When to Walk Away
When do you know it’s time to walk away? Is it when the boss/client is not going to pay you? Now, I’m not talking about getting stiffed. In my opinion, getting stiffed is grounds for never working with that individual again.
But what if you are told — or just expected — to work extra and then, when you ask about extra pay, the question is just deflected? Well, pardon my French, but that’s bullshit. When a boss or client plays too close to the chest, as they say, that means they are probably just leading you along. If you ask a simple question, and the reply is something along the lines of “It’s just between you and the deadline,” then there’s a pretty good chance that they have no intention of paying you extra. And if they start putting words in your mouth, then you need to act fast.
Naturally, some projects or arrangements account for any overtime. Some do not. Some work arrangements are just loosely strung together with something that works. If you are a salaried, exempt-class employee, you’re out of luck here. But if you are a freelancer, with a loose verbal agreement, don’t work late, or on the weekends, without premium compensation. If overtime isn’t covered in any written agreement, then don’t fall for that trap. Negotiate compensation or don’t do it.
If you have to walk away, walk away. I think it’s better to walk away then to get walked over by a stingy boss or client. Remember, there’s always more work out there. Don’t settle for crap. Remember that it’s your paycheck and your career.
Oh, and one other thing, if the job is making your stress levels and blood pressure skyrocket, you probably need to get out, and get out fast. No job is worth dying over… not even a little dying, day by day. Find something that works for you, not for your boss or client.
Self Employed or Not Self Employed? That is the Question…
Running a business isn’t for everyone. Some people are scared to death of it — the work, the responsibility, the investments. Others are just comfortable in their jobs and don’t want to leave. Some think that they are so far in debt they feel they can’t afford to take the risk of running a company that might fail.
These are all valid concerns. In my opinion, running a company isn’t for everyone. Not everyone’s brain is wired that way. I would venture to say that most people’s brains are wired that way at birth, but get unwired through the American education system. But that’s not really the point of this post.
What I’m really trying to get at is the fact that it’s not for everyone, but I still think you should give it a shot. In my opinion and experience, running a company and making money for yourself is much better than working for someone else to make them more money. In fact, that was my first clue that I needed to be out on my own.
At the time, I was working for a large, international corporation as a software engineer. I wrote a program that would save thousands of man-hours of work every year, making an entire warehousing operation more efficient. I thought to myself, “I wrote this program that is going to make this company more money, and I get paid how much?”
I didn’t get paid much. Not enough, at least. It was at that point that I knew I needed start my own company. Doing what? I had no idea. I just knew that I needed to do something.
Not everyone gets that feeling. Some people have, quite honestly, great jobs. Jobs that give them a fat paycheck and loads of personal satisfaction. If you fit into that group, then maybe running your own company isn’t the right step for you.
But I do still think you should give it a try. A little something on the side, if you have a little time and a little energy, can add some nice padding to your bank account. You might love your job, but if you can find some way to monetize a hobby of yours, then you can start a side business and earn extra money. If you live in America, you could always use some extra cash. The price gas, health care, and everything else that is out of control won’t cause so much stress with extra money.
Running a company is right for me. Though it’s not the sense of “I’m the boss!” It’s more a case of seeking personal freedom and satisfaction. I want to work on my projects that make money for my company. Additionally, I value the needs and accomplishments of the individual over those of the team. I’m also a very self-motivated, independent person. One thing I’ve noticed about corporate America is that they don’t care much for self-motivated, independent people. A manager looks for a good employee more often that a driven individual. At least as far as I have observed, that is.
Now that I’ve taken the plunge to working for my company full time, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sure, it’s hard, and I have to work far too hard, way too often. Sometimes I don’t know if an invoice will be paid, or from where I’m going to drum up new clients. They usually just land in my lap by chance (higher power?), and then I work with them while looking for more clients.
I work for myself, and it’s almost everything I thought it would be. Almost everything because I still have to travel to the job site for my current big project. I would rather do the work from my own home office, but we can’t have everything all the time, can we?
What type of person are you? Do you fit in a job best, or should you start your own company? Do you love your job, hate your current job, or hate any job you’ve ever had? What about personal satisfaction? There’s more to work than money, after all. If there is anything inside that head of yours telling you that you might be better off on your own, maybe you should listen.
That voice in your head might be right.
