Change of Career
-
Since I am in a very "interesting" situation with my job(s) I figured I would share some Pros and Cons to leaving the day/desk job.
Job A: I work for myself, however, we have set hours that clients will be there. I put in about 25 hours of actual hands on instruction with clients, and then another 5-10 doing business/management work behind the scenes. This either happens at the gym or at my house. I have rotating schedule with my partner, so we work in 3-5 hour blocks. If I worked the 8-12:30am MON block, he works the 4-8pm MON block that day. Vice versa - if I work the 5:30-9am TUES block one day, he works for 3:30-8pm (TUES) block that day. That way we only have to come to work once a day and not have to worry about rushing back 2 hours after you've left. It's a great schedule, and it allows for a lot of extra time with the kids (which I have with me full time, 3 days per week while their mom is at work). I always joke that the worst decision my business partner ever made was bringing me on, since we split the salary budget between us. The job would be a fairly high paying job if it was done by one person and you simply paid a few people hourly to handle classes when you needed a break, however, we are the only (CrossFit) facility in "our" area that has multiple full time salaries being pulled out… so the salaries are less than impressive and we don't have a ton of cash to throw at fancy stuff for our facility, although I think we have done a good job making the whole "warehouse fitness" concept pretty cool. Although the salary based on a 40-50 hour week may seem low, if you calculate it based on hours coached, and you figured any bonuses we pay ourselves out at the end of the year cover the "management" hours, it would be pretty sweet gig, depending on you look at it.
Job B: I Had this job right out of college and tried to leave in 2012 to start working at the gym, but we have a big website build going on and I stayed until that launch... like I said, that was in 2012 and I'm still there lol. The pay is rubish, the workload is never ending and I get zero benefits since part of our agreement when I started working from home was that I stay under 40 hours per week. With that being said. I don't think I could find another job that allows me to clock in on my terms, work on Sunday mornings before the kids are up, or take off a friday if and when I feel like it. I don't have to file PTO sheets, I don't have to ask for time off. If I work, I get paid. If I don't work, I don't. It's an easy and fair agreement, but it does make it hard to justify taking more than a day or two at a time off because I'd be taking away a considerable amount of money from my family. Plus, we are american, so we already live close to our limit (Jk, but we are pretty young, so everything is a struggle). I do enjoy the work I do for Job B, and it keeps my skills high in case i ever have to move and look for a job in this field. Plus, i've now been at this company for nearly 6 years, which looks great on a resume. And I work for the Largest Vacation Rental Company in the world, so I can travel for pretty cheap.. if and when I do it. I do clock about 34-38 hours per week with Job B which includes 3-5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays to simply catch up.
Job C. I started a business in May of 2015 that was designed to replace Job B. Ironically, my Boss from Job B and Myself, own Job C together - I know, confusing right haha. This year has been pretty good for us (based on our growth over 2015), but we have been reinvesting everything back into materials, software, etc, so it's been a lot of extra work late at night and on Sunday afternoons getting everything together and clients pleased so we can keep moving forward, and not seeing any monetary gains from it. All part of entrepreneurship. I dedicate about 3-15 hours per week to Job C based on what projects are happening.
Job
I work freelance as a writer for another (competing actually lol) ad agency. It's only a few projects a year, but they pay what I bill and it's my "Clothes" money for the most part.Ok, so my point of this post was to point out a few things: 1. What is the cost of freedom 2. What does it take to make ends meet in order to "do something you love." 3. Is doing "your thing" better than doing "their thing."
1. The cost of freedom for me, was taking a 30% pay cut to leave Job B and work for Job A initially (if Job B would have let me leave, luckily they didn't). Luckily, now that figure for Job A has increase about 140%, BUT, it still isn't much compared to the market.
2. Since my "dream job" in Job A. pays Ok, but allows for extra work time, I work the extra hours to make up for the lack of salary from Job A by doing Job B. My overall pay increases by about 60% by adding Job B's salary on top of Job A, but my workload increases more than 110%. Im working a total of 60-80 hours a week (I know, #hustle #grind #GaryV), and still feel underpaid, tired and simply don't feel it's worth it most days. However, our life it set up around my two salaries and my wife's salary, so unless I make a drastic change and replace Job A and Job B's salaries with something better than the two combined, I will forever be in this position. Some days, I wish I would have stayed at my desk job and built a more simple life based around my initial Salary of Job A and tried to move up more in the company. C'est La Vie I guess ha.
3. "Is doing your thing better than doing their thing.?" Yes and No. I enjoy doing my own thing. I enjoy not having someone tell me how to run my business. It's mine and most of the time it's great. However, there is something about the security that comes with having someone else foot the bill. Truth is, for every dollar I fight for, by the time I pay myself that same dollar in salary, I only get about 30% left. (not being political) but it's the sad truth about small business owners. If you can have a steady job while a corporation or big business is providing the benefits, the retirement, the insurance, the holiday pay, covering half of the taxes, etc. it's a sweet deal. THEN start a "side hustle" doing something you truly enjoy doing that could not only provide happiness, but a little extra income. You will feel more fulfilled, happier about your work and have monetary increase as well. The GOAL would be to keep working on your Side Hustle until you make enough to quit your day job. (yes Im paraphrasing a Gary V video, but I agree with it.) It's what I am doing now with Job B and Job C, and I'm hoping in 3 more years, I will be able to either leave Job B or be the CEO (doubtful). either would be cool.
