How picking up dog food became my most life-changing event

How picking up dog food became my most life-changing eventHow picking up dog food became my most life-changing eventNo Really.In early 2012, my life looked completely different from how it looks today.Before Knowledge for Men, before writing best-selling books, before building a 7-figure business and doing what I love, I welches just Andrew The retail manager.I was driving to work one day in my beat up Honda civic driving 45 Mph on the freeway, trying to get a few precious minutes to myself before clocking in at my soul-sucking job.Heck, I spent 80% of the drive silently praying that I would get rear-ended and suffer from a mild concussion so Id have an excuse to skip work for a week.Fortunately, I made it to work in one piece.As I made my daily morning rounds I thought that day would be like any other.It wasnt After about 45 minutes on the job, I got a call on my coms unit alerting me to an emergency on aisle 13 (or at least I think it was 13).I rushed over and saw the Emergency.An otherwise sweet middle aged lady had lost control of her dog and the little bugger had torn open not one, not two, but three bags of dog food.The mess was horrendous.It looked like this Only worse.I told her that everything was ok and then, as soon as she was gone, stooped down on my hands and knees and began cleaning up the dog food.And in that moment It hit me.Like a Grand Piano getting dropped on my head (Zombieland Style), I looked at myself and asked a simple question Is this what you were born to do?Is this what my life had really become? Had I spent $50,000 on a college degree and countless hours studying so that I could clean dog food in the middle of a freaking retail store?I held back tears, silently cursing myself and wishing that I could trade lives with someone, anyone. Because God knew that anything would have been better than where I was in that moment.I made it through my work day, drove back home, and started violently scribbling down my thoughts and ideas on a s crap piece of paper.I knew something had to change.In that moment, I didnt know exactly what I was going to do or how I was going to do it.But I knew that I was going to quit my job and build my own business.I was tired of working for The Man.I was tired of selling my soul for $55,000 a year.I was sick and tired of feeling like a slave instead of a free man.It didnt happen overnight, and it didnt happen as quickly as I would have liked.But over the course of the following months, I began researching different escape plans and silently plotting my exit from Corporate America.90 days later, I launched my blog, handed in my two weeks notice, and strapped in.For months, I slept on my brothers couch, working 1016 hours a day trying to get my business off the ground.18 months in I was still broke.I had a podcast with millions of downloads, thousands of email subscribers, and less than $15 to show for it.But I kept at it.I was going to succeed or die trying.And today, Im happy to announce , that I didnt die and I did succeed.Ive built a 7-figure lifestyle business helping men all over the world and doing what I love.I get to connect with some of the coolest people in the world and Im privileged to run in some of the most incredible entrepreneurial circles on the planet.And it all started that fateful day with a few bags of destroyed dog food.This article first appeared on Quora.