- AJ Eckstein left a steady consulting job to start Creator Match, seeking more control over his career.
- He felt stuck in his role and wanted more personal growth and greater ownership of his work.
- Eckstein advises aspiring entrepreneurs to embrace risk and align your career with your life goals.
This essay is based on a conversation with AJ Eckstein, a 25-year former management consultant and founder and CEO of Creator’s match from Austin. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I interned at the Walt Disney Company the summer after my junior year of college. After long days, I would return to my apartment and devote myself to preparing the case to pursue a career in consulting.
I practiced over 100 live cases, working with friends and participating in virtual mock interviews. My commitment paid off during recruitment – I secured interviews with several leading consulting firms.
I accepted an offer with a base salary plus a bonus that was almost six figures.
I spent 3 years in consulting
As my first full-time job out of college, I wanted to be part of a large and dynamic workplace. It seemed like the perfect place to start my career, and it was.
I was promoted twice and worked on five major projects. The culture never felt too corporate or too “fragile”. There was a strong sense of camaraderie, a supportive atmosphere, and a work-life balance that allowed me to pursue side projects.
After a few years, I felt like I was renting my brand instead of owning it
I was taught to aim for a “dream company”, believing that success depended on landing a job at a big name firm. I finally realized that I should strive for a “dream life”, with a job as a means to achieve it.
My work stagnated and my personal growth slowed. Career progression followed predetermined tracks based on performance. My progress was tied to the standard pace, even if I exceeded expectations.
I realized that I never wanted to stay at one company for decades because I thrived on change and the excitement of new roles. This made me question my sense of self-worth, which was very much attached to a company where I was just an employee.
When I started, my self-esteem was high, fueled by the excitement of a new career. As the years passed and my fulfillment faded, so did my sense of self-worth.
I wanted more control and greater upside potential, even if it meant facing the possibility of lower lows. I wanted to live my dream and not someone else’s.
My decision to leave was influenced by a combination of factors
I had been working on a project for a year and a half when the client had a layoff and gave me consulting duties, leaving me “on the bench” between projects.
I also began to feel frustrated with my role and felt capable of so much more. Drafting emails to managers and building presentation decks for others became tiresome – especially when I wanted to be the one presenting to clients.
Compensation was another factor. The increase from last year was not significant enough to make me want to stay.
At the same time, I was gaining traction with several side projects. I was doing my Creator Brand deals on LinkedIn and started helping creator friends monetize their brands, which is how the idea for my company, Creator Match, was born.
I finally left in April 2024
The hardest part of giving my notice was informing my manager, who I had built a strong relationship with and even surfed with on a weekend. Leaving was like divorcing someone I admired and respected.
I reminded myself that I wasn’t quitting—I was leaving the company to follow a dream. We stay in touch and he has fully supported my decision.
I live a very frugal lifestyle and have saved from day one to build a safety net
I’ve been working on Creator Match for five months and I still haven’t gotten paid. I live off my savings and learning courses on LinkedIn.
The initial journey can be lonely. Your social battery drains and you may lose friends who don’t understand your commitment to work, such as missing a Saturday work party.
Meanwhile, seeing your competitors raise money makes you wonder if you’re on the right track. So far, I have not collected money and I am not interested in collecting.
Imposter syndrome can creep up every day. Sometimes, I wonder if leaving my stable 9-5 job was the right move, but I’m invested as much as possible.
Failure is not an option. On average, I work 12 to 15 hour days during the week and 4 to 6 hours on weekends.
Here is my advice for others who want to leave stable jobs to build a startup
Surround yourself with mentors who have taken risks and built their own ventures. My friends who left corporate roles to start startups guided me through the decision to jump.
Don’t wait until everything is settled – it may be too late. Leaving a stable job is risky, but so is staying when you feel unfulfilled.
Ask yourself what your greatest career and life purpose is. For some, it may be a career in the same job with stability. I knew that every day I stayed at a company was a step back from where I wanted to go.
Assess whether you thrive on stability or chaos. I was fed up with only owning 1% of a massive client project. I wanted to be the person to win the game, whether I was the hero or the joker, and now I make every decision myself.
I miss a few things about working 9-5
When you work a 9-5 job, you can go outside. When you work for yourself, you’re always on call if something goes wrong and you’re thinking about your business even when you’re not actively working on it.
However, I have no plans to go back to the 9-5. I’m an adrenaline junkie and seek thrills, adventure and danger – a 9-5 corporate job just didn’t cut it.
Want to share your consulting experience? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@businessinsider.com