I used to work for a handmade decorations company.
It was a small company but a well known one. (The company used to be decent in the past)
My job was international sales but I was also helping them with their internet stuff, even running some of their ads campaigns. Actually I even created an online sales website (wordpress) for them.
Basically it was a company where anyone would do more than one job.
To cut short, the environment was really toxic, I wasn't happy and the employees were divided in two groups who didn't like each other. We also had to work on Saturdays many times.
I become one of their best salesman in a short time, mostly due to my communication skills.
Actually I didn't even have to try hard, just gave some ideas, and took charge of the online sales which weren't really a thing before me.
The boss however was not happy with me, especially considering the fact that I would never work after my shift, never answered the phones on off days or after the shift, and organize everyone to go on lunch breaks. (Before me they would eat at the office).
There also was a slow process that required his approval for everything, so I passed the line and contacted the factory myself many times. We also argued a lot.
The boss was making plans of firing me and one of my coworkers told me about it.
I went to the boss and resigned, we were both relieved.
After resigning I created a really nice website pretending to sell similar products.
One of the designers working there was my friend and he had some really nice models, he sent them to me, I hired a photographer (actually a friend so didn't have to pay a lot) who did an amazing job and uploaded everything on my website. I added my contact info there and forgot about it.
After some months, I received a message from my ex boss.
The content: “Dear John (not my real name) how have you been, I hope your family is ok.
I can see that you are selling similar products, can you tell my where do you get your supplies from, I would like to do the same” They would not only produce but also buy cheaper from other suppliers and reselling the products
I never replied and was so happy to see that message being sure that he was worried. I spent some hours thinking about his surprised face after seeing my website.
After some hours one of my ex colleague contacted me, they had a meeting. The boss was very worried thinking that I was stealing their customers. And how the sales had dropped a lot since I left. He asked if anyone knew what I was doing and was also pissed that I didn't reply.
During that time though, I was going through a bootcamp and after a year of hard work landed a job in tech.