No regrets, things have worked out well. Would have benefited from studied something other than finance - electrical eng., CS, or statistics. Spent my first 8

No regrets, things have worked out well. Would have benefited from studied something other than finance - electrical eng., CS, or statistics. Spent my first 8 years doing fund analysis/risk mgmt and then managing a small team at a large firm -- that was a lot of smoke and mirrors disguised as science. I started a personal care products manufacturing company with partners 2 years ago. I make less money (that will hopefully change in 1-3 years), but I make enough and I'm much happier. This wasnt the case until we recently picked up some very large customers. Business is tough -- I have a great team, but I should not have put so much trust in the veterans in the group. My advice (and what I would have done differently): if you're going to risk a lot of time/money on a project, know the whole project inside and out, start to finish, and the same for your sales channels. Don't let more experienced members say "don't worry, we have that part covered", no matter how successful they are or how long you've known them. Dig until you have every last detail, annoying partners and suppliers as much as necessary along the way. In fact, the more successful your partners are, the less they mind risking a lot of money, and the less ikely they are to spend sufficient time working through important details.