Not Working For The 'Man' - Doing Your Own Thing

[Captain Ahab Jr]

I've read a lot of great advice on this board so thought I'd put this out there....

I know there are quite a few people on here that decided to stop working for the 'man' and set up their own thing. Or were forced to stop working for a company and decided to create their own thing.

I'm interested to know what made you go brave and strike out on your own rather than carrying on with the security of working for a company.

Also did you have any regrets, what were they or do you wish you had done it sooner?

Reason I ask is even though I have a secure job, working on stuff that interests me, with people I like, for people that want to keep me as long as I want to stay, I keep thinking I should jump out of the boat into the water to see where it takes me as its all starting to feel too comfortable.

I'm don't want to set up my own company but work inside other companies to help them push forward and improve. I guess the role I'm thinking of is as an engineering/deign or project management consultant. I have a very specialized +20yr career history working in a variety of senior roles for a number of world known brand names in one of the most competitive design/engineering environments there is.

I'm sure my experience, knowledge, attitude, strengths, working methodology would be of interest and benefit many high technology companies in different industry sectors eg green energy, aerospace/military, automotive, sporting goods, marine, motorsport etc but am unsure of how I go about making contact with the right person in each company and then selling myself into a job.

As always on this board I'm looking forward to some good advice and feel free to be the Devil's advocate when replying.

[porsche4life]

I'd think with your skills and experience, you should be able to make a go of a consulting career pretty easily.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

consulting career

+1

[porsche356a]

I left a lucrative Management Consulting firm to start my own. Figured "security" in a job is an illusion and wasn't worth kicking 70% of my bill rate upstairs.

Basically, I ran the math, figured I had the discipline for leans times, low liability and went for it.

[sammyg2]

The problem with working for yourself is that you'll always have an a-hole slave driver for a boss
I plan to retire early and work part time consulting.


BTW A consultant is a guy who knows 100 ways to make love but doesn't know any women

[stomachmonkey]

I do it on and off as the mood strikes me.

Coming off a two year round of doing my own thing and getting the itch to get back into a company again.

My clients are on the East Coast, Midwest, West Coast and Japan.

My day starts at 8 am and ends at 10 pm with a couple of breaks in between.

Since the Japanese are a day ahead they like to bother me on Sundays, their Monday, so I also have a 6 day week.

Gets to be old and draining after a while.

I think they are conspiring against me, they always seem to have emergencies simultaneously.

I can have a nice quite day and hear from none of them then there are the days they all call at the same time.

I've done simultaneous conference calls with 3 at a time. Those are fun. Trick is to remember to mute each one after you say something and try to predict when one will ask you a question so you can preempt the other two.

[Gogar]

Figure out what you "want" before you're forced to.

Start doing it while you still have the stability in your pocket.

Easier said than done, though!

[onlycafe]

been running the cafe for twenty seven years, so far so good.

[Seahawk]

I have, and continue, to consult, act as COB and own separate companies.

Your life will not be your own. I am on a Skype now with a client in Manila as I type this.

Know your taxes/tax posture inside out.

Get very smart on consulting agreements. PM me and I can send some examples.

Have at least a year of operating capital in the bank before you commit to going solo.

It is a sleight ride, but a good one.

[bell]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

A consultant is a guy who knows 100 ways to make love but doesn't know any women

Quote of the day right there. ...

[slodave]

I was never one to work for someone else. I worked for someone a long time ago to get my foot in the door in the computer industry. When my dad was a lawyer, he wanted to try and get his law firm off the old dictaphone and into the computer age. Bought an IBM PC for his secretary, his desk and one for home. 8086 proc. 64K no HD.

A while after working for the small shop, I went out on my own with an old HS friend and started a web hosting company. Ran than until mid 2000 when I walked away due to biz issues that ended up killing a friendship. Lost a bit of money on that one. Went to work for another IT company and finally quit at the end of '06 when I couldn't take being taken advantage of anymore. I also reasoned that I could collect all of the hourly rate, not just get paid a small fraction. The last seven years have been quite the roller coaster ride and I am currently trying to segue out of the IT industry. Word of mouth biz, that has not given me much biz.

I am not going to find another job/career, but switching to something I enjoy much more. The money doesn't really matter anymore.

I'm still not quite able to talk about this much on Pelican, but I am doing this now:





The above is supposed to be in the Pelican catalog, but there seems to be a little hold up.

One has even made it into a 3 wheeler Morgan:




I also do this:

Bentwood rings.

And of course, a guitar here and there.

[LeeH]

I worked for a tech start up right out of college. A few years later they went bankrupt. My next job was for another tech start up. This time I saw the signs. They were heading in the same direction. Bought a small business before things fell apart. Figured that if I worked as hard for ME as I did for the first two companies, that things would work out. I grew my little company to a much, much bigger little company and cashed out.

That was in 1999. I haven't had a "real" job since. Really can't imagine being a full time employee again. Walking away from a salary is a scary thing. A "failure is not an option" attitude and being willing to put forth whatever effort is required to succeed are key to pulling it off.

[Bill Douglas]

I tried work, but decided it wasn't really for me.

So I worked three jobs at the same time, and now my tenants are working for me

[aigel]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

I'm sure my experience, knowledge, attitude, strengths, working methodology would be of interest and benefit many high technology companies in different industry sectors eg green energy, aerospace/military, automotive, sporting goods, marine, motorsport etc but am unsure of how I go about making contact with the right person in each company and then selling myself into a job.

