Web designer/programmer working in agencies in London, back in 2004.
A freelancer who was working for us quit and raised some money for a product idea. And friends, who had founded Last.fm, started getting a lot of traction.
About that time I realized "oh I don't need to work for agencies my whole life". Was very inspiring. I think that unless you've grown up in SV, gone to Stanford etc, that kind of idea is very uncommon.
Moved to Japan, started a startup.
All been downhill since then :) Gotta get off this crack :)