Don’t Like Sports? You Might be Better Off on Your Own
A week ago, while eating pecan pie, I had a revelation. For it to make sense, however, I’ll have to explain something. You know all the sports that so many people in this country seem so obsessed with? I don’t like them. I find them incredibly boring. I never knew why, exactly. All I knew is that they bored me to tears.
Football, basketball, baseball, sports news, all of it — bores me. I never asked myself why, because I didn’t care. When I was young, I tried watching to see if I would get into them. My father would watch Monday Night Football every week, and just about any other NFL game that was on. Friends talked about watching “the game” all the time, as if I would just know what game that was. I tried watching, but I couldn’t do it. I would just say, “this is lame,” and then do something else or change the channel.
When eating my pecan pie last week, a thought just popped into my head. It’s because it’s a team. I don’t care about the team. I started to think about all the sports I didn’t mind watching, and even find a bit entertaining, and they are all individual sports. I value the goals, efforts, and accomplishments of the individual over that of the team.
I’ve been in large meetings in a large corporation and seen everybody in the room nodding their heads and going along with really bad ideas because it’s “what we’re doing.” If it’s what “the team” does, they did it. I don’t understand that. Well, I do know. Those people probably value the needs of the team more than the needs of the individual.
Which do you value more, the individual or the team? There is nothing wrong with either preference, but if you find that you just don’t fit in anywhere in the corporate world, that might be the reason. If so, you might be better off on your own, working freelance in your chosen profession.
I don’t fit, so now I work for myself. Others might not fit but keep at it because they have a great paycheck. And then there is that large group of people known as “team players,” who seem like such odd creatures to me. I work better on my own. Do you know where you fit?
Signs that it’s time to get out…
Not all work places are created equal. Here are some signs that it might be time to leave yours behind. Disclaimer: I have not personally experienced all of these, but I have experienced some of them. Others I have just observed or thought up in my brain.
- You count the days until the next weekend, but you start during the current weekend
- The General Manager is Bipolar
- You fall asleep at your desk every day, several times a day, despite the fact that you got enough sleep and have consumed five large cups of coffee during the day
- You walk around the office all day quoting Milton from Office Space
- Your company institutes a blanket surveillance and search policy, completely ignoring and violating your personal rights to be secure in your own clothes (Nazis didn’t last for a good reason)
- Your blood pressure spikes when you look at the clock and see that only three minutes have passed since the last time you looked at the clock
- All of your coworkers get excited every time the company has some new program or policy, and you can’t help but think that they are all completely insane
- You wake up two hours before your body is ready to wake up, and you do this every day
- The boss says, “Praying at the end of every meeting isn’t enough.”
- Every time you read a new Dilbert comic, you say, “That just happened to me last week!”
Become a Freelance Web Designer
I’ve been where you are now… Stuck in a dead-end job just so you can get enough money to pay the bills (maybe not even that). You want out, but you don’t know what to do. Well, let me talk to you for a moment about becoming a freelance web designer.
Set your own hours, work in your pajamas, and enjoy the fact that your work is literally what you make it. You might have to work long, hard weeks, but you’ll also get to take a day off at a moments notice if you want to. Want to close up shop three hours early and go rent a bunch of B-grade horror movies? Go ahead.
You can do that with just about any freelance business, so you’re probably wondering why I mention web design. Well, I mention it simply because it’s easy to learn and there’s some pretty good demand for design skills. Web design falls into two broad categories: Graphic Design and Programming. I’ll talk about programming in another post.
There just aren’t enough good, trained designers out there. I can program my way around just about any database or system, but when it comes to graphic design, I’m just lost. That’s how a lot of the web is right now. Visually lost. If you have any design skills or a design eye — no matter how miniscule — get some design training.
If you have base skills and talent, professional training can put you above the weekend warrior web designer. Your work will look professional because you will be a professional web designer.
I’m a writer and a web programmer. I trained in those areas, and in those areas are where my strengths lie. Don’t just trust your insticts when it comes to design. You need to learn. Learn what works and what doesn’t, and what the design trends are now and will be in years to come. Do that, and you will be well on your way to a successful freelance web design career.
If you don’t know where to look for that kind of training, or if you don’t even know what’s out there, check out the art and design schools at Education Finder. There are traditional and online classes, so your chances of finding something are good. Find a school, learn more about it, and get started on your career. It sure beats working in a cube all day long.
Find Online Education
If you want to get some education online, whether you need to get ahead in your current workplace, get a better workplace, or just need more skills, check out eLearners. Use this little search box to narrow your choices down, and follow it and see what kind of online education solutions look good to you.
