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

[Hugh R]

I worked for myself for three years when my boss and I had "creative differences" in the entertainment industry. I'd been working for about 25 years at that point. I printed up business cards and did a website and made lots of money. Some months I made $40K, other months $1,000. hard to plan for the future that way. I worked 6-7 days per week and in retrospect ignored my wife and then teenage kids, while I was always searching for more work. I'm a better husband and father for the last 13 years since I took a regular job.

[rusnak]

I'll be honest (not being disrespectful), but you need to get your company name out there more. Not having a cell phone or email for that long might suggest that you're going about this totally wrong in my opinion. It's not a hobby, it's a business. You need to think about being and presenting a more thought out way to talk to your customers, and that discussion is a two way dialog. You have to be more open to that, especially given that you're really global, as in worldwide.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thought I'd add an update as a lot has happened since summer of 2016 when I last updated this thread, some good, some not so good but still no regrets going it alone.

Good, being my race car design work helped a client win a European racing championship which allowed their young driver to gain his super license so he could compete in F1

More good was being offered design/project management work on a automotive manufacturer works Formula E racing team while creating a technical first for my client

Not sure if this was good or not so good but I turned down the opportunity to work on an autonomous flying car. Extremely interesting but their ambition/expectations didn't really match their resource/timescales so I left it for someone braver than me to take on.

Not so good but a missed opportunity as I had to turn down a senior design role working for a good friend on the Aston Martin Valkyrie hyper car due to having other commitments

Not good at all was falling over dead with a cardiac arrest last summer, too much work and not enough play can be bad for your health.

More not so good missing an opportunity but best excuse ever for not having an interview with a F1 engine manufacturer, 'sorry I was in a coma'

More good, my first and only client was extremely supportive in allowing me the necessary time to get back up to speed while I mended from being dead. Hopefully my work for their next seasons race car will move them up the championship and repay the faith they showed in me.

Despite keeping a low profile and without any networking/advertising I am still able to pick and choose my projects

On the cards for my next challenge are, a hybrid hyper car, a F1 engine manufacturer, a super car, an electric hyper car, a Nordschleife record car, a F1 manufacturer team or I may take a break this summer to be a full time builder on my house project

[Baz]

Good to read your update - especially because you are still with us, Captain!

Stay well, my friend!

[LWJ]

I was all in until you mentioned the falling over dead part. Hmmmm. Second thoughts.

Seriously? Get well!

[VincentVega]

Thanks for the update. Stay well!

I recently read Matchetts first book, I'm totally sucked into the F1/racing stuff lately. Your cv is damn cool, well done. Keep kicking ass.

[LakeCleElum]

Capt - I've often thought of you as Living the Dream......I find your work and travel very interesting.......Keep it up, but take care of your health sir......

[SeanPizzle]

I left a job i was burned out at and started a small company doing the same things. It's a lonely experience and the drudgery of doing books and taxes andanaging vendors and credits lines sucks. I've recently popped my head up and started looking at W2 jobs again.

[billybek]

Glad you are still on the right side of the grass!
Sounds like some amazing opportunities that you need to balance with that not being dead thing...

[aigel]

Oh man - while I am happy to hear that you have some amazing work, I don't think work would be my priority if I had cardiac arrest.

Reading back, you had the signs of serious overworking - i.e. not remembering your own phone number ...

Take care of yourself!

G

[berettafan]

Lonely is indeed a part of it. not something to be taken lightly.

[astrochex]

Thanks for the update, Captain. Especially glad to hear your health is in order.

I can’t wait to read your autobiography.

[sugarwood]

"Besides that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks for the kind thoughts,

I'm nowhere close to living the dream, I'd love to have more money and time to spend working on my own car projects and see more of the world

I had been working under stress for a while but nothing I hadn't been through many times before.

I'm coming up to the end of another race car build but this time I've pegged back my tempo a notch or two and left a bit more in the tank.

Part of the appeal of the challenge of motorsport for me is that it is fast paced, difficult and leaves no room for errors or excuses.

A working life spent in the F1 world of 'I want it right and want it right now' means I have to keep my frustration in check when things are not progressing as quickly as I'd like.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

After 8yrs of making the leap to doing my own thing I'm still doing my own thing and have honestly never looked back or thought about working for the man again.

Hopefully a bump on this thread might inspire someone else to make their own leap out of their comfort zone

A quick recap on where this journey has taken me.....

