TO: Anyone who's ever thought there has to be another way
FROM: Sean
RE: Who I am, why I'm doing this, and why I waited so long
I started working when I was 15.
Not because I had to — because I wanted to. I've always been wired that way. Show me what needs to get done and get out of my way. No degree, no family connections, no roadmap. Just a work ethic that wouldn't quit and a brain that picks things up fast.
That combination took me further than most people with MBAs. Over two decades in the tech industry, climbing from operations management all the way to VP and General Manager, running a P&L, leading a division for a publicly traded company. I built things. I fixed things. I made the numbers work.
By every measure, I won the game.
Except it was someone else's game.
The day that changed everything
About a decade ago I was 14 years into a career at a large tech company. Fourteen years of showing up, delivering, earning trust. I had a future there — or so I thought.
Then an acquisition happened and in a single day, it was over. No warning. No reward for the loyalty. Just gone.
I took two years off. Did some traveling. Started poking around online — selling on eBay and Amazon, launching a new product, doing arbitrage, even developing my own off-road product that I still sell today. I got a taste of what it felt like to build something for myself.
But I couldn't make the numbers work. I didn't fully understand business yet. And eventually I went back to what I knew — the W-2 world, the corporate ladder, the steady paycheck.
This time I landed as Director of Operations at a small tech division. My boss quit not long after and I stepped into the VP/GM role. Suddenly I owned the P&L. I learned the business side fast — because that's what I do.
And I did an amazing job.
Which is exactly the problem.
The math that doesn't add up
Here's what nobody tells you about being good at your job inside someone else's company: the better you are, the more clearly you can see the ceiling.
I can see mine. And no matter how good the results I deliver, I know what's waiting on the other side of it. Another acquisition. Another reorganization. Another day where someone in a boardroom decides your future for you.
I'm 57. I started a family at 21. I've spent my entire adult life building someone else's dream. Fear kept me in place — fear of failure, fear of what people would think, fear of walking away from the security I'd worked so hard to create.
But here's what finally broke through that fear:
Eight months ago I started a cleaning business. From scratch. No industry experience. Just me, ChatGPT, and a handful of AI tools.
In eight months I hit $14,000 a month in revenue.
I did that while working a full-time executive job. Without a business degree. Without a playbook. With AI as my co-founder.
That's when I realized — I'm not late to this. I'm right on time.
What The Exit Memo is
This newsletter is my documented exit plan.
Every week I'm going to share exactly what I'm doing, what's working, what isn't, and what AI tools I'm using to build toward the moment I work for myself — for real this time.
Part personal story. Part tactical playbook. No gurus. No fluff. Just one Gen X lifer who spent 40 years proving he could succeed in someone else's world, finally betting on himself.
The dream? To build a home and commercial services business big enough that I can hire someone like me to run the operations — while I build the next thing. Starting in my local market, then expanding statewide, then wherever it goes.
If you've ever sat in a meeting thinking I should be running this place — or better yet, my own place — you're exactly who I'm writing this for.
Welcome to The Exit Memo.
Let's get out of here.
— Sean
The Exit Memo publishes weekly. Forward this to anyone who needs to read it. © 2026 The Exit Memo | myexitmemo.com