It's 9:40 on Sunday night, and I just finished working.

[Redstone]

Though, I have to admit, I didn't start until 10 AM today.

NOT asking for any pity, goddamn it (I know what a lucky son of a bitch I am); just letting anyone who's thinking of starting their own business, that owning a business is not a day at the beach...if you don't get the work done, you don't get paid. And there are no paid sick days or snow days or vacation days.

Still, it beats the hell out of having a job, so if you want to go out on your own, take the chance and do so. Just be realistic in your expectations.

Redstone

[LynzM]

1. 10 a.m. sounds wonderful :)

:hi:

If I ever start my own business, I'll make sure to take all your suggestions and warnings to heart, dude.

How much snow did you guys wind up with? That was our job today, clearing out the 16" we got from the driveway, the (Redstone-approved?) old-fashioned way, sweat and shovels!

[Redstone]

3. We ended up with just about a foot. And, after much haranguing,

I think I may have gotten Mrs R to understand New England Winter Mode: If it's late in the winter, you only shovel what you HAVE to shovel, because the rest is going to melt in a couple of weeks.

For Chrissake, we have room for six cars in our driveway, and only two cars to put in it. That means we don't have the shovel the whole damn thing, unless we're some kind of Neat Nuts, right?

And by the way, forget the shovels. I'll approve anything that saves work...bring on the snowblowers and plows!

Redstone

[DS1]

5. Snowblowers are one of the best investments you can make

especially if you have to get somewhere in a hurry, you can have your driveway cleared 'real' quick

[Redstone]

7. Even better is to hire someone with a plow truck. And if you have to

go somewhere quick in a snowstorm, you haven't planned well...you always have several days' warning which should be plenty of time to get to the liquor store.

Redstone

[DS1]

8. Or you could need to go to the doctors

which throws planning out the window, which was my original intent - not runs to the liquor store

sheesh

[Redstone]

9. Nah. Doctor visits can wait. Broken bone? You can stand that overnight.

Only exception is late in the term of a pregnancy. You got one of those around the house, you gotta be ready do go all the time.

Redsotne

[LynzM]

11. Ah, yes...

You have seen our driveway; we have to shovel the whole damn thing, especially since we have a tenant, and all. Oh well! The munchkin and the dog sure think it's fun!

Just for you:

Crazy dog in the snow


Me and the bug, out playing!

[Hissyspit]

2. Go post a picture in my pic thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x4735183

You'll feel better!

[redwitch]

4. self employed here

married to a self employed man. we work long hours, we pay our own health insurance, and we agree that it aint no day at the beach! that being said, we could never work for someone else, ever again. :hi:

[flvegan]

6. Try doing it as a charity.

My own business...yeah, right. I get donations, sure, and I'm uber-thankful for them. However, knowing that it's your performance AND begging skills that bring in that dough...not a day at the beach, either.

Cheers, dude.

[Redstone]

14. You mean you run a non-profit for a living?

I salute you, then. That's a damn hard dollar right there.

But remember that I spend 20% of my professional time working pro bono for non-profits and charities; if there's anything your organization needs that I can do, a PM will get me started.

Redstone

[no name no slogan]

10. Formerly self-employed, and it's damn hard work

I got into web development about six months before the dot-com balloon deflated. I one pretty good year, and several very very bad years where I made < $5000/yr, even though I was working 80+ hours/week.

It takes a certain type of person to be self-employed-- one who can not only do their job well, but can sell themselves well, too. Unfortunately for me, I was good at the former, but not very good at the latter.

Not all was lost, though. I learned quite a lot. For one thing, I'm an awful manager of people. I'm quite happy to be a creative, problem-solving self-starter and not have to worry about telling everyone else what to do. I like to be on the team, but leading it is too much of a headache.

Congrats on your day-- sounds like you made some progress! :hi:

[Flaxbee]

12. can I ask?

what do you do? (if that's too private, no biggie - just wondering).

We (husband and I) do international projects but with piss-off-every-other-country-in-the-world boy genius office, it's gotten to be a challenge so we'll probably do some local media/technology consulting. Looooong days, indeed.

[Redstone]

13. I own an advertising agency. "Business-to-business" only, no consumer

or commercial work. "Advertising," these days, covers not only print ads, but also printed and pdf catalogs, websites, trade show booths, and so on. You can go to www.rileycomms.com if you want to see what we do...it's not private.

Like I said, hang in there with what you and your husband are doing. In the end, it beats having a job, yes?

Redstone

[Flaxbee]

16. oh hell yes, being self-employed is wonderful!

no complaints here... just some long and stressful days, but they're MY long and stressful days! ;-)

[Akoto]

15. I sympathize with you, Redstone.

I'm 21, and I am self-employed as a provider of voice over services. Advertisements, radio, commercials, animations, etcetera. Everything I had was put into setting up a home studio, and I'll be spending years working hard enough to build a clientele, just to have any hope of recouping the initial expenses!