Boring job contest

It's all about your level of risk and can you go without a paycheck?

After 15 years of entrepeneurism and several failed businesses, I am glad as hell to get a paycheck every week for a while. Doesn't keep me from schemeing daily but I got to get the credit card bills down before I start another new business.

Plus it is nice not to wake up a 3am worring about how the hell you are going to make payroll this week.

landrovered said:

It's all about your level of risk and can you go without a paycheck?

After 15 years of entrepeneurism and several failed businesses, I am glad as hell to get a paycheck every week for a while. Doesn't keep me from schemeing daily but I got to get the credit card bills down before I start another new business.

Plus it is nice not to wake up a 3am worring about how the hell you are going to make payroll this week.

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BTDT. In the past, I did not have the domestic support I have now and as a result, I have had the opportunity to fine tune the business model and have hopes it will work.

Failing at business puts you closer to success.

No risk, no reward.

i am on my third year of " fine tuning" the way i want my business to look and feel and eventually evolve. i figure it will take about 10 years to get it just the way i want. just in time for me to develop something else. i can't see doing one thing my entire life.
i worked in offices with people i had little respect for. the people i did respect were what kept me there for 10+ years.
never again will i work "for the man". diversity keeps the mind from going stale.

garrett said:

diversity keeps the mind from going stale.

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I like that

This is excellent.

garrett said:

diversity keeps the mind from going stale.

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I've worked in hugely different fields: GIS survey, Welder, Car detailer, Turret mill operator, Escorting and supervising children at high-risk of parental abuse/abduction during visits with said parents, IT, a really wide range.

At 29 I took several Organizational Design, IT and Business courses at university and finished without a degree at 30. I started as an IT business analyst and have progressed from there, forming my own consulting company along the way. I've never worked anywhere longer than 30 months. (FREAKS OUT my family)

If things get boring, I'm gone. I thrive in chaos and make a good living at it. 700% raise in the last 7 years w/o employees.

Make a plan to change and Just Do It!

See, I am the exact oposite of some of you.
My goal is to have a job that pays half decent, is secure, and I NEVER have to worry or take it home with me. In short, I currently work for the Canadian Government. I work with the public and hopefully by moving up the ladder I can become a superviosr of sorts by the time I;m 30. After that, I will focus on any verntures I *may* want to pursue on the side. Never would I leave my guaranteed pay check every two weeks.

luvs2getmuddy said:

See, I am the exact oposite of some of you.
My goal is to have a job that pays half decent, is secure, and I NEVER have to worry or take it home with me. In short, I currently work for the Canadian Government. I work with the public and hopefully by moving up the ladder I can become a superviosr of sorts by the time I;m 30. After that, I will focus on any verntures I *may* want to pursue on the side. Never would I leave my guaranteed pay check every two weeks.

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im right here with you.

i dont need the stress. i'll work for someone else and have fun when im not working.

luvs2getmuddy said:

guaranteed pay check

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Ever heard this one? "I can't believe they laid me off. I've been there 18 years!" I've heard it from a number of good people. Job security is a myth.

I know I'm different, and it takes all kinds to make a world.:bigok:

In my observation, the closer an employee gets to a 'secure' job the farther they get from engagement in doing it. Those who can spend a week at work on autopilot, having never been challenged or given the opportunity to learn something are surely dying inside.

Take the number of hours you spend at work in a week. Add the hours spent getting there and back, the hours spent getting ready to go to and the hours spent recovering afterwards.

I did this with a friend and he found about 11 waking hours remained in his work week. (9%) He was writing off 91% of his precious life to boredom and frustration.

Again, this is just me, but that is unacceptable.

garrett said:

why don't you guys quit and do something you like? yes it's that easy. think of all the time and resources you spend pissing around when you could be developing something you like.

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Garrett

you make it sound so easy...and you know it used to be.:banghead:

MUSKYMAN said:

Garrett

you make it sound so easy...and you know it used to be.:banghead:

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You know in retrospect it was pretty easy. Always is right? Haha. But I think when I started coming in 2 hours early to work just to have the place to myself was a good indicator that things were not going well. a few months of that and I was gone. The hardest part was leaving Vermont and one person in particular.

I still dream of living in northern Vermont in a single room cabin in the woods and working at some brewery making $10 and hour. I’m ok with that too. As long as I have a rover parked in the driveway of course.

It was never about money either. I don’t think it should ever be about that. Hell I was making more 4 years ago than I do today. And it’s not like I have an issue working for people. You’re always going to be working for someone. Maybe it was a control thing and having more of it for myself.

It’s just too damn easy to get comfortable with something and eventually become complacent with a situation that is not healthy. That’s what I was afraid of.