Don’t hold pointless meetings
As many of my regular readers will know, I still have a day job. Thus, I must still deal with the rigors of the corporate world. I just had a somewhat unpleasant experience (quite ridiculous, actually), and I wanted to steer any managers out there from this type of behavior.
Last Friday, at the end of the day, the whole team had a meeting to discuss the gameplan for the following week (this week). We set specific goals for fixes, improvements, and innovations. Despite the fact that I have a natural aversion to meetings, I found this all rather reasonable.
However, that reason flew right out the front door this morning when my boss called another meeting, first thing Monday morning. The last thing we did on the very last day of work was discuss our plans. Then, the first thing we did on the very next day of work was discuss our plans. We had to repeat what we had said, despite the fact that it was still written up on the whiteboard, a mere three feet away.
Managers, please don’t subject your staff to such ridiculous behavior. If something had changed over the weekend, another meeting would have been justified, but nothing happened. It was as if my boss had simply forgotten what we talked about, and was too lazy to look up at the board and read it. The meeting was ridiculous, and half of the staff left shaking their heads and muttering amongst themselves how stupid our boss is. If you take this type of approach with your direct reports, that may be what they say about you behind your back. As a manager, can you really afford to have a staff that doesn’t respect you?
Trust your people, give them a task and let them do it, refrain from holding redundant meetings, and let your actions command respect. In other words, be a good manager.
Lofty Goal?
We all need goals to strive toward. Sometimes these goals are quite lofty, but if we think creatively and dedicate ourselves to reaching these goals, we can. I have recently set a rather lofty goal for myself, and I aim to reach it. I want to earn $100,000 by the end of July.
It’s the middle of April right now. At the time of this writing, I have three and a half months to make it. That’s not much time at all — especially since I’ve never made that much money before in any short period of time. One hundred thousand, divided by three and a half months is $28,571 and change per month. Wow. That’s a lot.
Why this goal? Well, naturally, I’m tired of working a regular job. It’s such a waste of my day, day after day. But I’m not going to blow that money. I’m going to invest it in some good real estate so that I can start generating some passive income. Then, I’ll keep the business momentum up and live the life I want to live.
That’s my goal. What’s yours?
Work at home coming soon!
OK, I may be able to quit my day job and work from home full time. I’ve got a pretty steady client that would like for me to dedicate more time to her sites. If we can negotiate a decent rate, I’ll do it. I’m just worried that she won’t be able to afford some type of regular pay schedule for me. Maybe she can, maybe she can’t. I’m willing to give her a chance.
If I can work at home, I will save so much money and so much stress. I figure that I won’t have to fork over $300 a month for gas, and $200 per month for a babysitter. That’s a house payment right there!
Now, I know what you’re thinking…how will I be able to get any work done if I have some baby at the house running amok? Well, I can do it. My toddler is nearly two years old, and she’s got her own interests. I can set my laptop up in the living room, with her drawing in the middle of the floor, or playing with her building blocks, or whatever. I wouldn’t be the first parent to run a business while raising a child.
Not only will I save myself $500 a month, but the money that does come in will be to my company. That means that I’ll be able to use it in the most tax-advantaged manner, instead of letting the government “take their share” before I even see it. Seriously, it’s my money, why should I not get a say in how it gets utilized? I’ll have to employ myself officially, because I will need a paycheck to pay the bills, but I’ll use the money as efficiently as possible.
I’m looking forward to the experience.
Branching out to the freelance world
Well, my freelance venture has begun. Maybe I should say adventure instead. This is really uncharted territory for me. I can do the job, but getting freelance work–really selling myself and getting some cashflow–is something I’ll have to learn.
I’ll be doing freelance web design, in all sorts of flavors. I’ve got a little starter site up right now. It’s not yet much, but you can take a look at it here.
My goal is to do this fulltime, leaving my ”regular job” for those interested in such things. I would rather work for myself, save the commute, and have the benefits of running a business. Getting there is the challenge.
How am I going to drum up enough business to allow me to quit my job and work for myself full time? Here’s my plan right now: Get my freelance site indexed by the major search engines, buy Google ads, and start bidding on jobs I find on various freelance job boards like getafreelancer.com, guru.com, and such.
This is where I’m at and where I’m going. I’m hoping to be free of my employment shackles by this summer, but I have a feeling that the seasons will change rapidly for me this year. We’ll just see how it goes.
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