Hope I helped, pretty sure I didn't, but maybe I made your situation seem not so bad? lol
If jumping ship from your current job will make you happy, great. but if the pay is less, or at least less for a considerable amount of time, you will feel stressed. No doubt about it. On the flip side, two of the most successful people I know are 1. an electrician and 2. a plumber. Both own their won businesses, have 10-20 employees and only do the jobs they want to take on. But, it took them decades to get to where they are today and struggled a lot in the process of building their skills. The other most successful person I know is a surgeon. If you can do that, I highly suggest it haha.
-
thursday is my "slow" morning
however, I did have to take a few breathes to break apart the twins fighting before I could "publish" it.
-
Thanks for the insight @Appfaff that's a hell of a lot of hours you cram into the week. Combined with the Twins!! Making my ass look lazy
-
naw @spitfiredealer - In all honesty, I get bored with one thing. Doing multiple different gigs keeps me sane.. or maybe it keeps me insane.. either way, it's what works best for me. Would I love a less hectic schedule? Sure - I was driving the kids back to the house from the nanny yesterday afternoon and had an urgent email while I was stuck in traffic. It's taken me a few years, but I have fully accepted, the "all things will happen in due time" approach to life, and that includes my projects.
My secret is no one really knows what I do. It's great job security, since everyone is too afraid to fire me
before the twins came, my wife made me pick up a hobby to put a little "me" time in, so I started skateboarding again on Sunday mornings with a few of the other "old" guys… Now that my mornings are a little hectic, Im looking for something else since I havn't skated in the last year. Luckily, a package from my from Cabelas (from my father) arrived yesterday for Christmas, and it is shaped an awful lot like a flyflishing set up
Hoping the stocked fishing pond 12 yards from my house will be my new "hobby" in 2017 haha.My final piece of advice is to ask your partner what she feels is best for you guys. If she wants you home more, and you can afford to take a cut in salary, that that's what your priority needs to be. If she feels you guys need more salary to encourage financial freedom for your family's future, than that's the route you should pursue. You can make money doing anything. But you can't always have the time you want or need. For me, the fact that I have multiple jobs that allow me to either 1. bring the kids to work with me or 2. work from home while the kids play, allows us to save money on full time childcare. Does it eliminate financial stresses? Not at all. But does it allow for me to take the kids to the doctor this afternoon and no worry about anyone saying anything about it? Yes.
-
tradies like plumbing and electricians along with brickies and such.. are one of the highest paid tradies is oz… not too bad of a job change if you're down under.
-
12 yards….......There goes at least 3 of your jobs.....
Stocked with Large Mouth Bass and whatever else the rednecks in my neighborhood throw in there lol
-
I can definitely relate to Appfaff, we both have multiple jobs and his Job A is roughly the same as my Job A (or is it Job B? I can't tell anymore…).
I would advise you do this questionnaire to help you determine which careers might be in line with your values. It makes little sense to move to a new career that is not in line with your values, since the reason you're feeling the need to make a change is due to your current career not being in line with them in the first place. The questionnaire is only one method, of course, but it's actually quite helpful to notice where your thoughts/energies lie.
-
I was a trainee at a supermarket, putting cans into shelves and stuff like that. I finished the 3 years training after 2 years with pretty good marks, but it sucked. So I went back to school and became some kind of social worker and now I work 40h (mon-sun) at a special part of a local childrens-hospital. Its fun and tough at the same time.
-
Weirdly I've turned down a couple of jobs in the last couple of years that I probably would have loved (denim related). The jobs involved a hell of a lot of travel (monthly), and supporting a product that I didn't believe in.
I do wonder if I should have just done one of them, but ethics and time with my family made them a no go.
-
I will try not to be to wordy. I started out as a medic in the US Navy. I am a rare breed that has rarely changed companies in my life. From this background I became a Dialysis technician taking care of patients with kidney failure. I had that feeling of I can't do this the rest of my life , and started repairing the Dialysis equipment used to treat the patients, paid for by the company that I was working for. I then moved on to be in charge of the Philadelphia, PA. area bio meds doing what I was then doing.
Again by my company, I was trained to install the water purification systems that are the heart of the dialysis clinic. Plus side I travel the country doing this. Time off is adequate. But time at home is sketchy. Out o 365 days a year, I spend 240 nights in a hotel. I fly over 100,000 miles with a particular airline, and get usually automatic upgrades. And free hotel rooms for Holiday.Pay is great. I don't have a supervisor breathing down my neck.
I think my point to this is to really search what your background is and to see if you can broaden your horizons from what you are already doing.
The negative side is that when I am home for a bit, my other half questions when do you go back to work.
-
Most important is that for most of my career I have been able to wear jeans.
-
I scored my first job as an Economíc Developer when I was still in University. Got my Bachelor's in City Planning, kept the job for like a year before I eventually wanted a better job at the same place. Went back to school, finished my Master's in Landscape Architecture. When I was done, my old department had shut down so I couldn't find a job.
Now I work with beer. Beer > City Planning.
-
Just thought i would give a little update.
So today is my last day in the office. On Monday i start a new career as a landscape gardener. I will be working with one of best friends who has been doing it for years. I am looking forward to learning something new and being outside in the fresh air without any of the office bullshit.
I am going to keep doing design/retouching on a freelance basis in the evenings and weekends as i have a few clients that are keen to use me. I dunno how long that will keep going for but it is a good way to boost my money.To say it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders is a understatement!!
-
Cheers G
