I grew up with the famous mindset of—go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a secure job, save your money. That led me to a fairly prestigious job as a Top Secret Aerospace Engineer after having been a pilot for several years. However, the minute I walked into the cubicle of my first official corporate job, I felt my soul get completely sucked out through my toes. I knew in that moment I had to find a way out.

I spent the next five years exploring everything I could think of as a way to get myself out of my corporate job. I knew I wanted out, but I didn’t know how to do it.

Five years later, I walked out of the cubicle and into the world of the unknown—entrepreneurship. That’s when my entire life changed.

I spent my first year as an entrepreneur on food stamps, typically in a panic most days wondering where my next rent payment would come from, and having to drink from the firehose when it came to adjusting my overly-controlled mindset. Despite being flung around lie a ragdoll on the entrepreneurial roller coaster, my real estate company Hipster Investments ended up facilitating over $18M in real estate investment transactions in its first five years of business. Today, years after my company first saw success, I still get faced with new challenges in order to keep business going.

It’s all part of the journey.

I have Master’s degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Spiritual Psychology. In a way, both of these helped me with the entrepreneurial journey, while at the same time neither of them could have truly prepared me for it. I now share my experiences in hopes they will inspire, encourage, and motivate others to develop their own dream lifestyle. Lifestyle design is the source of my happiness, and I want others to have the option of experiencing it for themselves.

My name is Ali, and I’m officially a corporate drop-out.