The thing is that your side jobs tend to become more time consuming and important. Let's face it; if your 9 to 5 job was all that wonderful and fulfilling, I doubt you would be doing any thing part time. That was the problem I had with my last corporate job: it just grew to dominate my life. The money was OK, but I was essentially on call 24 hours a day seven days a week, and I just got fed up with wiping my subordinates butts and fixing their mistakes. I also got tired of essentially fixing the same problems over and over.
I don't make the money I used to make, but I'm pretty happy now. I don't have to deal with underlings and all the junk that goes along with their happy horse shit. OK, I have to admit that sometimes the accountants I have as clients can run me ragged during tax season, but it's a pretty short season. Things could be worse.
Yes, Mr. Death... I'll play you a game! But not CHESS !!! BAH... FOOEY! My game is...
WIFFLEBALL!
It's about money for me. I'm pretty happy in my current gig. I just wish I made 5-10K more a year.....which I problably could easily with another company in the city, but there's big tradeoffs that I'm not ready to make just for the extra cash so I pick up the odd job here and there to supplement and it works out pretty well.
I guess I'll just have to see how it all goes. Going forward I need to make money so I can live. So the choice becomes, start my own business? Or get a job? I plan to work on both. If I can go make money doing IT consultation gigs, then great. Or if I can find a full-time job that doesn't suck, even better. And if the IT consultation business turns into a full time thing bringing in enough money to live on,... then that would be the best.
It's all difficult. Things were pretty good with the last job. It lasted 12 years, I had tons of flexibility and the pay was enough to eat and pay the rent and see a movie here and there and buy a new iPhone. So all in all I'd say I had it pretty good for a long time. Now I have to roll up my sleeves and get out there into the real world and find my way.
Last edited by Webhead; 03-22-2017 at 10:01 PM.
That's the thing right? You have to prioritize what you want in life. Money is good, but I did my 15 years with a Fortune 250 company, and it really mostly sucked. I busted my ass, and my expertise was undervalued. I watched highly competent managers tossed to the curb while idiots and jerks were hired and promoted to senior management positions. If I sound cynical about Big Business in the U.S., that's because I am. So, I'll take the smaller paycheck if it means I don't have to give some corporate VP a blowjob.
Yes, Mr. Death... I'll play you a game! But not CHESS !!! BAH... FOOEY! My game is...
WIFFLEBALL!
Question is do you already have some steady customers that you could use for recommendations? What are you *really skilled* in and how does it relate to the services you plan to offer and actual needs of potential customers in your area??
Personally I'm more or less in the same boat with 74AD - I have a day job I love and which brings good money and benefits... but I wouldn't pass a weekend work offer *if and only if* it would guarantee that I don't become their go-to person during my work hours - which seems to be the case with most small businesses.
On the other side I've announced all my private (non-business) customers that I no longer provide services quite some time ago - too much trouble and scheduling with my wife to pick up the kids to go to someone's house and clean some spyware (Staples and Best Buy offer the service for a price not worth competing with).
I still do custom websites now and then but even there is hard to compete, there are companies subcontracting in India or who knows where, and I would have to charge $20/h to be competitive and give away half in taxes...