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akitokihojo · 4 years

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Enchanted - Interlude

Before last weekend, this little part didn’t exist. I had a craving for more inukag softness and figured the creation of this would also be a good way to say thank you to those who’ve followed and read and responded positively to this story up until now. I really don’t have the proper words to express how happy and grateful I am to all of you, so I attempted to communicate that through this short bit!

Part five will be posted later today!

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She hadn't even noticed him, completely absorbed in what she was doing - or she just couldn't hear his footsteps approaching while she kneeled so close to the stream. He took advantage of her unawareness, treading over twigs and dried leaves carefully until he stood just a few inches behind her. Crouching carefully, Inuyasha readied his hands, making a deep noise he knew would startle her as he quickly and tightly grasped the sides of her arms. Kagome screeched, a shiver running over her entire body as she lost her balance and almost toppled forward into the water, his hold on her preventing the fall.

He laughed, bringing her back as she looked over her shoulder, her panicked expression shifting to offense as she wriggled from his hands. He laughed even harder, jumping to his feet and back as she turned to push him away.

“You’re such a jerk!” She shouted, flicking the remnants of the water on her fingers towards him! “You scared the crap out of me!”

“Just what I was going for!”

“Shouldn’t you be at home or something? Aren’t you still grounded?” Kagome mocked, standing up and whipping her hands to the side in an attempt to air dry them quickly.

“As a matter of fact, no.” Inuyasha feigned a grimace, stepping forward to hold her arm so that there was no risk of her stumbling into the stream. “I’ve been off the hook for almost a week. I’ve just had some things to take care of. What are you doing out here?”

“Kaede wanted a specific herb, so I came out to find it.” She pointed to a little bucket a few feet off to the side, a small, green plant poking out from the soil its roots were snuggly blanketed in. When the prince’s attention was turned, she wiped her hands on the front of his dark blue cloak, drying them as thoroughly as possibly with the smuggest smirk she could conjure. “I was washing my hands when you came up. How’d you know where I was?”

Inuyasha looked at her with baffled amusement, chuckling but never stopping her. He tapped the tip of his nose with a finger, silently telling her he’d caught her scent before lowering his hand to brush some loose dirt from her hip. She was wearing a long, white dress, black stitching trimming the edges of the scoop neck and sleeves. A black string laced just below her breasts and down the center of her abdomen tied the cloth snug against her waist, and her wavy, dark hair contrasted beautifully with it all. It was bold to wear such a light color while uprooting a plant, but she’d managed to get out of it with minimal stains, and the few that had caught weren’t deep or eye-catching in the least. Not if anyone was paying attention to what was important. With the dense clouds setting in overhead, the forest lifeless and dull, and the world being filtered in the dreary colors of the winter season, Kagome walking through the woodlands in a long and flowing dress of white really helped solidify his original idea that she was actually a nymph. He could practically see the tiara of vine and baby’s breath adorning her head.

There was a cleared throat from behind Inuyasha, clearly intended to interrupt their moment, and Kagome glanced over, noticing two guards watching them. Slightly uncomfortable, like she might be doing something wrong, she withdrew her hands, taking a step back as Inuyasha lolled his head in their direction. It was the same two people that had been there on the first day she met the prince. The man was giving a knowing smile, his head tilted and indigo eyes alight with humor while the woman beside him gave a sympathetic grin, as if to apologize for her partner. She was in the same uniform as he, her coat and pants a little more fitting for her petite body, but still looking flexible enough for her to take action if need be.

“You remember my escorts.” Inuyasha groaned, holding a hand out in a presenting manner.

“How could I forget? Sango and dirty mouth, right?”

The female knight immediately snorted, hiding the laugh behind her palm while Inuyasha didn’t even bother to bear the same courtesy.

“I didn’t - I didn’t even do anything to deserve it this time.” Miroku muttered, bemused.

“You always deserve it.” The prince sneered.

“Wow. So much fun. So glad we came.”

“Alright, alright.” Inuyasha waved him off, turning back to Kagome. “So, it took a good day and a half, but we tracked down the man.”

Kagome watched his ember eyes travel from hers to the healing mark on her cheek. She’d had a fun time coming up with a detailed lie on how she’d tripped over her own feet and face-planted into something when Kaede asked about it. But she wasn’t a very good liar and the herbalist didn’t even need her wit to catch onto the impracticality of it all, so Kagome just insisted a lot could happen in the dark and pretended from then on that she was too embarrassed to talk about it.

