about entrepreneurship and they’d much rather have a job, which is fine and dandy. However, for those who are passionate about something, something that they’re not doing for a living, just go do it. Whether it’s entrepreneurship, music, acting, athletics or whatever else you can’t go a day without thinking about, follow that passion and more importantly, follow your dreams.

This article has been edited and condensed.

Eric Santos is a young entrepreneur and writer. Eric is the Co-CEO of Benchmark Intelligence, a suite of analytics tools for enterprise location management. He previously co-founded WishBooklet, Dwibbles and Soshowise. His work has been published Business Insider, VentureBeat, AskMen, Yahoo Small Business Adviser, Elite Daily and more. Connect with @usebenchmark on Twitter.