Career advice - looking for guidance and input

[LeeH]

OK... so I know this is way, way long. I understand if you don't feel like ready my life story. Writing helps me think. I did this as much to lay things out for myself as anything. But, since I took the time to put it down, figured I'd post it anyway.

I've been self employed for the last 10 years. I've been doing QuickBooks consulting, small business bookkeeping, and resale - buying stuff at auctions estate sales, etc. then selling on eBay and Craigslist.

I got into accounting by accident. In no way am I an accountant type. I was a stay at home dad while my wife, an airline pilot, went back to work after our daughter was born. When our daughter started pre-k, I called my CPA and asked him if he had any small business clients looking for part time help. Ultimately the CPA hired me to do basic accounting - data entry, bank recs. After a couple of years, I had enough skills to hire myself out at a much higher rate and did. It was great when our daughter was little, but still very much "not my thing."

Resale used to be great. Buy something at Goodwill for $5, that might sell for $100 on eBay. Buy a bike for $20. Clean it, tune it, sell it for $150-$200 on Craigslist. Over time, more and more people started doing the same thing and the competition for good used stuff became fierce (I've seen shoving matches when a cart full of new stuff came out at Goodwill). Thrift stores figured out they were underpricing stuff and began significantly raising prices. Meanwhile, more people discovered they could sell their own stuff on Craigslist and Facebook. Now, instead of $20, a decent bike at Goodwill will be priced at $60-$80 while the prices on Craigslist have dropped because so many are for sale. This same pattern goes for electronics, jewelry, and a variety of household items I used to be able to count on to make a profit.

Now our daughter is only 4 months from her 16th birthday and is learning to drive. Realistically, it'll be next school year before she'll be driving herself to school. Due to her JROTC commitment, we have to drop her off at 6am so she can't take the bus in the mornings.

My wife is still flying with a random travel schedule. Her schedule varies from week to week and month to month. Generally she's gone 3-4 days each week.

So over the past couple of weeks, I've applied for a few jobs. I think I've sent out 3 or 4 resumes total. Out of those I've had two interviews. The first response resulted in two phone interviews, but no offer.

This morning I received an offer for a job that I'm having trouble warming up too. It's basically a work from home on the phone gig helping people sort out the elder care system. At least that's how it's billed. Reality seems to be that it's a high volume, home based call center job where you're making as many as 100 phone calls/day trying to get middle aged folks with elderly parents to schedule tours at assisted living facilities. It's really a sales job, base plus commission, where they claim "a few" people make 90K, but most are closer to $50K with full benefits. But... it's from home. No commute. Schedule isn't great since it would be 11am - 7:30pm Sunday through Thursday.

Now I'm faced with the choice of taking the work from home job with a later than I'd like schedule (I'd see our daughter about an hour/day at most) or pass and continue looking. I guess reality is that a rush hour commute home from central Phoenix probably would only get me home slightly sooner.

Just don't know if I can sit (or stand) on the phone all day. The recipients of the calls have just requested help/info, so it's not cold calling. The reviews of the company suggest that most people find the service valuable.

The hard part about this is I feel like I'm giving up my entrepreneurial roots. Having been self employed one way or another for 18 of the last 20 years, it's hard to sign up for a job. BUT I currently don't have anything else lined up. I'd feel way better if the offer for the counselor position had shown up after I'd been working at the job search for a couple of months.

I'm 51 and based on my history of self employment (considered UNemployment by some companies), feel a little flattered by any positive response to my resume.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

[DanielDudley]

Your gut is talking to you. Not me, Your gut. Listen to it.

[ckelly78z]

I'll be 51 next Spring, and wouldn't consider leaving the job I have for a change (of course I have had that job for 17 years). At this age, you need to be focused on building a retirement nestegg and securing your families' future by doing something steady. As a consumer, I don't talk to people on the phone who want to potentially sell me something, but I understand that this job is a little different in talking to clients who have requested help. I would hate being tied to the phone (even in the comfort of my own home) all day into dinnertime.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

I'll be 51 next Spring, and wouldn't consider leaving the job I have for a change (of course I have had that job for 17 years). At this age, you need to be focused on building a retirement nestegg and securing your families' future by doing something steady. As a consumer, I don't talk to people on the phone who want to potentially sell me something, but I understand that this job is a little different in talking to clients who have requested help. I would hate being tied to the phone (even in the comfort of my own home) all day into dinnertime.