“His name’s Bankotsu, and he’s been taken care of.” He said, grazing his thumb over the fading scratches.

“Yes,” Miroku stepped forward, a genuine grin on his lips. “Thank you for reporting him to the guards when you did. We couldn’t have found him without the scent on the cloak you gave us.”

Kagome resisted the curious furrow of her brow, glancing at Inuyasha who merely stared at his aide. Without a queue from him, she could only think to play along; the prince wasn’t supposed to be out that night, so she didn’t want to be the one to blow his cover - especially after he’d saved her.

“Uh - sure. No problem. It was the right thing to do.”

“I’m kidding. I know you’re lying and I know everything that happened that night.” Miroku plainly stated.

“What? Why’d you set me up!?” She asked incredulously, flashing a glare toward a grimacing Inuyasha.

“Because he owes me one and you called me a dirty mouth.”

“He got Koga to act as if you reported the assault to him, who then reported it to the council, who then - you know, it’s a long chain that had to completely jump over me which Miroku was responsible for.” The prince explained. “But he’s got his payment now, and he’ll be shutting up.”

Sango nudged her partner to make sure he heeded Inuyasha’s word, then made a vague gesture to the prince with a slight twist of her expression.

“And,” He drawled disappointedly. “I have to get going. We were passing through on the way to run an errand.”

“Oh, okay.” Kagome gave a tiny nod, smiling softly.

It didn’t feel right to leave with just that. After the other night, their feelings, learning so much about one another, touching, walking away with a simple goodbye seemed beneath them now. He could physically feel the eyes of his aides watching him, though, and it quickly created an awkward tension as he fumbled over his thoughts on what he could possibly do to say hey, nothings changed and I’m still in love with you but my guards are watching like vultures and I’m not quite sure what’s appropriate right now because I’ve never really done this before and apparently I’m not too good at it. He wanted to kiss her - even a little peck would do - but felt increasingly uncomfortable as the two continued to stare. Clumsily, Inuyasha cleared his throat and briskly kissed the top of Kagome’s head, to which she gave a surprised and breathy squeak.

“I’ll - uh - see you -“

“Oh, come on! You can do better than that, Romeo.” Miroku taunted.

He felt his own face ignite in a wave of heat, his expression dropping pleadingly. At his side, Kagome turned, understandably hiding her own humiliation from the people he used to call his friends.

“Could you give us two minutes, guys?”

“Just two? What are you gonna get done in two?”

“OH-kay, we’ll be going!” Sango pinched the back of Miroku’s arm, exasperatedly dragging the idiot around the curve in the trail where they couldn’t be seen anymore.

Inuyasha hid his aggravation behind his palm, massaging one of his temples with his thumb until he knew they were gone and some of the awkwardness dwindled. Turning to Kagome, he noticed the deep pink of her cheeks, her brown eyes staring off at a bush behind them while sucking on her bottom lip.

“I’m sorry - I hate him - I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.” She uncomfortably laughed, bowing her head shyly. “I guess we’ve gotta get used to that, right?”

“No, because I’m killing him tonight.”

Kagome laughed again, this time the return of her stability bringing back the melodic ring in her voice. His eyes were glued to her smile, softening whatever edge he’d previously felt, and in his peripherals he noticed her hand slowly, waveringly inching toward his own. Inuyasha stayed perfectly still, allowing her to move at her own pace until the tips of her cold fingers curled around his, and when she was there, he helped to firmly entwine them together. As she glanced up, biting the side of her bottom lip, brown eyes captivating him, he decided to take full advantage of their momentary privacy.

“Come on.” He whispered, pulling her a little ways away toward a large tree to conceal them.

“Where are we going?”

“Shh.”

“Inuyasha.” She giggled faintly. He guided her around the opposite side of the trunk, never letting go of her hand as he leaned his back against the bark and brought her closer.

Kagome happily stepped inward, her smile widening as the prince, her prince, tenderly swiped some hair behind her ear, the pads of his fingers following the curve of her hair and tickling over her collarbone.

“Hi.” He sighed.

“Hi.”

