TL;DR – Boss told me I wasn't good enough to run my own business. I've just taken one of his more lucrative clients off him whilst also earning double what he was paying me.
For context I work as a tradesman.
Mid last year I was working for an insecure, micromanaging nightmare of a bloke with an extraordinarily fragile ego. His expectations started to become ridiculous and so I began putting together a plan to move into self-employment as a sole trader and start my own business.
He picked up on my absent mindedness whilst working and asked to speak to me. He asked how I'm feeling about the work overall and I mentioned I felt I was not enjoying working for him. His response?
“Well I actually brought you in here because I wanted to tell you you're not a good fit for the team anymore.”
Like what? That certainly didn't seem to be the case when he was sending me to every job that came in alongside the same guys who I happened to get along with brilliantly.
He asked me what my plans were seeing as I was unhappy to which I told him I was going out alone to start my own business. He response:
“I'm telling you right now, you are no where near good enough to go out on your own.”
I thanked him for his opinion but said I was still going to do it and would be finishing up with him after 2 weeks. He then lost his mind saying he needed me to stay for 2 months and that I owed it to him. He was due to pay me that day but he held back my pay on the grounds that he couldn't trust me to turn up the next week…
So I said fuck it.
Didn't work those 2 weeks like I offered, instead blocked his number and didn't turn up on Monday. He spammed me with calls from private numbers which I ignored after learning it was him.
I did exactly what I said I would do. I started my own business and began picking up clients almost immediately. Less than a year later I've got my own works vehicle and a firm base of regular clients along with plenty of great reviews. It wasn't long before I began to creep into his patch as I've now beaten him in securing an affluent private client right on his doorstep. Sure he's got plenty of other clients but it feels oh so sweet to have taken this one from him given how he tried to make me doubt myself.
And to top it all off I'm earning double what he was paying me.
Have faith in yourselves folks. Take the leap, know your worth and don't let those bastards grind you down.