But I am working on yet another chapter. The big hippie in me will be coming out. Eco-tourism/sustainable travel. Actually I think it was just a way for me to meet lots of hot Latin woman!

great thread.

There's some good points in this thread.....here's a few to add...

You spend more time at work than at home.....if you want a good rewarding and happy life you NEED to be happy at work....

was that big enough.....

My view on life........wake up happy....

that to me is worth more than money

It may take longer than you think before you find what you like...

or like me I enjoy everything---------for a while

mm so lets see...jobs

Instrument apprentice at a atomic research station
left for spain at 21 to teach windsurfing....
spent the winters backpacking around the world..
worked in key west at the windsurfing shop on Duval street two winters
Worked as a carpenter in Dade county after hurricane andrew
Worked on charter boats out of sunset harbour Miami beach 4 winters
Did my Padi instructors course in Ft Lauderdale
taught diving in Spain for 4 years
Worked as a boat fitter in Spain
Went back to the UK at 29 to get a real job.......

and worked as a builder
Set up my own contracting company and did engineering work..mostly design and installing specialised equipment
in Canada-UK-Iran-Libya-Turkey-Moscow-Western Siberia-Japan-Singapore-Java.......

Joined a small fiber optic startup company ended up in venezuela for 6 years...we were bought out by a large oilfield service company..

1 year in Houston doing latin american sales
transfered again to Colorado to manage a large project for Shell

No 1 year later and I'm off again...managed to get out of going to Baku.....now its gonabe bakersfield California for a year....

Bored ...no way.........hardworking yes

lucky yes

where next who know's

Balistics placement technician. I spend hours in the relentless pursuit of the perfect 5 shot group. When not doing that I'm looking through a Mk IV at a tweaker who decided to shoot at his "old lady" and baricade himself in a trailer when the Police arrive :banghead:

Retired at 48 and working a knockoff management job for the next year while I decide where to move. Life is good.

garrett said:

But I think when I started coming in 2 hours early to work just to have the place to myself was a good indicator that things were not going well. a few months of that and I was gone.

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Holy shit, Garrett. That's what I'm doing. I'm waking up at 5 am to get into work and I don't need to. And I even hate the mornings. Reading that kinda freaked me out....it's confirming what I think I already knew.

I think you need to be my mentor. Or maybe just let me stalk you for awhile.

yep. then once i heard that door open my stomach just about hit the floor. i would do what i could to enjoy the day. that usually came around 10am when i headed down to Church Street and got my oatmeal raisin cookie and Nantucket Nectors juice from the exceptionally cute girl at the bakery. that was the highlight of my day. well the weekends spent at Stowe or The Shed Brewery helped out too.
i eventually left and took a few more years to sort out some things.

you'll move on either way. i live in a version of Neverland Ranch, but we have more Mexican's, cattle and sheep than MJ did. minus the little boys in the bedroom too. it might be exciting to some, but rather dull to others. so stalking me might not be so much fun.

i am seriously thinking of buying one of these and 50 acres. www.tumbleweedhouses.com

LiftedDisco said:

Take the number of hours you spend at work in a week. Add the hours spent getting there and back, the hours spent getting ready to go to and the hours spent recovering afterwards.

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Averaging hours for a year, I MAX at 40 per week. Next week, I'll work about 6 hours, the week after, probably 65.
Hours spent getting there & back: about 1 hour per day, in my ROVER!
Getting ready & recovery: that happens during my commute.
So, in a year with 8760 hours,

7 hours sleeping per day, average
8 hours working (5 of 7)
1 hour commuting (5 out of 7 days)

That leaves me 8 hours a day to sit in the garage & look at my truck, or to surf the web, or whatever.
Annually, (9 hrs for work/commute * 260 days) ignoring my 20+ days of paid time off, and 6 or so paid holidays = 2340 hrs
(7 hours for sleep * 365) = 2555 hrs
4895 hrs used out of 8760 available leaves me 3865, or 44% AFTER I sleep.
I'm cool with that.
Plus, I like my job.

In short, I currently work for the Canadian Government

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.......ahem..........if you work for the Canadian Government....you are already retired. :victory:


I've had a lot of different jobs in the past, had a few businesses....some did well, others not so well.....made a living off my hobbies and interests for awhile and learnt alot of new skills everytime. (diversity....I agree!)

I ended up working for a fortune 500 company in Toronto with people I respected......but as I got into my late 30's (still there) my wife and I decided money isn't what drives us so we quit our corporate jobs and moved back to a small town where we both grew up and so far have been loving it......

now I design training programs in the safety industry and work on my photography and graphic design both as a hobby and a sometimes business (on my terms).