Inuyasha closed the gap that remained, grazing his lips over the plush of hers, feeling her press onto her toes to seal them together. The soft touch quickly heated, their seconds together being spent wisely. He released her hand as she gave a slight suck to his bottom lip, snaking his arms around her back to hold her closer, feel the way her body arched into him, kiss her deeper. They’d only shared a moment like this once and yet he already felt himself growing selfish and addicted. The prince felt her hands climbing up his chest, the motion tedious and deliberate, and if he was fooling himself into thinking she had the same thoughts of codependency as he, that was just fine by him. Once her fingers met his neck, Inuyasha inadvertently dragged in a sharp inhale from the shock.

“Your hands are freezing.” He murmured into her mouth.

“Warm them for me.” Kagome giggled, her fingers curving around the back of his neck, threading into the silver hair at the nape.

If Inuyasha could spend the rest of his life kissing her, tasting her, rubbing noses, hearing her sighs, breathing her in, nothing more - nothing less, he’d easily consider his years well spent. It was like they matched each other perfectly, synchronized, and the way she molded against him was so comfortable that words failed to describe how elated he was.

His name was called by one of his aides, and immediately he groaned defeatedly, the thick noise reverberating between their lips. As if it never happened, he continued kissing her, holding her impossibly closer for one more moment. Again, his name was called, and Kagome pulled away an inch.

“I think our time’s up.”

“No, ignore them.” He kissed her. “They’ll go away.”

Giggling, she gave him one last, delicate kiss before stepping back from him so he wouldn’t be tempted to neglect their calls further. If they came over and found them this way, she’d most likely die of embarrassment.

Once more, Inuyasha’s name was called, this time more croaky than the last. He’d missed bringing that desperate cry from Miroku.

“Alright, alright! I’m coming!” He drawled. Reaching an arm over Kagome’s shoulders, he pulled her close as they walked back, tucking her into his chest so he could easily kiss her head. She wrapped her arms around his waist, walking in sync with him as they came back to the path where his guards waited.

“I hate you.” Miroku chided.

“Sorry. She was showing me a tree.” Inuyasha said, shrugging.

“You’re filthy.”

The prince chuckled, giving a flick of his hand so they’d head off knowing he’d be right behind them. They followed his silent order, and with the small window he had, Inuyasha curled a finger beneath Kagome’s chin and tilted it up for his advantage. Just a small kiss this time, but she smiled into it and his knees almost caved.

“I’ll see you later.” He whispered.

“Bye.”

#Inuyasha #kagome #Kagome higurashi #inukag #inuyasha fanfiction #inuyasha fanfic #inuyasha fic #inukag fanfiction #inukag fanfic #inukag fic #inuyasha au #royal au #enchanted #my writing #akitokihojo

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mytrashs-blog · 5 years

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Alter Ego ch. 4 “Perficiendi”

Spideychelle, Peter Parker x Reader, slow burn fic, Enhanced reader.

Word Count: 2,388

Warnings: PTSD, men being trash, terrible coping mechanisms

Summary: “When you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.”

A/N: Made it to the 4th chapter! Yay!! This one is a chill one, I like to say this is the calm before the storm, and you really don’t know what ya got comin’ but yeah, I gotta keep encoraging you to Reblog!! This!! Post!! because that’s how we keep ‘em comin’ and also leave the comments, they make me very happy. If you wanne be part of the taglist, shoot me an ask! :)xx

Ch. 3 “Ipsum Invenies”

It really was a simple design, kind of like the one Spider-man wore, red, blue and a few details in black. You wanted it to be like your male counterpart, a one piece with a mask covering all of your face, plus you needed to solve the eye problem, cause you’ve realized that it’s annoying at some extent to see as wide as you do, so you want to solve this to be able to concentrate in what’s more important.

The doing was the complicated part, because though you had a bit of knowledge in how to make clothes for some clubs you were in during middle and high school, you have no idea how to make a superhero suit. For starters: What kind of fabric is flexible and bulletproof, and super resistent to knives and all kind of lethal weapons? What is Spider-man’s suit made of anyway? So many unanswered questions. In the end you settled for high resistance spandex and a ton of cosplay tutorials on Pinterest and YouTube.

The first prototipe was ready in three days, but the final version, the one in which you could run, jump and everythign else took two weeks to perfect. But of course you wanted to know how to fight, so you enrolled on the gym for some boxing classes and your mother loved the idea, for it was a way for you to defend yourself if you were ever in a traumatic situation again. You really don’t wanna know how she’d react if she knew what you’re planning to do.

