Instant MBA

March 12, 2015

Mason Wartman was 25 when he quit what he calls "the best job I ever had." It's been two years since he left Wall Street to start his $1-a-slice pizzeria, and he revisited this decision in a recent LinkedIn post. Quitting was far from impulsive. Sensing that he had plateaued as a stock researcher, he asked, and deliberately answered, two questions: "'Why should I leave?' and – when I had developed the reasoning – 'When should I leave?'" writes Wartman.  He had also been toying with the idea of opening Rosa's Fresh Pizza for several months while still employed. "To leave my comfortable existence, I had to outline basic goals for myself," he says. "I had always wanted to own my own business and I thought I had developed the foundation for a successful concept in Rosa’s."   The calculated gamble paid off. The young entrepreneur enjoyed nearly instantaneous success, making a large enough splash with his innovative business model — which earned him profits and provided pizza to the homeless — to land him on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Wartman worries that people will equate what he did with Rosa's to winning the lottery — a nearly unattainable feat — but anyone can enjoy this entrepreneurial success, he argues: "It is easily replicable." Rosa's all began with Wartman's decision to leave Wall Street. Quitting does not always mean failing, and in many cases it opens up opportunities. "If you find yourself in a similar position as I did; if you find you have reached a plateau; if you see your peers struggling in their jobs, foreshadowing difficulties you will likely face; I encourage you to quit," Wartman says. "Start something new for yourself. Focus and persist. You’ll be glad you did." Read the full LinkedIn article here. SEE ALSO: Here's why one employee left Google for a virtually unknown startup