Hi, I’m Octavian Raducan.

I was born and raised in the amazing city of Bucharest, in this land of heaven called Romania.
I lived many happy years with my parents and my sister, they loved me, I loved them, and I lost them all.

I felt alone on earth when my elder sister passed away too, much before her time, two years ago. She was smart and funny, and could have become anything she set her mind to. She's gone and I didn't get to tell her how much I loved and appreciated her, and how lucky I was to have a sister like her.

I was a happy child, a carefree teenager, and a promising young man.
I married the most beautiful girl in the university and together we have a daughter, now a student herself, who is the apple of our eye.

I have a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and a law degree, began my professional career at a chemical plant, and ended it in the academic field.

I started on the right foot after graduation and within a few years, I managed to get into a senior management position. But times changed, the ownership changed, the prospects changed, business shrank, and people were made redundant. And as is usually the case, the entire management team was laid off.

I changed companies several years in a row, and no matter how hard I worked, I was made redundant every time.

I started over in this big new company, and for a while, I thought this was where I was going to retire from.
Sooner than I expected, I came to manage the performance of an entire department. Then the corporate rollercoaster started, ups and downs, ups and downs, with constant financial anxiety and permanent job insecurity.

I got to 40 and realized that the way things were, I was getting nowhere.

I wondered how other people manage to do so well, geting what I wanted to get, living the life I wanted to live. They didn't seem any better than me.

All I could think about at the time was to push as hard as I could and climb the corporate ladder as high as possible. And every time I believed I was doing well something bad happened: a financial crisis, a depression, downsizing, wage cuts, lower positions, literally watching my savings being sucked out by living expenses, and I never had enough money left to change my life.

I was made redundant on the 24th of December. By e-mail. After 16 years.

I gave that company the best years of my life, I suffered for that company, I bled for that company, and they got rid of me as I was lint on their fancy suit.

I got a job in the academic field, sued the company, and in 2 years I got consistent compensation, but that didn't bring a smile to my face.
I could no longer feel loyalty to any employer, trust no promises, and see no future for me in the corporate world. Besides, I was no longer young.

Photo: Shooting a video for a new campaign

I looked for alternatives and I came across this guy, Patrick, from Holland, on YouTube. He was unfulfilled, looking for a way out, and created an online business that allowed him to quit his job and live a totally new lifestyle. I got in touch with him, and he said he wanted to help me to do it for myself. He sent me a video series, where his mentor, Stuart, explains how every person with the right mindset could create an online business from scratch. I watched it and thought: „Maybe it’s time to try something new”.

I’d never had a business before, had no clue where to begin, and was a bit skeptical. But I did the work – not rocket science anyway -, launched an online business, and have created a new life.

If I hadn't made up my mind then, I'd still be living my days in anxiety and frustration.

Everything has changed ... and it is not just about being my own boss and doing things I’ve always wanted. I’m relaxed. And live on my terms.

Me being me, I made all the mistakes in the book. I was told to take small and consistent steps, I worked 14 – 16 hours in a single day, then did nothing for weeks as I had to focus on my job; I was told to ask for help when needed, I said I can do it on my own. That’s why I lost focus and wasted a lot of time, had a few doubts ("this is not for me! what am I doing here?") and a few fears ("I’m not going to make it!"), but my mentors supported me, and I’m not a quitter either, I kept moving forward.

As I write this, it's been almost fifteen months since I saw Patrick's ad, and looking back I just can't believe how much I've achieved and how far I've come!  I'm not going to settle for that, I'm not where I want to be yet, and I don't think I'll stop then either.

Come to think of it, what did a regular job get me? Living by other people's rules, "Yes boss! Sure boss! Got it boss!", a pervasive sense of insecurity, coming home late at night, missing out on beautiful moments in the family. Why not work how much I want, when I want, from where I want, from the beach, or my favorite chair in the backyard, and do something meaningful to me?

I wasted the best years of my life looking for fulfillment in a day job, chasing my tail, trapped in my employee mentality, and I can't help but think how many more people are in the same situation I was, that I'm not so unique, maybe millions in the entire world. Imagine how much potential, how much knowledge, and how much creative energy is undervalued, misused, and wasted because the corporate world ignores it.

I want to inspire all these people to stop wasting their precious time, get out of their comfort zone, and invest in themselves because this investment lasts a lifetime and no one can ever take it away from them.

If you’re the man who believes the world still owes him something, and if there’s still a heart beating in your chest, then don’t wait, take action, get in control, and create a new life!

That's what I did, and for the first time in years, I no longer fear tomorrow.

Bucharest, November 2022