The spiderweb was a lot more complicated, where does Spider-man get that thing from? You know that this would be awfully easier if you had a Tony stark to pay for all your toys, but for now, all you have is Lexi: biochemistry student, roomie and very close friend. She offers her help to develpo the webs, one that’s resistent and can carry tons of weight, on the last minute you come up with the idea of infusing the web with a sedative that activates on contact, to avoid the prey from getting rif of it. That process took a lot of work and time aswell.

It took two long months for you to feel ready to go through with your revenge but even after that, you couldn’t quite find the uber driver, at some point you question if it’s even worth it, even google has its limits and it won’t present you an adress just like that. And that’s when it gets really hard. Your idea is to hack into Uber’s database to get the adress. If the police didn’t even go after him, maybe he didn’t run away.

Your college is very big, you know a lot of people, but since you went missing in the middle of exams season, everyone is very busy and it’s hard to find someone available to help you hack a likely vey protected site, but you try regardless. It takes about 15 calls and hundreds of unanswered texts, but you finally get a very nice nerd to teach you how to do the dirty job, because you really didn’t want to tell him what you were planning.

You had to begin your infiltration from a strange computer, in a place far away from your apartment and with a VPN adress, to be untraceable, hard work, but your nerd friend taught you everything you needed and it wouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to do it.

The codes you have to write in are long, the ones you have to get rid of are hard to find, but you enhanced senses can do it faster than you’d ever imagined, before the incident you would’ve never been able to do it, while your thoughts drift away, you make it inside Uber’s database, you search for the information you need. You don’t type in his name, that would have made it easier for the page to identify it’s been hacked, but once you find it you take a picture of the screen eith the phone your mom insisted on buying for you and you get out of the page they way your nerd friend tol you. You’re safe.

You get out of the place, but you leave the laptop there, you figured it’d be better of someone steals it, that way it’s impossible to trace it to you. You walk to a bus stop to get back home, you don’t even consider taxis or anything else for transport anymore.

You put on your earphones while you get on the public transport, after playing some music from your phone, you decide to take a look at the data you gathered, when you open it you realize that apart from the data of the man, there’s a picture of him, looking at it takes you back to that same face looking at you like an animal about to attack, his hands touching you, his weight over your body, the puch with the baseball bat, you remember everything he made you live in a second and suddenly you’re gripping the metal bar in front of your seat with all your strenght, you feel the metal giving in under your muscles, molding to the shape of your closed fist over it. You let go.

You have tears in your eyes and the person beside you looks at you concerned, scared even. You get off the bus the second it stops and you run, you run as fast as you can in the direction of your apartment, images attacking you like flashes in a dark room, you don’t want to see it, you speed up and everything around you is a blur, except for the images in your mind, when they stop coming you start slowing down until you stop too. You’re one block away from your apartment, but you can’t, you crumble and start ccrying again. All these new abilities and none of them can help you forget. You cry until the sun starts setting, you’re still sitting on the cold pavement of the street, people walk by and they stare at you, but frankly you couldn’t care less, after a while Lexi calls.

“Hey…”

“Where are you? Everything alright?”

“I’m one block away, I was doing some stuff but I’m almost there now.”

“Okay, I ordered pizza”

“Okay.” The conversation is flat, no feelings there, maybe Lexi sounded a bit worried, lately it seems like she’s treating you like you’re a fragile piece of china that’s about to fall off a shelf, always treating you with tenderness and waryness, it’s annoying but understandable. Paola also had to endure your dissapearance, she had to go to the police only to be ignored, no one even bothered in telling her how the search was doing and she had to be in the apartment by herself, with all your stuff as a constant reminder that you were still gone.

You get up and walk back home, you don’t notice but you’re still trembling for the emotional crisis, so much that when you try to get the key in the door you simply can’t and you get so frustrated that you end up punching the wall, you get worried you might have broken it, but it’s safe for now, it’s just a small crack on it. Lexi opens the door a few seconds after.

“Did you get the info?”

“Yeah. We have to confirm the adress, so we have to go there a couple times to check it’s the right one and we’ll go from there.”

“Alight. There’s the pizza.”

“Thanks… Would you mind coming with me to check the adress? I don’t think seeing him again by myself is a good idea just yet.” Yous ask, eyes glued to the table, avoiding any kind of eye contact.

“Sure. When do you wanna go?”

“Tomorrow.” You finish. Lexi nods and goes in her room.