Everyone I know who consults in the technical field starts out with a very good network that they grew through their careers. That gets them a baseline of jobs in. From there it does usually grow further. I am a little worried that you may not have this network, from what you describe?

If you are truly an expert at a certain discipline, you can sign up with expert consulting / expert witness referral services. They of course will take their cut, but it will also help you expand your network and land you gigs it he future that may no longer go through the expert referral service.

Consulting is my plan for late career. I am not ready for it now, as income is very spotty for consultant, unless you hire on for long term contracts.

Not sure this helps, but it is my viewpoint into technical consulting.

G

[Laneco]

It has been almost a year since I jumped ship on the corporate world and opened my consulting business. I hit the ground running by lining up 4 consecutive weeks out of town working and have continued to work very hard. I slacked in January and will slack again this month as a matter of choice but still make more this year (and last year) than I have ever made in my life. More importantly, I love what I do. Every morning I wake up looking forward to my day, not dreading it.

There are things that I miss. Knowing that a paycheck will magically land in my account every two weeks is now a thing of the past. I have to plan accordingly. I do miss that - LOL! But what I miss most are my coworkers and our daily interactions. I've been blessed to have extraordinary coworkers. Smart, funny, loving and talented people. Though we remain facebook friends, phone calls, occasional visits, it is not the same as working with someone every day.

Am I glad I did it? Hell yes. The benefits outweigh the disadavantages and I've never been happier in my life.

angela

[lowyder993s]

Originally Posted by aigel

If you are truly an expert at a certain discipline,

G

He is...trust me!

+1 on consulting...I'd think your QC would look like the local phone book. Best of luck!

[gacook]

I truly work for "the man;" I'm a federal employee. I've often thought about branching out on my own, but the security of that bi-weekly paycheck AND the fact I'll get a decent pension when I'm not TOO old make it a very difficult move for me. I think if I were single, I'd do it. But since I'm married--for the second time--I've got a wife and 5 kids to feed and house. That security that my "decent" paying fed job offers is hard to give up.

I like to DO things; work with my hands, etc. My current job, I use my mind a lot, but 90% of the time, I'm sitting behind a desk, and I hate that. I'd be much happier spending my days detailing cars, but that doesn't exactly pay the bills.

[wdfifteen]

Best thing I ever did was go it alone. I was an engineer, good salary and great security, but I hated feeling enslaved. I went into publishing first, then branched out into other entrepreneurial projects. I love the freedom to do whatever I want (most of the time). I start projects, prove the concept and get it rolling, then hiring someone to take over and make the donuts. I make more money than I ever could have as a W2 engineer. Fun!

[Captain Ahab Jr]

thanks for the replies and helpful advice

sammyg2, your quote made me chuckle, I shall use that, I can't see me retiring for another 20yrs so part of me is thinking maybe its a bit early and the part of me is thinking if doesn't work out it won't be too late to jump back into the boat.

stomachmonkey, interesting to hear your experience, I'm thinking I should try it for 3yrs, should be long enough to workout if its the life for me

Seahawk, I work long hours most of the year, deadlines can not be moved so some weeks I work from 8 to midnight and weekends, whatever is required to get the job done. I'm lucky my family accept this as they know its my job. Very interested to see some sample consulting agreements, I'll send you a PM, thanks. I will have a reasonable financial buffer which is why I'm thinking now is the time

slodave, life is too short not to enjoy it and money doesn't always make up for the loss of quality of life, I'm glad to hear it is working for you

LeeH, I've only ever worked in a failure is not an option and never give up environment, even when everything is impossibly stacked the wrong way. I know no different way of working and this pressure what I enjoy about my job,

aigel, many thanks for your views,
only 12 companies (soon to be a 13th) in the world work in my industry, I've worked for 4 and have worked with either the technical/engineering directors, chief designers, heads of design departments in all 12. An extremely small gene pool full of inbreeding but this won't be much help as I'm keen to gradually over time stretch my wings outside of my industry. I'm on Link-in and will update my profile at the right time (my boss, his boss and his bosses boss are all linked to me so I can't do it before).

I could be considered an expert, I've been call worse names that that though, with my first job I started out as a technical specialist, 1 of 4 people in the world doing the job I did, then I became 1 of 1, wasn't an expert as such, just I had a senior role in the first ever project of its kind at the time. I work with mainly technical specialists but in recent years I have become more of a generalist but I'm still very much a specialist in the general world of engineering (hope that makes sense). I'm hoping that by becoming less of a specialist that is able to be thrown in the deep end of most engineering situations while quickly working out the weak areas will stand me in good stead for working in new fields of design/engineering I have no experience of. I'm also hoping the way I am used to working, being able to bring a unique perspective and my broader engineering knowledge/experience will be more valuable to a company than my specialist engineering skills.

Jim, thanks for the kind words of endorsement, but you must be referring to me being an expert in talking random bull$hit over beer and pizza

angela, I enjoyed reading your reply the most, your enthusiasm makes me want to do it right now and I know what you mean about how much difference fun co-workers can make to your day

wdfifteen, do you mind if I PM you as I'd like to know more about how to get involved with entrepreneurial projects as this really appeals to me, I would miss this but would try to bring the fun with me

Please keep the replies coming as it is giving me a lot of food for thought and helping to clear my head

[rusnak]

Starting your own company is not what you do because you're bored or want a change of pace. It's really hard work. It's something you do because you have a burning need and desire to do it. You'd rather try and fail than keep working for the same miserable s.o.b. any longer. Or you have a need to see your vision in practice, and your current job does not allow enough freedom to do that. It's a burning passion, not a hobby.