Are you a high-tech corporate refugee? I took a leave from the high-tech corporate world when after twenty-five years it no longer met my expectations for fulfillment and challenge. I’m not a hate-the-corporate-world kind of guy, because the corporate way of life provided for my family quite well over the years. [In fact, thanks to corporate America, I have the FIOS infrastructure I'm using right now, the laptop, operating systems and applications that enable almost everything I do in my business...]

And my corporate job enabled us to live overseas and explore the wonders of the ancient Middle East. It was amazing.

We walked the deserted hot and dusty paths between tomb entrances in the Valley of Kings. We snorkel along the hundred-meter wall of the Ras Mohamed Underwater Park and watch the sea turtles slowly surface from the inky-blue depths of the Gulf of Aqaba. These were memorable family experiences provided by a strong corporate career.

Currently I’m an entrepreneur—a Marketer and Product Launch Specialist, to be precise. It’s a unique experience. In retrospect, except for the fact we would have missed out on some incredible adventures abroad, I don’t know why I didn’t explore entrepreneurial life years ago.

Another Leadership Call - at home office overlooking the farmland and green space behind our home.

As I write this article, I am sitting at my home office windows overlooking 400 acres of farmland, protected green space, and golf courses. The stress of the corporate world has been replaced (at least for now) by a different existence.

This morning when I got back from my sunrise walk with the dogs there were two large does with their fawns browsing under the apple trees. A red-tail hawk was circling over the bluff and a large blue heron was in our pond. Another day in paradise—a typical morning on our small farmland property.  But I don’t have to look back far to realize…

I had forgotten what I missed all these years working in an office building. The sea of cubicles stretched for hundreds of yards in all directions, from window to window. One hallway ran straight as an arrow through four adjacent buildings. I used to count my footsteps walking that hallway from one end to the other: 550-ish, from what I recall. With a big stride, that’s almost five football fields. It was impressive!

I grew up in Richland, Washington, at the confluence of the Yakima and Columbia rivers. The desert river country was our backyard and it was there that I spent the years of my youth hunting, fishing, camping, bike riding, and exploring the nooks and crannies of river estuaries. What I feasted on as a young boy – the outdoor experience- I fasted on as an adult. And I didn’t know how much I missed it until I was working from home and experiencing the great outdoors again, as if for the first time.

So why am I rambling on about a couple of windows overlooking some land? Simply because without the entrepreneurial experience and the opportunity to work in a different enviroment for a few years, I would still be standing on my toes trying to see over a cubicle wall to the far-away windows instead of watching the hawks rise on a thermal just outside my home office door.

I sometimes ponder on how far I would be in building my business if I had made the move years ago. But on a day like today, I’m just grateful that I’m here now.

By the way, did I mention that the 400 acres below our home becomes a wintertime lake for 4 months of the year? The migrating Snow and Canadian Geese that stop over on the property create an outdoor cacophony that is hard to describe. But that’s the topic for another time…

As a seasoned business professional, I’ve learned that one of the most important aspects to success in business, is leverage. Far too often, entrepreneurs fall into the trap of essentially buying themselves a glorified job. At the start, the thought of running your own business, “calling the shots,” and writing your own paycheck, sound like a dream come true: show up to work when you want, decide when you want to work and have the freedom to create the business of your dreams.

This dream is often quickly shattered for many business owners. Before they realize what’s happening, they’re caught up in dealing with overhead, employee issues, insurance, and the list goes on and on. Not only that, but many entrepreneurs get caught up in working longer hours, and working harder, than the people they employ. They end working around the clock so that their employees can live a comfortable life, but that’s it. The owner ends up working for the business, instead of the entrepreneur owning a business that works for him or her.

Technology is the great enabler. Whether you’re creating a logo, putting together a website, publishing whitepapers or broadcasting e-mails, today’s technology makes it all so easy that anybody can do it. Or at least they think they can. And this is where the problem comes in—it’s not nearly as easy as it might look.

The fact is that these technologies are really tools—the tools of the trade. In this case, the trade is that of the pros who create logos, design websites, write copy and issue press releases. In this age of increasing specialization, literally everything that you see, read, watch, or listen to on the Internet represents a field of highly trained, specialized professional people who are experts at creating whatever it is you’ve encountered.