Yeah, I kind of did things backwards. I sold my business when I was 36 for a fair chunk of change. Not enough to retire, but enough to pay cash for our house, which has given me a lot (too much?) freedom. The balance has been growing in the stock market. Between that and my wife's 401k, we're ahead of the game for retirement. As a captain, she does pretty well. We can easily live on what she makes so anything I add is gravy. But, hey! I like gravy!

[aigel]

Do you need the money urgently? If not, then why would you want to dot his? Sounds horrible. Also, how do you apply for these jobs? Only apply through your network - through people yo uknow - no cold leads through job ads.

With a professional wife, living in an affordable area of the country, a single child (?) almost out of the house and aged 51, this should be the time to be self employed and making the best of the last two years you'll have your kid at home to spend time with!

G

[pavulon]

you've seen Breaking Bad, right?

[Amail]

Recent drop in oil price has badly impacted my industry. I've spoken with other 50 somethings in my office about what they'd do if they found themselves unemployed. Most believe they'd do better starting their own business than looking for employment elsewhere.

If you've already got a client base for the low impact CPA stuff, I'd focus on growing that rather than jumping into something completely foreign. Personally I'd hate doing cold calling - I'd start a window washing business first.

[porsche4life]

Lee, I've looked at a few positions similar to what you describe, and I always envision wanting to jump off my balcony onto the concrete head first after a few days. I'm not a spend all day on the phone type guy, and I don't see you doing it either...

[cheeze]

Could always try forex, options or futures trading. What better way to lose the hair you've left?

[creaturecat]

cold-call old folks?
talk them into leaving their homes? forever?
nah, forget it.

[MMiller]

I like the advice this thread is offering you..... Pass and keep searching for something more full filling/ rewarding. Life is to short to be cold calling anybody if you have other options. Keep digging....be creative!

[LeeH]

It's not cold calling at all. The website is the #1 info source for assisted living. They have huge web traffic. When people get to the point where they have to move their parents into some sort of facility, many end up on the company's web page looking for answers. The website provides a variety of info pages (how to get the keys away from your parents), but the main focus is to provide referrals to assisted living facilities. When the viewers decide they need to talk to a person about their situation, they get put in touch with one of the advisors. The advisor provides info, but ultimately is trying to convince the family to take a tour of the facility. If they family moves their loved one in, the advisor gets paid a commision.

The people I interviewed with said they have a low (for the telemarketing industry - 8%) turnover in this position because people do feel like they're helping. The obvious downside is the system is constantly tracking calls - how many, how long. Everything is recorded and frequently reviewed. Makes sense, but there's definitely a "big brother" feeling.

Yeah, a couple of years from now I'll be open to just about anything. I'm not thrilled about the possibility of our kid seeing only one of her parents for only an hour/day. I know it's done, but it's not necessary with our current situation.

I'm really done with accounting. Wouldn't mind QuickBooks consulting/training, but doing hours of data entry and bunches of bank recs isn't happening any more. It's just hard to do enough of that for full time income.

[VincentVega]

good luck

but doing hours of data entry and bunches of bank recs isn't happening any more.

but reading the script to people all day, while being recorded, sounds good? I like your idea of working from home, great that you can spend time with your kid. It sounds like you can do a lot of things, the current opportunity doesnt sound all that great.

[Nostril Cheese]

Does it make you happy? If so, do it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

Your gut is talking to you. Not me, Your gut. Listen to it.

Agreed. Sounds like you are trying to talk yourself into it.

My take - going from self employment to employment is HARD. I struggle with it after only being self employed for six months, and I'm making significantly better money and working in the industry that I went to college for. Do what you have to do working odd jobs until something comes up that you have a genuine interest in.

[wildthing]

From your post, it sounds like you are not convinced. At least that's how I read it. Skip this one. There's one coming that will excite you.

[Cajundaddy]

I have been self employed all my life. Sometimes it was really hard and sometimes there were pretty extraordinary windfalls. At 59 I don't get super excited every morning about going out and doing it again after 40 years but I know this work really well and it is pretty easy to manage at this point. I have a crew of 5 who do most of the routine daily stuff and that frees me to focus on things that require knowledge and experience both in terms of technical issues and client relations.