After finishing your dinner you go to bed, you’d never admit it, but since you came back home, sleeping is the hardest thing to do, you always have nightmares, all the things you’d rather forget come back to you every night. And each time, you lay there, looking at the ceiling until you fall asleep and the nightmares start coming. You tell yourself they’ll stop once you get your revenge, that you won’t let anyone else go through the hell you’re still going through.

The next day Lexi and you get in Sebastian’s car, you didn’t tell him why, but he agreed to take you to the adress, when you get there you decide to park a bit far but not so much that you lose sight and then you wait. An hour goes by and then there’s a car parking in front of the house, it’s not the same car you got in that night, but the driver is the same. Your blood boils in your veins and you feel color coming to your cheeks, then you see a second person getting out of the same car, a woman, the man hugs her and kisses her on the lips, that make you even more furious.

How coud he have a partner and do such monstrosity?He might be even married to this woman and yet he did what he did. You feel Lexi’s arms coming up behind you to hug you, you don’t react, you stay staring at the house of your rapist, Sebastian looking at you worried, but he doesn’t ask.

“Let’s go.” You say and Sebastian drives back to your place. When you open the door to get down he stops you.

“Why don’t you go ahead, Lexi? I wanna talk to (Y/N)”. Lexi nods and steps off, she turns to look at you, but then she walks inside the building. “Who’s the man from that house?” he asks, serious.

“Nobody.” You answer looking in your apartment’s direction.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I just want to help you, but I can’t if you don’t open up.”

“You’d help me if you stop asking questions.” You answer and you turn to look at him in the eyes, he’s looking at you the same way Lexi does, with pity, just as if you were an abandoned puppy.

“I’m not gonna judge you. I just think it’s better for you to talk about it, you know? Did that man hurt you? Does he have anything to do with you waking up in a hospital after being missing for two weeks?” Your jaw falls a little at that. Why the hell does he know you were missing? It didn’t even make it to the news. “News travel fast on campus, of course I found out.”

“It’s none of your business Sebastian. Please drop it.” You feel you voice cracking on the last sentence, Sebastian puts his hand over yours in your lap. You look at his hand then at him and then at his lips. You kiss him. He kisses you back.

The kiss is hungry and messy, almost wild, your hands play with the hem of his shirt, one of them goes up to play with his hair, he takes you by the waist, bringing you closer, you break the kiss for a second so you can climb onto his lap with a nimble movement and you also manage to get the seat back as far as it could, you kiss him again, harder than before, his hands go to your waist once again and they make their way down until he’s firmly holding your butt, his mouth moving towards your neck. Your hands go to the waist line of his jeans, playing with the buckle of his belt for a second. And you hesitate. Should you be doing this with your exboyfriend.? And you stop in your tracks.

“I cannot do this.” You say as you go back to the passanger’s seat, Sebastian looks at you confused, but he says nothing. You get off the car and run to your apartment, you rush to the bathroom and shut the door, you get undressed as you feel the tears running down your face. Are you even able to do anything anymore without crying? You get in the shower and you let the cold water fall on your body. You stay there until you stop feeling.

You feel nothing.

…

Peter ends up deciding to improve the dron a few 20 meters more, which did require a bit of a hustle with the software of the suit, but that wasn’t nearly as hard as getting KAREN to have real time access to police centres all around the country. It took a couple weeks and him having to deactivate his AI for a few days, which made his life a lot harder. But he made it. Now he can listen and record all calls made to 911 as they are happening, which are a lot, by the way, but he was also able to come up with an algorithm to filter what matters to him and what doesn’t, not that some things don’t matter to him, just that there are some stuff that are relevant to the research and some that aren’t, you get the point, right?

So, only kidnapping, dissapearances and found bodies were coming through, and to Peter’s surprise, there were so many calls a day being stored in KAREN’s data base.

After some weeks everything became a bit tedious, none of the calls had anything to do with the case, little by little Peter started to lose interest in the research. Mr. Stark had made very little progress aswell, from what he heard, therefore he too started to focus on other important matters, but not dropping the topic completely, just in case.

MJ is going to prom with Peter, but he needs a suit, and he’s also helping ned come up with a plan o ask Betty out. It’s like, for the first time in forever he finally has time to be a normal teenager and he doesn’t have to go after bad guys in the city. He’s finally finding the balance between Spider-man and Peter.

