[DiREW0LF]

Congrats Anchor, sorry it didn’t come sooner I missed your post.

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone.

I think if I don’t have something by spring I will explore the possibility of opening a shop. In the long run I think I can make more money and be happier not working for someone. Also, people tell you to do what you love…well I have found that doing what you love everyday makes you fall out of love. I started out messing with computers as a hobby and decided to make it a career. At the end of the day I don’t want to look at a computer or any gadgets for that matter. And prior to sitting at a desk all day I used to be pretty fit, I’ve gained 50lbs since working here and at the end of the day I don’t feel accomplished.

Luckily I have a terrific group of support people and cars. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif[/img]

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[flash]

working for yourself can be very rewarding - it can also be incredibly frustrating - there is no security, but you can take a day off from time to time - you probably will not ever again be able to take a long vacation, but it's pretty easy to get away for weekends - you are the boss, but you are also the janitor - the hours will be long, but usually self-rewarding

i have been doing it since 88 and i love it - wouldn't have it any other way - my wife is trying it right now, and having a very hard time with it - some people are built for it - some aren't

the best advice i can give in that regard is be honest with yourself - if you are they type of person that has to have everything predictable, do not go into business for yourself - if you can't live with the idea that a couple of months out is all you can predict, then this is not for you - nobody likes having somebody else dictating terms of life to them, but working for yourself does not alleviate that - instead, it hands you 10 times the number of people to whom you answer, and now you can't quit

if you decide to do it, ABSOLUTELY CREATE A BUSINESS PLAN! do the homework, look at everything

think long and hard about it - it can be great - it can also give you an ulcer

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[Anchorman]

LISTEN TO THE FLASH!!! I've been there several times before (and I'm there right now) and he speaks the truth. My wife worked with me in one of my consulting ventures, and the only reason it worked for her was that I rented office space and she was able to have regular hours, just like a "real" job, and a separation between work and non-work. I don't need that. Right now I'm operating a consulting business from my home office. So, for example, I don't have breakfast until I've worked for 1-2 hours, and my most productive time tends to be the evening - 6-10pm. Working at home allows for my idiosyncrasies.

Years ago, when I had my first sports car (a 1962 Corvette), I found an independent mechanic. His "day" job was locomotive repair for AMTRAK. His "play" job was an auto shop. This gave him a degree of independence that allowed him to set certain standards. For example, he would not do a tune-up without first doing a compression check. If a customer didn't want to incur the time and cost of the compression test, he told the customer to take the car elsewhere. As a result, he didn't get the run-of-the-mill customer; instead, he got an appreciative audience (kind of like RS Barn).

You have to decide what you want to be, how you want to operate, and then be good enough so that the mix works and results in sufficient business. From my consulting experiences, I coined this phrase: "It's amazing how many exciting things there are to spend lots of time on as long as you're not worrying about getting paid."

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[flash]

yup - it's also amazing at how projects all pile up at the same time - feast or famine - after a few months of being fairly slow, i am now going to be slammed until april

that's something you have to get used to - you can't have time and money at the same time

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