002 | The story of how I, who had given up thinking it was impossible to earn money outside of nursing, made '59,948 yen' with my very first step.

"If I quit nursing, what will be left for me?"

Right before I submitted my resignation,
I was struck by that anxiety almost every night.

I had the 'security' of a national license,
and a stable salary,
though small, that was deposited on a fixed day every month.

Letting that go
felt like the terror of jumping naked into rough seas.

"I only have nursing experience.
In the outside world,
won't I be completely useless...?"

I, who had convinced myself of that,
took my first step as an independent sole proprietor,
and received my first small reward.

It was a figure that was incomparably smaller
than my monthly salary as a nurse,
but it was a number—
'59,948 yen'
—that changed my life 180 degrees.

The real reason I threw away 'stability'

In the field of visiting nursing,
I could remain a 'pro' who could act calmly
and accurately even in the most difficult situations.

However, from the moment I picked up my child from daycare,
the time would begin to face my own child,
who has a developmental disability and suffers from intense tantrums.

"I can help others at work,
so why can't I be the one who understands
my own child the best?"

The sound of the on-call phone ringing in the middle of the night,
and the sound of my child crying.

Caught between the two,
my heart was completely worn to shreds.

The turning point came
when I looked ahead to my younger child, who had turned three,
entering elementary school.

The daycare center where I had left them since they were four months old,
and where we had both clung on for dear life.

I would leave that place,
and build from scratch the environment that we truly need right now.

That was by no means
an 'escape' from my current life.

'Instead of adjusting my family to the organization's convenience,
I adjusted my way of working to my family's happiness.'

For me, resigning was
a proactive decision
to live as a companion to my beloved child.

Discarding my 'pride' and entering an inexperienced world

After I resigned,
I intentionally chose not to receive unemployment benefits.

Perhaps I had some'feeling of defeat'or
stubbornness.

Regardless, I threw myself into it,
aiming to earn even one yen through my own efforts.

I received about 400,000 yen as a retirement bonus.
Instead of using it for living expenses, I decided it was
'an investment for my future work,'and first bought a new computer.

I chose a job completely unrelated to nursing called
'online customer support.'

For me, wanting to prioritize creating an environment
that accommodated my child's tantrums
and prepared for elementary school,
the condition of 'fully remote and no time restrictions'
was the most important thing to prioritize.

But reality was not that sweet.

Days of breaking into a cold sweat in front of the screen

Even though I could work efficiently
as a 'veteran' in the hospital,
I was just a beginner in front of a PC.

I didn't know how to use chat tools,
nor the etiquette for business emails,
I was completely lost.

Apologizing for mistakes over and over
to the person on the other side of the screen,
I spent my days typing on the keyboard while breaking into a cold sweat.

'Even though I fought so hard on the front lines of life,
it takes me this long to send a single email.'

It was pathetic, and
I felt like giving up many times.

But every time that happened,
'I will change my current environment for my children'
was the wish that
kept me going.

The first payment that changed my destiny

About two months after I started my business.
My first payday as a sole proprietor.

Looking at the numbers recorded in my bank account,
I trembled.

'59,948 yen'

Compared to my salary as a nurse,
it might not even be enough to cover
a few days of night shift allowance.

But that 59,000 yen had a

'weight'I had never felt in my life before.

It wasn't a 'guaranteed salary' protected by someone else.
It wasn't money earned by borrowing the reputation of a hospital organization.

It was money I earned with my own hands, from scratch,
built up step by step,
money earned purely by 'my own power'.

The moment I saw this raw number with its odd change,
I knew the spell that had been on me,
'It's impossible to earn money outside of nursing,'was crumbling away.

'Oh, I can survive even if I'm not a nurse.'

That was the moment I truly
got my ticket to 'freedom'.

You can start from a 'small step' too

If you are currently struggling with
'I want to be independent, but I have no skills,'
there is something I want to tell you.

You don't need to launch a big business from the start,
nor do you need to make perfect preparations.

What's important is to set aside your professional title for a moment,
'earn 1 yen with your own power'
and give yourself the gift of that success experience.

The reason I was able to incorporate and become a 'CEO' is because
I climbed that small step of 59,948 yen.

Of course, it's unsettling to try to live on such a small amount.
Actually, the reason I was able to be convinced that 'this is doable!' with just this '50,000 yen reward' was because
there was one more
'financial safety device'in place.

Next time, I will talk about the biggest factor that gave me the courage to become independent—.

I will talk about the 'investment trusts'
that I have been steadily building up
since five years before I quit nursing.

Back issues of this series are collected in this magazine.