The Jump

For 10 years I was a cop - and a closet entrepreneur. Fitness coaching, self-storage, a VA agency, wholesaling, a book I still haven't finished. I was basically getting paid to fail, running experiment after experiment on the side of a six-figure salary. None of it was a home run, but every one put a tool in my belt.

Then one night I got an email from Chris Koerner. His 15-year-old daughter had Googled him, found a post I'd written about him on page 3, and asked "who's Kevin Bell?" That one question turned into a job offer - and the door I'd been praying for.

This is episode 2 of The Jump: the real story of how a decade of "failed" side hustles and one relationship built on Twitter got me out of law enforcement and into work I actually love. Plus the one thing I'd tell you before you leap: you don't have to burn the boats.

For years, the plan was simple: put in the time, collect the pension, keep my head down, stay safe. Then I looked ahead and realized I had 25 more years to go... doing something I didn't love. I realized the "safe" path was leaving me at risk for living a life of regret.

In the very first episode of The Jump, I get into all of it: the day I knew I couldn't do it anymore, the fear that hits right before you walk away from a guaranteed paycheck, the conversation with my family, and what leaving actually cost me. I talk about feeling dead inside in a job everyone told me to be grateful for, the trap of "just one more year," and how I finally figured out what "enough" really means.

If you've ever sat in the parking lot a few extra minutes because you didn't want to walk in, this one's for you. This is where the jump started for me.