I expect I will do this for a while longer as my retirement is pretty solid but I have this expensive habit called racing tires that must be fed. For now it meets my needs and I can ramp it up or ramp it down to suit my lifestyle needs. There is a reason work is a four letter word and that is ok. It beats mining coal.

If I were in your shoes at 50, I would probably apply the same approach to book keeping and accounting. Hire a few qualified people to handle routine daily stuff, train them well and pay them in a way that leaves 20% of everything they generate to you so you can focus on building the business and helping your clients to run lean and mean with their business. If your clients see you improving their bottom line and your people feel like part of a team, it can go places without working 80 hr weeks getting there. Keep overhead super low, provide good service, and reward your people for doing it right. This sounds more interesting than phone sales but it does commit you to a regular schedule.

It suits my style but maybe not yours at this point. Food for thought at least.

[LeeH]

Originally Posted by Cajundaddy

I have been self employed all my life. Sometimes it was really hard and sometimes there were pretty extraordinary windfalls. At 59 I don't get super excited every morning about going out and doing it again after 40 years but I know this work really well and it is pretty easy to manage at this point. I have a crew of 5 who do most of the routine daily stuff and that frees me to focus on things that require knowledge and experience both in terms of technical issues and client relations.

I expect I will do this for a while longer as my retirement is pretty solid but I have this expensive habit called racing tires that must be fed. For now it meets my needs and I can ramp it up or ramp it down to suit my lifestyle needs. There is a reason work is a four letter word and that is ok. It beats mining coal.

If I were in your shoes at 50, I would probably apply the same approach to book keeping and accounting. Hire a few qualified people to handle routine daily stuff, train them well and pay them in a way that leaves 20% of everything they generate to you so you can focus on building the business and helping your clients to run lean and mean with their business. If your clients see you improving their bottom line and your people feel like part of a team, it can go places without working 80 hr weeks getting there. Keep overhead super low, provide good service, and reward your people for doing it right. This sounds more interesting than phone sales but it does commit you to a regular schedule.

It suits my style but maybe not yours at this point. Food for thought at least.

I was heading down that path, but the problem with bookkeeping is that there's no real barrier to entry to the profession. No license. No test. Any of you could post an ad tomorrow claiming to be a bookkeeper and be up and running. One of my clients actually did this for a while. When one of my client businesses was sold, the operations manager, who had learned QuickBooks mostly from me, started working as a bookkeeper! I never would have known except she started calling me to ask questions!

If I'm charging a client $35/hour and paying someone $20 to do the work, the person I'm paying obviously has all the skills necessary to be charging $35 themselves.... the same path I took. There are also some relatively unskilled folks charging less. These are people I wouldn't even want touching a set of books I was responsible for. BUT, a small business owner doesn't know the difference. They just look at their cost/hour. $20 vs $35. Big difference, but they don't know that at the end of the year their CPA is going to reject the $20/hour set of books and recommend that they call me in to fix things. CPA referrals were a big part of my business. But, unless someone has their books reviewed along the way, they're not going to know how wrong they really are.

I'm very comfortable walking away from actual bookkeeping. This year I had a natural attrition (businesses sold, businesses closed, family members taking over) that dropped me down to a handful of clients. I had to decide whether or not to work to replace those clients or let things wind down. After 10 years, it just felt like a good stopping point.

[Cajundaddy]

I understand. When it is done, it is done.

Like yours, my business has no barriers to entry and many of my competitors work completely under the table. Several past employees have farmed my accounts on their way out and it does leave a bad taste in your mouth. It's a tough racket out there and in the end, all we really have to sell is ourselves. I figure it pays for racing tires and still beats mining coal.

Give the phone sales a shot and see what you think. You have nothing to lose by jumping in and you might learn a few good moves along the way.

[PorscheGAL]

If you don't mind: What did you do before being a dad?

If you are determined to take the telemarketing job then my advice is to continue to look for something you may enjoy more.

I am in the exact position as you. My son turns 16 in April and he starts taking college in HS classes in the fall. I was looking for something. As many predicted on this site my car sales didn't work out but I start a job next week that I am very excited about. My position is a step up from what I did before being an at home mom.

Good Luck.