But of course everything in his life has to change one secong to another, but this… he definetely didn’t see coming.

taglist

@caeruleum-in-caritate-lupus, @softstarkk, @peterparkerbabyy, @dottirose, @legit-fandom-trash, @carostar2020, @appreciating-chase-brody, @mvmakki

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topicprinter · 4 years

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My post was removed from r/smallbusiness because "it wasn't a question". So I thought posting here would be the next best thing. Original post below.TL;DR: Despite an easy, well-paying career, I was miserable at work. I was lost and felt broken. I was looking for something different, but I didn't know what. With some help, I bought a franchise run by some great people.I had been at my cushy corporate job for almost 12 years. During that time, I've pretty much been in the same role. Sure, I've had various title changes, and pay increases here and there, but for the most part, the day-to-day has been the same since the beginning.I wanted to move up the ladder, believe me, I tried, but for one reason or another, it just never seemed to work out. There was always an insurmountable obstacle in my way. The biggest one was the company itself, it was just too damn small, and there was nowhere to go unless the company grew. But, despite constantly maintaining the same headcount, give or take a few here and there, the company never grew as anyone had hoped.It's not that I hated my job, I was actually quite good at what I did. But I started having this feeling a few years ago that I could be doing so much more with my time and effort. I hated having to ask if it was OK to take my kids to the doctor, constantly feeling like I am not being a "team player", or feel like someone is disappointed in me because I decided to take a vacation (my boss rarely ever took a vacation). Also, I didn't like not having a voice. Despite working for my current company for over 12 years, I still feel like I had no voice. There are a few people that make the decisions, and that's it. Obviously, it is their right to do so, but I feel like I should have had some input after 12 years. My boss and I are separated by almost 30 years in age, so that may have something to do with it. But still, I was sick and tired of the company making dumb decisions without my knowledge or input.So, I did what most people would do. I buffed up my resume & Linkedin profile and started looking for something else, hopefully, something better. I had several interviews, but nothing panned out. I had only been interviewing for a couple of months, but I felt as though it was going really well, considering how picky I was being (benefit of not "needing" a job). But then my boss offered me a very generous raise (I had been due for a raise for almost 3 years) so I eased up on the job search and temporarily went back to being content.I felt great for a couple of weeks, then the feeling of dread returned. It wasn't going away. The extra money was nice, but it didn't fix the problem. At some point it hit me, it was kinda strange, it was like a switch being flipped. I realized that I was completely unfulfilled with what I was doing. No satisfaction, just boring, joyless work. I was doing good work, I was really good at my job, and the job was easy to boot (easy to me anyway). But there was this massive void, something that I couldn't quite describe. I'll admit it, I was completely lost. I didn't know what to do. If I left this job for something else, I will likely work in the same type of environment, doing something similar for someone else that I may or may not like. I had some decent business ideas, but I didn't think I had the courage, nor the capital to start a business, so I kinda wrote that idea off.Miserable, and completely broken, I persisted, because I had to (family to support). I guess I'll just put myself into that statistic of Americans that hate going to work every day. I never thought my day-to-day job could make me so miserable, but it did. Unfortunately, I brought some of that negativity home with me as well. I was constantly pissed off and short-tempered. Not at all who I wanted to be. Something had to give.In desperation mode, I started contacting career coaches. They were all expensive, and I was worried the investment wasn't going to be worth it. My resume and LinkedIn weren't the problems (they offered to "fix" them for me), it was my career that was broken. I needed a new career. But, how does one just go out and get a new career?"Why don't I strap on my job helmet and squeeze down into a job cannon and fire off into job land, where jobs grow on jobbies?That's the kinda frustration I felt. Then, something completely unexpected happened. I was contacted by an "alternative career coach". He charged no direct fees for his services, but he was offering perspectives that I never thought about. So I figured it was worth a shot. I am naturally a very skeptical person, so I figured there had to be a catch. Nobody does anything for free. So we meet, and we get to talking about my goals and situation, and he thinks that he can probably help. So he asks me to complete a DISC personality test to determine my skills, abilities, and personality type. So I do, and I fit the profile for what he is looking for, and his services fit for what I never knew I was looking for.Turns out, he is an alternative career coach/franchise broker (they get a percentage of your franchise fee if you buy the franchise). They find folks like me and help us find a franchise that might be of interest. They also help guide you through the process and kinda function as your support team. I know that many people scoff at the notion of buying into a franchise, I was one of them. "It's basically buying yourself a job/career" I have seen that posted around 📷r/entrepreneur many times. Franchise ownership was never even a remote possibility