10 min read

6 years after I quit my corporate job


Hey everyone

If you've been part of my previous blog, 9 months since I quit my corporate job, which I wrote about 6 years ago then welcome back! It's a pleasure to have you back 🙂 If not and you are new here, hola!

My name is Denis and 6 years ago I was working as an Auditor, in one of the big accounting companies, with 6 months left until I get my Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification.  Instead, I decided that this life is not for me and... well, here is my resignation letter:


Fast forward 6 years, a lot of things happened in my life. Now we run www.glimp.co.nz, which I believe is one of the largest comparison websites in New Zealand for utilities, insurance, financial products, and more. During that time, I also had a bunch of failed relationships, failed business ideas, some fun experiences and I got to live in many different countries. Looking back at them and reflecting, I’m truly grateful for what has happened.

When I left did I have any idea that my next 6 years would turn out this way? Absolutely not, but I guess, this is what happens when you take a leap of faith.

Initially, I thought I would cover the last 6 years year by year but as I started writing and got to year 4.... I realised that it was just way too many words. And with today’s attention spans and busyness of the day to day life, I decided to quickly summarise what happened in those 6 years, by categories.

The categories are:

  • 👨🏻‍💻 Work
  • ✈️ Travel
  • ❤️ Dating
  • 💰 Wealth
  • 🍄 Growth
  • 💪 Health


👨🏻‍💻 Work


We started www.glimp.co.nz after Michael and I finished a programming course at Enspiral Dev Academy in Wellington, NZ. Essentially we wrote down a bunch of ideas we wanted to execute and chose the comparison website. Funny thing is, from the list of ideas that we’ve written down, all of them have been executed by someone in New Zealand. It is interesting how things tend to work out in this world.

When we started Glimp, it was just 2 of us and it was very important to me that we would be remote from day 1. To this day, we don’t have a physical office or business cards. You could say we were doing it before working from home was cool, and now… everyone is on Zoom, which is great to see!

We also didn’t pay ourselves for about one year and a half and bootstrapped the whole operation, meaning we didn’t get any funding or anything.

Six years later, we now have a 7 figure business and a remote team of about 20 employees, mostly in the Philippines. Not bad, not bad at all. At this level, the business is presenting new challenges of managing a remote team, scaling the business, and automating it.

During that time, I also started a gaming clothing brand, which generated a few sales but I didn’t continue and kind of regret it now. I had a lot on my mind back then and had to drop it.

Currently:

  • We are exploring new projects and ways we can expand overseas
  • I also have a bunch of projects I want to execute on, and just find myself struggling for time. So trying to figure out how to best tackle this and best solution is automate Glimp.

✈️ Travel

During my 6 years, I’ve lived in

  • 🇮🇩 Bali for a year, where I got to experience my first digital nomad trip
  • 🇧🇷 Brazil for 6 months, where I volunteered at the Olympic Ceremony, both Opening and Closing and lived in the Amazon
  • 🇪🇸 Spain for 1 month, where I got to meet Dorian Yates and have a drink with him
  • 🇮🇳 Goa, India for 2 months, where I got to channel my inner hippie
  • 🇷🇺 Russia for 5 months, where I go to spend my time with my grandparents and friends

And I visited:

  • 🇨🇴 Colombia for a few weeks, where I go to eat arepas and learn more about the history of Medellin
  • 🇺🇸 USA, where I went on a road trip across the states
  • 🇦🇺 Australia, where I got stuck in a lockdown for a month
  • 🇨🇺 Cuba for a few days, where I got to enjoy mojitos and cigars at 9 am
  • 🇯🇵 Japan for a week, where I got to eat way too much ramen and sushi
  • And many other places, which I’m sure I’m forgetting


And of course, 🇳🇿 New Zealand being my main home, I’ve ventured all over the islands and lived in a van for a couple of months. It was fun and I got to explore a lot of our backyard. In fact, you can check out a lot of my past and current adventures on my TikTok - @dentyurkov.