2015 Macau GP win with Felix Rosenqvist

2016 European F3 championship driver win with Lance Stroll and team win with Prema Powerteam

Two race cars with the works Jaquar Racing team, no notable race results but a couple of technology firsts for Williams group. Design lead of their first carbon gearbox case and first in house designed/built EV race car invertor

6 months man cave building break away from a desk

Then 3yrs working with Honda F1 helping design their F1 battery system as used in the Redbull Racing and Alpha Tauri cars. Having enjoyed working for Honda F1 before but not achieving the mutual dream of winning a championship coming back for a 2nd go was purely an emotional 'unfinished business' decision. Very proud to have helped Honda achieve many pole positions, fastest laps, race wins, 2x drivers championship for Max Verstappen and a constructors championship for Redbull Racing. Hoping and looking forward to working with Honda again

Another 6 month man cave building break

Now 2 months in to helping a mid-field F1 team with hopefully their steady climb to the front of the grid. Working on my 21st F1 car or 40th F1 car if I count cars I've helped design but not worked on directly. Much has changed in F1 over the last 24yrs but this old dude can still rock it with the youngsters

What next, I have no idea, that's the exciting part for me of going it alone, you never know what opportunities will present themselves

[lowyder993s]

Well done, Cap'n!!!

Here to say Jeff and I still look back so fondly meeting you and you cohort those many years ago! We r both retired, he splits his time between California and Florida...me, retired in Nevada. No more Porsches, but still the same Ferrari. And a Can Am off roader, and a boat, and a trailer, and a bunch of guns! MUCH fun to be had this side of the pond! Stop by anytime! Best, Jim.

[Jeff Alton]

If you are considering not "working for the man" you have 2 choices...

Start a thing that turns into a job where you just do your thing and make enough money to replace "working for the man". This has zero value to sell, but can allow you to be self employed. YOU are the brand, hence no value after you stop working.... You created a "job" for yourself.

Second, start a business. Create a brand and employ staff. Grow a following for your brand. Market your strenghts. Be prepared to invest a significant amount of your money. After years of investment and stress, make yourself irrelevant in your brand, train your staff develop procedures and rules, and transfer all of your specialized skills to your staff. You can then earn residual income, sell the brand or a combination of both. But, DO NOT underistmate what this takes to accomplish. There is a reason few go down this path successfully....

cheers

[Bill Douglas]

♪♪ Working for the man ♪♪



As a landlord I do almost nothing to do with work. I feel it really fits in well with who I am as a person. Oh ,sorry, I forgot to mention about three weeks ago I mowed someone's lawn. But other than that my above comments are more or less correct.

[GH85Carrera]

I was working for a great aerial photography and mapping company, and a wonderful boss. In his words he decided to "take early retirement" at age 92. He sold the company to another great guy, and all was fine until he went and got cancer and died. He idiot son inherited the business. The first thing he did was rape the saving and cash in the business account we had on hand to buy a new house for himself. That meant no more investment in new equipment in an industry that state of the art is the only way to survive.

Within 6 months the idiot son shut us down, sold the airplane, sold the building, and fired us. That was the best thing that has happened to my career. One of the other employees and I started our own company, we bought a 2004 Cessna 182T with the G-1000 glass cockpit, and we bought a digital camera system, a ton of computers and software. and opened up for business.

It has been a lot of work, but we are making a tidy profit. We will not be buying new 911s, but I don't really want a new 911. We have a good cash flow money in the bank and the airplane is worth over double the remaining loan on it and we could sell the airplane at a profit, but it ain't for sale.

So for me, yea, owning the business is way better than working for the man, or maybe put another way, I am the man. It is good to be the boss.

[matthewb0051]

Can't believe I haven't seen this thread before now.

I was in the Army for 22 years and retired in 2016 while living in DC area. My legal skills were focused on criminal and general government administrative law/ethics/contracts, so my options were somewhat limited. I went to work first for General Services Administration (the real estate and Office depot and government vehicle agency for the US Government), then off to DHS. I hated both jobs and one day at DHS I literally left a resignation letter on my desk and walked out.

FF to 2020 and we moved back to Texas where I had done criminal defense prior to going back into the Army post Law School.

I love what I do and not having a boss or having to account to someone. Sure it could be said that I am accountable to the State Bar and my clients but it is vastly different from working for the man. Luckily I receive a monthly retiree check from the Army so it's not as scary as just being out there on your own.

There are times I wish that I had made this move directly after retirement but we had two kids finishing high school so we wanted stability for them.