Going into working for yourself

Deplorable said:
Working for yourself is great because you only have to work half days.

And you get to pick those 12 hours each day…
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That's a damn fact.
Just got through with invoicing, getting deposits together and a deadbeat payer list for tomorrow.
All done at 8:50 for the day
Ain't it great 😃
 
Jody Treadway said:
That's a damn fact.
Just got through with invoicing, getting deposits together and a deadbeat payer list for tomorrow.
All done at 8:50 for the day
Ain't it great 😃
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I feel that in my bones.
Was just emailing POs to vendors, cutting checks to other vendors, filling out OSHA reportable logs and opening a WC claim for a broken digit.

So much white privilege…I’m drowning in it
 
I think for the most part, if you’re going to work for yourself, you’ve got to have some sort of skillset that most folks don’t.

I don’t have an in-demand skillset, so I don't work for myself, but I was able to wind up in a job that offers a more balanced life and it’s made a huge difference for me. I spent the first 13 years there working the typical M-F 8 hour work day. I dreaded every day pretty much. When we moved to NC, I switched to part time, M-W 10 hour days, and spent my days off helping @ramjo as he built my house. Been part time since then and I don’t anticipate going back to full. Having more days off than on does a lot to help me reset mentally, allows me the freedom to work with my brother doing something totally different than my usual grind, or take off for a long weekend with my family. I’m obviously leaving 25% of my salary on the table, so you gotta decide what things are most important to you and what are you are willing to give up to get them. I personally live like I’m broke so my wife and kids don’t have to, and I’m ok with that.
 
I'll be honest with you all. I know alot of you probably see my posts and roll your eyes and I get it. Sometimes I feel like I am all over the place and the truth is, this is just a great outlet for me. I don't have a ton of people that I can reach out to that I feel can really help with things sometimes. Sure, I have friends who will listen and respond with "Dang, that sucks" and then they want to move on to the next thing. So, I know that all of you are unbiased and will tell me the truth no matter how hard it may be to hear, and I appreciate that. I think I am at the stage in life where I'm not old but I'm not young either and I sort of feel like I'm stuck in between those two feelings. I have days where I feel like I don't get enough time with my family and it makes the wheels start turning on how I could accomplish that and still make a living. Obviously doing something online where its just me and maybe my wife (please don't say OF) lol creating something or whatever. Some days I feel like I need to remove myself from the outside world for a minute, just to focus on me instead of being Dad, husband, brother, friend, employee, and whatever other roles I play on a daily basis. So I apologize if my posts seem frequent and just sort of all over the place, I guess this is sort of my therapy in a sense and I think even typing some of this stuff out is therapeutic for me.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
I'll be honest with you all. I know alot of you probably see my posts and roll your eyes and I get it. Sometimes I feel like I am all over the place and the truth is, this is just a great outlet for me. I don't have a ton of people that I can reach out to that I feel can really help with things sometimes. Sure, I have friends who will listen and respond with "Dang, that sucks" and then they want to move on to the next thing. So, I know that all of you are unbiased and will tell me the truth no matter how hard it may be to hear, and I appreciate that. I think I am at the stage in life where I'm not old but I'm not young either and I sort of feel like I'm stuck in between those two feelings. I have days where I feel like I don't get enough time with my family and it makes the wheels start turning on how I could accomplish that and still make a living. Obviously doing something online where its just me and maybe my wife (please don't say OF) lol creating something or whatever. Some days I feel like I need to remove myself from the outside world for a minute, just to focus on me instead of being Dad, husband, brother, friend, employee, and whatever other roles I play on a daily basis. So I apologize if my posts seem frequent and just sort of all over the place, I guess this is sort of my therapy in a sense and I think even typing some of this stuff out is therapeutic for me.
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You can’t be a good dad if you don’t focus on yourself also. If you are in a good place being a good dad will come much easier and the kids will see it. As hard as it is to change the mindset you come first. Then the relationship with your partner. Then the kid. Kid comes last as if the first two are taken care of naturally the kid stuff will come. (Therapy taught me this)
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
I'll be honest with you all. I know alot of you probably see my posts and roll your eyes and I get it. Sometimes I feel like I am all over the place and the truth is, this is just a great outlet for me. I don't have a ton of people that I can reach out to that I feel can really help with things sometimes. Sure, I have friends who will listen and respond with "Dang, that sucks" and then they want to move on to the next thing. So, I know that all of you are unbiased and will tell me the truth no matter how hard it may be to hear, and I appreciate that. I think I am at the stage in life where I'm not old but I'm not young either and I sort of feel like I'm stuck in between those two feelings. I have days where I feel like I don't get enough time with my family and it makes the wheels start turning on how I could accomplish that and still make a living. Obviously doing something online where its just me and maybe my wife (please don't say OF) lol creating something or whatever. Some days I feel like I need to remove myself from the outside world for a minute, just to focus on me instead of being Dad, husband, brother, friend, employee, and whatever other roles I play on a daily basis. So I apologize if my posts seem frequent and just sort of all over the place, I guess this is sort of my therapy in a sense and I think even typing some of this stuff out is therapeutic for me.
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This all makes a lot of sense. It's not weird either. All of "us" humans go through the same things at different stages of life. Some of us older folks (not old!) just see the transparency and the social public outlet as unique or plainly put awkward.
It's much better to have an outlet over bearing it all. I often wonder and speculate good or bad what other folks deal with and currently try much harder to see things through others eyes. You sir for example I wonder about your back ground, family and pier group. Not in a negative way but an empathetic caring perspective. Many folks just don't have a network of piers or something more than buddies and friends. More the kind of people who will shoot you straight, speak from experience and not emotional context. I've found that here as well, but better yet I have a very small network I've gained familiarity with and they get phones calls and private conversations. I think that's the key difference.
 
I have a couple friends that "work for themselves" and it is honestly more work than I do at this point. I put in over a decade of constant grind labor into my career with my employer, learned everything I possibly could to be "valuable" and made sure key folks understood what I could do for the company. I earned an engineering license along the way. Then I was able to snag a chance at a key role being what is essentially a subject matter expert role and kept learning. Added to that is teaching others so that I am "the go to guy" for anything people need to know. Now instead of turning wrenches like I did for over a dozen years I tell everyone else how to do it and get paid for "what I know." I have to stay current and even ahead of some things but as long as I do I can practically stay in the role until I hang it up a couple decades from now. The schedule flexibility came with the new role, the grind lessened to a large extent, and nowadays everyone has to essentially ask for my time instead of me getting told what to do. But it took nearly twenty years to get to that point. If you are with a good employer that can offer something like that if you stick around long enough then your dedication now will pay those dividends later and you can stay on a W2. I think after I finally retire is when I might start taking on "side work." Until then I will look for other routes to financial freedom with passive income like property rental.

Good luck in any case.
 
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