Currently:

  • 🇲🇽 I’ve been living and exploring Mexico for the last 5 months.
  • I somehow managed to become a permanent resident in Mexico in my first month, which was completely unplanned. Guide on the coming soon.

❤️ Dating & Relationships

Before going into this journey I did have a relationship, which unfortunately ended, but overall my relationship and dating life was basically nonexistent. I used to spend a lot of time in front of the computer, and I still do to be fair. However, I had no idea how much my dating life would change when I began this journey.

I ended up having a few relationships, which taught me a lot. In fact, one of them was so toxic that it derailed me so much that it put me on a different and better path - a path of becoming a better man. I had to dig deeper within me to find out why that happened because it takes two to tango. That meant that I was also the problem since I was there and I allowed this to happen. As tough as this experience was, I’m grateful that it happened.

Overall, during those 6 years, I’ve dated more women than in the first 24 years of my life and I learned a lot. I’m thankful for every connection that I’ve experienced, whether it was for a short or a long period of time because each one has taught me something.

I also realised that I’m not a big fan of dating in New Zealand, it just wasn’t for me and for some reason difficult. Maybe other men or women feel the same way but I found dating overseas way easier and better.

Being in Mexico right now, I feel it is proving to be a fact. In the last 3 months alone I’ve been on more dates than in the whole last 2 years that I spent in NZ. Granted, there are a number of factors at play here. Maybe COVID had an impact, maybe my mindset changed and I’m putting out a different energy, or maybe it is the environment or the fact that it is a touristy place… either way, I’m finding dating a lot easier and more fun here.


Currently:

  • I’ve been single for almost 3 years now, COVID made that super easy.
  • I’m still in the exploration and learning phase, specifically getting to know myself more.
  • However, I am starting to become open again to a possibility of a relationship, will see what happens.
  • Parents are starting to question more frequently about my partner or lack of...

💰 Wealth - Budgeting & Investing

When I started my journey at 24, I had $10,000 to my name and a $30,000 student loan, so I guess I had negative $20,000 to my name… nice 👍

During the first 2 years of building Glimp, I had no salary and I had to survive on $250 per week in New Zealand for almost a year, which included food, rent, gym, and one cup of takeaway coffee per week. Then the salary started coming to the point where I was able to save more than I spent but still below the minimum wage in New Zealand. This is when I left to Bali. All of a sudden this allowed me to live a normal life and I was able to save some money.

Investing

Fast forward 2 years, I had some money saved in the bank and one thing I wish I started doing sooner is investing. It seems obvious given my accounting and finance degree but for some reason, I just didn’t. Then one morning, in Bali, I watched this video about investing and it clicked for me that I had to invest! And that same morning the universe aligned, or whatever you want to call it, I met a guy that has been living off stocks for 20 or so years.

We later met up, he showed me the ropes and I started investing since. This was in 2019. In 2020, I managed to buy a house in Auckland and due to the demand in New Zealand combined with low-interest rates, it went up a bit in value. Of course, the profit is not realised until it’s sold.

While focusing on all of that, I missed my chance to invest in Crypto and as you know hindsight is a wonderful thing. That is considering I was playing around with crypto in 2017, and just completely forgot about it. During that time, I also was going through a bad relationship and my mind was elsewhere. Lesson learned, now my attention is also on that sector.

Overall, I feel I’m on track with my investing now, although it is very hard to not FOMO into something for quick gains. The constant battle of wanting things yesterday. Nonetheless, every time I tried that I got burnt, so I find managing my emotions is a big part of my investing strategy. Good things take time.

Currently:

  • My goal is to get to $10 million net worth by the age of 35… big goal, and I need to put certain plans into action as I'm nowhere close. Let’s see if that happens.
  • I’ve also been documenting my journey as I try to get my stock portfolio to $1 million. You can find my videos here on Youtube. Help me get to 100 subscribers so I can get that custom channel name 😅

🍄 Growth & Self Development

Reflecting on the last 6 years, I’ve become more self-aware, connected to myself and my emotions. It feels like it happened all of a sudden, but it was a continuous journey of self-discovery and exploration. All of the experiences, the good and the bad, that happened during that time shaped me into who I am today. I've also put a conscious intent behind it.

