What I Actually Miss About Corporate (and What I Don't)

The story I tell about leaving corporate is, understandably, mostly about what was wrong with it. That's the story that makes sense of the leap. It's also not the whole truth, and I think pretending otherwise does a disservice to anyone reading this who's still deciding whether to make their own exit.

What I Don't Miss

There are well-regaled ones: the meetings that existed to justify other meetings. Spending all of my time managing other people and then being expected to get specialist work done on top of that. Watching good ideas die in a committee because nobody was brave enough to take a risk. The constant career treadmill of striving for the next promotion and never having time to question if this is really what you want to be doing.

As a woman in senior management, there were also the micro-aggressions, the discrimination and mysogyny, the endless entreaties that it was "just a joke", the encouragement to be "a lady" and "not too much", the expectations that if you're feminine you can't be serious about your career, the confusion caused by being female, ambitious and not having kids ("is she even really a woman if she doesn't want kids?!"), or being encouraged to be "one of the blokes" both overtly and covertly.

That rubbish, I really don't miss!

What I Do Actually Miss

Keeping in mind that after years of working for myself, I'm basically now unemployable because I'm very happy walking to the beat of my own drum, there are still many things I miss about corporate.

As a marketer who managed million dollar plus budgets, I miss having that kind of money to experiment with, and scale quickly with. Now that it's coming out of my bank account, it's harder to experiment. And justifying a risk to myself is a harder sell than I ever had with any other CEO!

I miss the security of a regular paycheck. I never worried where the money was coming from to pay the bills, let alone myself, before I worked for myself!

I miss the automatic external validation that comes from being Head of Marketing for a national or multinational brand. When you're a solopreneur, there is often the misconception that it's more of a hobby, or a holiday, or not a real job, or you can't get a real job so you've settled for this.

I miss brainstorming ideas with my team and my peers. Throwing ideas around and then making them work together.

I miss having an in-built support network of people working towards to same goals, dealing with the same obstacles, commiserating the losses and celebrating the wins.

Also, side note, even when people think they're being encouraging fo your new endeavours, sometimes you don't feel encouraged because there's this tone, or inflection, or you're feeling a bit shaky on the confidence front, or they're an insensitive clod. Whatever! You need a different support network as an entrepreneur, particularly as a solopreneur, and chances are, your family and friends won't be it.

None of that means I made the wrong call. It means the calculation was never "corporate bad = entrepreneurship good." It was "this specific set of trade-offs, versus that one" - and I chose differently than I would have five years earlier, because what I needed had changed.

Why This Matters for Anyone Still Deciding

If you're weighing your own exit and the only story you're telling yourself is how bad it is where you are, that's worth examining. Not because you're wrong to want out, but because a decision built entirely on escaping something tends to be less sustainable than one built on actually wanting what's on the other side.

I didn't leave because corporate was bad. I left because, on balance, building something on my own terms mattered more to me than the things I'd be giving up - and, whilst it was one of the hardest parts, I forced myself to be honest what I really wanted and needed before I made the call. And I had the luxury of time. There was no urgency to leave, and not everyone has that chance.

The Trade-Off Nobody Tells You About in Advance

The thing about building Navitential from the lived experience of a neurospicy love of shine objects, isolation and advice that didn't fit how my brain works, is that I built in the fix for exactly those problems into my own business model and product range. For myself and for the women I work with! That's not a trade I'd undo. But I'd be lying if I said the resourcing gap, the solo decision-making, and some quiet afternoons without anyone down the hall to celebrate a big win with don't still show up on occasion. They do. But they're far from the whole story.

Both Things Are True

There are both good and bad on both sides of the fence.

Corporate constraints also mean security and accountability. Entrepreneurial flexibility also means the buck stops with me and only me.

Corporate politics can look like a walk in the park if they're replaced by self-doubt and fear, when the voices in your head get too loud and there's no one to pull you out from under them.

Honestly, I don't miss the corporate system. I do miss some of what the system gave me. That said, for me, running my own business is the right choice for me, at this stage of my life.

Wanting Wednesdays off to "play" with my woodworking projects would be hard to get in a corporate role. The ability to pick and choose who I work would also be a lot harder in corporate where I could pick my team, but not my other colleagues.

Having a clear vision of what you want out of your business (and your life), and then building to those requirements, is when business ownership really comes into its own.

If you're just going to give yourself another job - one with a boss who will be harder on you than any other boss you've ever had (you, I'm looking at you!) - then staying in corporate is probably a better idea.

But if you want more, and building a business to give this is an option, then go for it! On the days it doesn't suck, it's awesome! ;)

FAQs

Does missing parts of corporate life mean I'm not ready to leave?

No. Missing specific things (colleagues, resourcing, structure) is normal and doesn't mean the decision was wrong - it means the trade-off was real, which it always is.

How do I know if I'm leaving for the right reasons?

If you can name what you're moving toward as clearly as what you're moving away from, that's a good sign. If it's only ever "away from," it's worth sitting with that and thinking it all the way through before you act.