when I started this process. I didn't want to own a Subway, or a Wendys (for some reason fast food is always the first thing that comes to mind when I think franchise). I wanted to have my own idea, and build my business from the ground up, blah blah blah. The entrepreneur's dream. The word franchise felt dirty (to my stupid uninformed mind) and offputting, I had little hope of this actually meaning anything. But I shrugged off that feeling and decided to give it a real chance before I jumped to any conclusions. Again, it's not costing me anything, so it's worth a shot.He sets me up with calls from multiple franchisors that fit my interests. They all go well, but one really resonates with me. It checks off all of my boxes. Great income potential, expandability, low (ish) start-up capital requirements, no B&M overhead, great territory, flexible schedule/work from home, and an industry that I am familiar with and believe in. The icing on the cake was the franchisor. The people are fantastic, their support system is world-class, and they invest a lot of time, money, and effort into getting the business running smoothly and profitable. They aren't in it for the initial franchise fees, they want to make a successful product that earns them royalties and intern makes me money, makes sense. Their people are truly the ones that sealed the deal, I believe in them and they believe in me.Together, the franchisor and I went through a mutual vetting process. We needed to make sure we are right for each other. Just because you want a franchise, doesn't mean you get it. It has to be "awarded", there are a lot of boxes that needed to be checked off before you can be awarded a franchise. You need to fit their profile, you need access to capital, and some have net worth requirements. After talking with numerous franchisees, I decided that it was time to move forward. Luckily, I met all their requirements, so I drove out to their HQ and we both decided to move forward. We decided on a training date (December) and sealed the deal shortly thereafter.It also took a lot of convincing of my wife to let me leave my cushy, predictable, steady paying corporate job to pursue this opportunity. Luckily she believes in me and is willing to make the necessary sacrifices to make the most out of this opportunity. There will certainly be an adjustment period for both of us.Several things attracted me to buying a franchise as my first foray into the world of business ownership. When compared to starting my own business from the ground up, there is a lot less risk in buying a proven franchise system, especially one with such great people behind it. A lot of the heavy lifting has already been done for you. I don't need to come up with my own processes and hope something works. I don't need to make a bunch of mistakes trying to market a new brand/product in my local area. I don't need to figure out a good CRM that does everything I need it to. I don't need to build a new website from the ground up. Yes, I will need to learn about all these things in great detail, and determine how to best use them, but I don't need to waste any of my startup capital figuring these things out either. In a few years. if all goes well with this endeavor, I figure that's when I can build something of my own.Funding a business was a very lengthy and complicated ordeal, if you don't already have the startup capital, get ready to do A TON of work to get funding. Buying a proven franchise and using a broker helps, but it is still a whole bunch of work. I'd compare it to getting 2 or 3 new mortgages, there is so much paperwork and so many documents to sign. It's all-consuming, but such a relief when it is over. Let me know if you want to know more.Ever since I signed my franchise agreement, it's been hard to focus on anything else. I've been in hardcore learning mode for the past few months. But it hasn't seemed like work yet, it's been really fun. Also during this time, I've had to work for my current job. Which is kinda like every day being the last day at school, you can't wait till it's over, but you gotta keep going back. It's excruciating having to switch focus on a daily basis.One of the best days I've had in a long time is when I handed in my resignation. I was nervous, but I had fantasized about that day for years. It went very well, and my boss (company owner) understood. He was happy I was taking the leap. He shook my hand and wished me well.I leave for training right after Thanksgiving (3 straight weeks, on top of everything I've already done), and I couldn't be more excited. I finally feel like I am in a good place with good people, and in the right place at the right time. I am finally in the driver's seat, and in full control of my future. I think it's going to be the ultimate test, it's all on me to make this work. I envision that the next few years are going to be pretty rough. Long hours, lots of mistakes, and fluctuating pay. But I also think that it's going to be incredibly rewarding to watch my business grow and reap the rewards of my hard work. Luckily I have an incredible support system to fall back on if things start to get shaky. But I'll never have to say "what if" ever again. Cause I'm doing it.Based on feedback for my post on r/smallbusiness: Just to be clear, I am a small business owner sharing a story, I promise you it's not an MLM, nor some complicated ploy to make a buck. I'm not a broker, I'm not selling anything, and I don't want your business. But there are a lot of people that have very little knowledge of franchise ownership, so I thought I would shed some light on the subject. It's certainly not for everyone, but it's worth a look if you are looking for something different. If you are interested in learning which particular franchise, feel free to drop me a DM.

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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