I remember wanting to connect with myself more, to be able to feel and express myself better, and to be less reserved with my emotions. Being Russian, or maybe because of my upbringing, emotions didn’t go around the family freely. Saying “I love you” to my close ones felt weird and I’m not saying it doesn’t feel now, but it certainly feels less now.

Being a better man

I remember after having failed relationships, questioning myself, and reflecting on my actions and behaviours. So I went on this mini journey, which turned into a lifelong journey now, of carving myself into the man that I want to be. I started reading books on the subject, joining men's circles and having coaches. It made me realise that I want to be a man that shows up to life and lives a life true to himself, is not afraid to share his emotions, sticks to his values, and sets boundaries. A man that enjoys life fully and everything it has to offer.


During that time, I also discovered the Aubrey Marcus podcast which covers a lot about spirituality and psychedelics caught my attention, and I just dove deep into it. The whole area fascinated me, especially around psychodelics. And so I got to experience it by myself, with friends and in ceremonies. The experiences were magical and contributed to my internal growth. They showed me that everything I need is already inside of me and so I just needed to practice.

Currently:

  • I have an idea of what man I want to become and I’m slowly tackling my internal obstacles to get there. It is a fun and challenging journey.
  • I'm looking at getting a psychologist to help me with this journey that I am on and make it clearer

💪 Fitness / Activities


Throughout that time I focused on the gym and kept my body in relatively good shape. Being physically active helps me a lot with regulating my emotions, clear thinking and just feeling good all day. I felt sharper and so instead of working out in the evenings, I moved it to the morning. Best decision yet, give it a try.

But Denis I get tired after working out!? Have a 15 minute nap, don't push yourself as hard and plus... your body takes time to adjust.

Now, my every day starts on a great note and it’s amazing. I also realised that I’ve been doing a lot of two steps forward and one step back with my workouts. Meaning I would get some results and then it would just fade away, so I had to catch up every time. I decided to change that.

I’ve outlined the goals that I want to achieve and I hired coaches to write programs for me. This has been one of the best decisions in 2021. It is something that I wish I’ve done sooner and in other areas of my life too. It is this feeling of knowing that if I follow the program I will get the results that I want, I don’t have to think of what’s next, I just do. Amazing.

Another realisation that I've had is I want to do activity based travel, meaning I come to a spot where I want to do a particular sport or an activity and just do it for a few months.

Currently:

  • It is kite surfing for me. The progress has been nice and I’m stoked about it.
  • In winter, I’m planning to go snowboarding for 3 or more months, let’s see.

Summary


So this was a quick summary of my last 6 years. It was hard to fit it all because you know a lot of things happened but I feel like I captured the main areas of my life. And so if you have any questions or you want me to write more about a particular topic, then let me know. I appreciate you giving your time to read this.

What am I doing now?

I’m currently in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. I left New Zealand in October 2021 with an idea to look for a place where I can settle down for the next few months or years. Who knows, I may never find that place. I came to a conclusion that even if I leave New Zealand for the next 5 to 10 years and come back, not much would have changed. So in that regard leaving was easier but of course a bit scary, due to COVID, as I don’t know if I can return as easily.

Anyway, I’m in Mexico now. I have a routine, I’m part of a community, I’m dating, exploring, learning Spanish, kite surfing, writing blogs, working on a business and exploring new projects. Overall, I feel happy but of course the feeling is ever changing and I have my down moments.

In the next few months, my life will change again, as I plan to go to Europe to explore and see if I like it there. This excites me and makes me a little anxious, as I have to start over again and build a routine and community around me. Who knows maybe I will take a leave and explore, as I haven’t done that in a while.

I hope you found this blog useful, I really do. If you have any questions, let me know. My main blog is hosted here: www.denistyurkov.com

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