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Walking Away from the Steady Paycheck, Awesome Healthcare & Flexible Hours… And Happy About It

by Jill Jarvis 6 Comments

Jill-Jarvis-Family-Photo6
I did it. After 13 years of working as an electrical engineer, after having 3 kids, after returning to work after 3 maternity leaves, after spending 7 years as a full time working mom, and after 3 years as a full time working mom and blogger… I left my career in telecommunications.

For the last 13 years, I have held one of Corporate America’s best jobs, at one of its best companies. I had little supervision, lots of responsibility, flexible hours, no dress code and the opportunity to work from home between business trips.

At Qualcomm, I worked as the Technical Account Manager, managing North American customers designing phones and tablets for Verizion, ATT, Sprint and the other carriers. I traveled around the United States and Asia, managing the technical side of designing a device. Working with the west coast and Asia, my mornings were usually free to take the kids to school. Working for a great company, slipping out for an hour long school performance was easy. I had a good job, good pay and an amazing healthcare plan.

The problem was that it never stopped. Designing a phone is easy. The trick is making it small, reliable, with a long battery life, without being hot to the touch… all while being affordable and first to market. The critical issues that must be solved “now”, just never stop.

Each night I would clear my inbox, only to wake up with, no exaggeration, 100 new emails from Asia. The day time would bring hundreds more emails, constant conference calls and online troubleshooting. Meetings at 8:00pm and 11:00pm were common. And it just never stopped.

For the last 3 years, I have been managing my job, my family and BigKidSmallCity.com, with the plan of someday leaving Corporate America. BigKidSmallCity.com is now Houston’s go-to resource for things to do in Houston with kids, but actually deciding to leave a steady paycheck and a fantastic healthcare plan is hard to do. Until this happened…

Last summer, I was on another 8:00pm conference call. My husband was out and I was attempting to get the kids to sleep between un-muting and talking to the customer. I soon found myself scolding my sick 2 year old, who just wanted to be held, so I could calm down my adult customer that was being unreasonable and loud.

Soon after this meeting, I told my boss I was done.

It is bitter sweet to leave the job I have held since college. I worked for a great company that had the stability that many would love to have. But I’ve never been passionate about building mobile phones.

For years, my goal was to make BigKidSmallCity.com, and adventures with my kids, my full time career. I’m happy to report that after 3 years, this dream has come true. Despite the uncertainly of not having a guaranteed paycheck, I feel as though a 500 pound weight was lifted off my chest.

BigKidSmallCity.com is part of the bigger BKSC Group. In addition to the website for things to do in Houston, with kids, we are marketing consultants for local businesses, writing several full page advertorials running in the Houston Chronicle (along with other projects).

So here we go… December 2014 marks the start of the full time career that I am passionate about!

Filed Under: About Me, All December 22, 2014

About Jill Jarvis

Jill Jarvis is the owner of JillBJarvis.com, a BigKidSmallCity.com and Things to Do in Houston, with Kids, blog!

She is the mom of 4 and started the website years ago... when she was tired of constantly cleaning up the same mess in the family room.

Another mom showed her that you could just go do fun things in Houston, without hours of planning.

This inspired the blog and changed everything about how she enjoyed life in Houston, with kids!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kiescha Williams says

    December 22, 2014 at 9:11 am

    Thanks for sharing this Jill! I consider myself to be in that position of trying to build my blog to a status that will allow me to leave my current position at a well known Oil & Gas company. I have 2 kids and one on the way, so it would be great to be able to stay at home with them and blog at my convenience.

    Reply
    • Jill Jarvis says

      December 22, 2014 at 8:27 pm

      Thanks Kiescha! Best of luck to you. I know you are juggling a lot right now!

      Reply
  2. Karen says

    December 23, 2014 at 1:28 am

    Wow jill!! This is amazing and congratulations! You have taken a leap of faith and I’m sure great and bigger things are headed your way! I love your blog and I’m glad you get to do what you love full time!! I can’t wait to read all about your new adventures.

    Reply
    • Jill Jarvis says

      December 23, 2014 at 1:38 pm

      Thanks Karen!

      Reply
  3. Marisol Mendez says

    July 12, 2017 at 3:17 pm

    Thank you for providing this wonderful resource to Houston families!

    Reply
    • Jill Jarvis says

      July 12, 2017 at 3:18 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply

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On this website you will find a full list of Houston weekly events, things to do around the city, travel ideas and resources for parents.

I know just what it’s like to be overwhelmed by work, life and family. I spent a lot of years traveling for work, missing big milestones for my kids and feeling bad about everything.

I started this website to make a list of all the events happening around Houston and then pick one to enjoy with my kids. And instead of thinking of all the things I was missing, I started to enjoy the things we were doing together.

If you are a parent that is feeling overwhelmed by all the things you could be doing in Houston… please just use our weekly lists and daily posts as suggestions. Pick one thing to do with your family and intentionally ignore the rest!

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