{"id":543,"date":"2026-05-22T10:04:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=543"},"modified":"2026-05-22T10:04:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:04:48","slug":"i-left-a-346k-job-and-launched-a-makeup-brand-i-make-a-fraction-of-my-old-salary-but-i-love-working-for-myself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanhomejournals.com\/?p=543","title":{"rendered":"I left a $346K job and launched a makeup brand. I make a fraction of my old salary but I love working for myself."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sarah Guller, the 25-year-old cofounder of makeup brand <\/em>Forta<\/em>, based in the Bay Area. Her previous employment and identity have been confirmed by Business Insider. This story has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more My graduation walk got canceled by COVID. My daughter\u2019s was ruined by AI.<\/a><\/p>\n

I started at Stanford when I was 17. I kind of got shepherded into finance and became locked into a path that I didn’t know much about.<\/p>\n

I graduated in 2022 and was able to skip banking and go straight into a growth equity firm in Boston, which is unusual.I stuck it out for two years and then moved back to California to do a similar job at a different company. It was an amazing learning opportunity and a great job,but I got burned out very quickly.<\/p>\n

I didn’t cook a meal for myself once those first two years. My hair started falling out.I missed family birthdays. I worked past midnight most of the time. I don’t think I went to a gym once the first two years.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t happy, but I was getting a $346,000 salary and felt like I should<\/em> be happy. It felt wrong to complain about a job that all my friends were asking how I landed. It was a silent struggle for a while.<\/p>\n

Two and a half years ago, one of my best friends from Stanford who played in the WNBAwanted to do something entrepreneurial. As an athlete, she sweats her makeup off. At the time, I was investing in beauty brands. There were hundreds of beauty brands but nothing mainstream around performance. We felt like the right team to do it.<\/p>\n

For a while, I still had my golden handcuffs and was in a cycle of waiting for my next bonus. Finally, I hit a point where my mental health was in the gutter, and I needed to do something about it.<\/p>\n

Eight months ago, I quit, and went all-in on the brand. We built it from scratch and launched it a month ago.<\/p>\n

Quitting was a roller coaster \u2014 and the founder lifestyle isn’t glamorous<\/h2>\n

I went from having every hour of my day programmed to having full autonomy over my schedule. As a founder, there’s always work to do, but there’s no one to tell me to do it or give me deadlines. Keeping myself accountable was a big learning moment.<\/p>\n

It was definitely an adjustment. My cofounder and I both used our own savings for the design, logo, brand assets, brand identity, and our first purchase order. We quickly realized how expensive those are. A minimum order quantity is around 10,000 units, which cost roughly $17,000. We raised a friends and family round of funding which helped.<\/p>\n

Read more He built Smorgasburg. Now, he\u2019s using AI to organize the construction of his \u2018forever house.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m working almost the same hours as I was in PE, but making a fraction of of my last salary. I didn’t even know what to do with the money I was making when I graduated college. I was going on all of these trips and buying designer items. I became comfortable not checking the price tag.<\/p>\n

Now, I say “no” a lot. I don’t eat out or shop as much. It’s not glamorous.<\/p>\n

I would rather try something<\/h2>\n

People thought it was crazy to jump full time into this and I still have doubts about quitting. If we have a slow day of sales, I’m like, “What am I doing?”<\/p>\n

But I’ve always wanted to take advantage of the life I was born into. My parents are immigrants from India and my dad was born in a village without electricity. I’m the first woman in his bloodline to go past elementary school.<\/p>\n

I would rather try something and it not work out, than be on my death bed and think “I slaved away at a corporate job my whole life and will never know what I could have done if I believed in myself.” That regret would haunt me.<\/p>\n

Even though I’m working similar hours, it’s for myself and it’s for something I’m excited about. I also have much more flexibility and that’s why I’m not dealing with burnout. I do pilates every day and I get to take mid-day classes. I cook all my meals and I’ve realized how much of an impact eating healthy, homemade meals has on my mental health.<\/p>\n

I have two 16-year-old twin siblings and it’s been nice to spend time with them and go to their sports games on a weekday. They’re heading off to college soon and we’ll probably never get that much time together again.<\/p>\n

On a practical note, people take time off for business school or sabbaticals all the time. Worst comes to worst, I can go back into working.<\/p>\n

I recognize I have a lot of privilege. My family lives here and I’m not at risk of losing a home. But for the moment, I have no contingency plan. It could all flop, but my eggs are in this basket.<\/p>\n

Read more Inside the SpaceX filing<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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