Not just for today, not just tomorrow. I need to break out for good, for my own good, for my family's good, for my puppy's good. I've been slowly working on my exit strategy from the 9-5 world of being locked to my desk and office. I look at it in much the same way as the difference between buying a house and renting a house. Buying means I'm able to tear out walls and decide what I (well, we) want to do with the place. Renting means we can maybe paint but we don't have anywhere the flexibility needed to be truly satisfied.
So, my resolution I made on the way into work, while weaving my motorcycle in between the two lanes of stopped traffic, is that I need to set some firm exit plans and goals. Benchmarks to gauge my egress by, as it were. The first step is a timeline and then a business plan then securing clients beyond my first one that I've already got and need to start ramping up hours on.
In some ways, the maternity leave will be a true blessing. Not only will I be able to bond with our new child but I should also be afforded enough time to really map out the plans and start to connect the dots together until the picture is clearer and I can get set to jet.
Maybe I need to map it out online so that I can tap my weekly and monthly goals at any time. I'll have to think about that over the weekend. But there really isn't all that much holding me back from actually breaking out on my own and seeing how I can do. The model I've got in my head should work, it'll just take a while to get it ramped up and rolling and that's where the friction point is. I can't really have my income sliding down too far right now. So it becomes a balancing act between breaking out and getting myself to the point where we're much safer financially.
The upside is very appealling: work my own hours, work my way, work from home, be able to be with the pup, be able to be with the baby, the savings in daycare, being able to pursue clients and create my own fortunes, freedom to work anywhere that I choose to, no bosses and no office policiticking, fertile territory to mine for clients from all walks of business, not just hi-tech.
But the downsides are daunting: no regular income, possibly long periods between completing work and being paid, if the economy tanks again then I could lose clients and effectively slip out of business altogether, always having the office around and having projects that can hang over my head, distractions of the home office, etc.
I would be very interested in getting in touch with people that are on this same track or are already working from home. How did you do it? How do you deal with slow times? What pitfalls should I be aware of that aren't immediately visible? How should I best insulate myself and my family from the finances of the company so that, if it does tank, it doesn't drag us down as well? Any advice would be most appreciated.
0 comments:
Post a Comment