I didn’t discover this for myself until I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. At first I was depressed. My mentor Leonard Manion explained to me that my depression was a form of grief over something I thought I had lost.

He then walked me through a process to discover exactly what I was grieving for? Was I grieving for the mornings that I had to get up at 4:00am to get ready to go to work? Was I grieving because I would no longer had to put my life at risk with morning rush hour traffic? Was I grieving for the loss of office politics? Was I grieving for a boss that didn’t appreciate my giving all I had to give? Was I grieving for my small paycheck with no opportunities to advance?

When he put it that way, I realized I had no reason to be depressed! That’s when I got off my butt and started doing what I love best! I now enjoy my work creating website graphics and other graphics for business. This is something I would have missed out on if I had never been disabled.

GrafxExtreme.com

Mark

“When you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, endeavor to live the life that you have imagined, you will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” (Hewnry David Thoreau)

I just blogged about freedom and the freelance life — including the not-always cheery results of a recent survey of freelance workers in NYC. It’s at: http://www.mainecreative.com/2005/09/free-as-in-freelance.html

While most of us who live in the “free” world think the drawbacks are outweighed by the freedom, it’s definitely not for everyone.

Nice to see you quit your job and are focusing on your business ventures. The hardest thing for anyone is coming to a good decision.

I am currently working for a Software Company and learning a lot, that is why i stay doing what i do. Once i am not learning anymore i’ll move on. It also gives me the time to build the businesses i want to get started (ie softwaresquared). When they get bigger i’ll need to re-evaluate my situation but right now it works so i stay working and being a “Midnight Entrepreneur”. Soon enough i hope to change that and i am sure that i will. Cheers

Luc

If you are serious about starting your own business I suggest you start looking for contract/freelance work or a part time job, something that gives you enough to live off and opens up some time to start building a business.

Psychologically the financial stability issue is the hardest to get over but you will be surprised that once you take the jump how things work out. The worst case scenario is getting another job, the best case is leaving “work” forever.

And your quite right Alexander, getting paid to do something I enjoy as an employee is pretty darn good, but not nearly as good as running my own business . Freedom is the biggest goal in life – as an employee you are never truly 100% free.

I am also in your shoes. Or, I am in the shoes you once were. I am at this job which makes $30,000 a year. I am the sole web developer and other than that I am a graphic designer for this small company. I’d have to say that I am relied heavily upon, however the pay does not reflect this.

This garbage pay along with me having a few ideas which I would like to implement, on the web, has given me such an enthusiastic vigor which is making me want to quit this job and concentrate on my idea(s). I’m sure that many other people feel the same way, however it is a very tough decision; Occasionally, looking for new jobs can be tough and options may be limited. I plan on going in to renegotiate around the six-month time period from which I started however the outlook does not look good. My supervisor thinks my web job and graphic design job is a “cut and paste” job and mocks me when things take longer than she expects.

To make a long story short, I am unsatisfied with my job because I feel there is no possibility for growth. I do two jobs, of which, the national average for one is more than double what I earn. People may say experience, however I’ve been in corporate America for six years, of which four has been my profession. If there was room to move up, I would end up being more inclined about wanting to stay. If I was treated better and with more respect, same as well. Financial stability has been the main reason holding me back from giving the two weeks notice because currently, I could only meagerly sustain myself for about two months.

Do others fall into this same catagory? How do they handle it?

And Yaro, to get paid for something you wanted to do during someone else’s time is decent.

So you finally quit! Nice, as you know I am thinking of doing the same soon too..

Hope everything works out.

Glad to see you have a woman (Hi Kate) to keep you sane as well, that’s always a plus!
Take care.