It’s a little over one month since I left my day job to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams, where I decided to give myself six months to see if I can make it as a self-employeed entrepreneur.
As I sit at my computer at 12:23AM Monday morning, finishing up some work for a Stranger Studios client, I realize there’s never going to be “a good time” to hit the blog. I’ve been neglecting this part of my [whatever you call this] waiting for a quiet moment that will never come. So I just have to write. Right now.
I want to talk about time management. When I set out on this journey, I told myself I would divide my time evenly among my various interests: 1/3 for Stranger Studios client work, 1/3 for WineLog development and expansion, 1/3 for InvestorGeeks writing and development, and another 1/3 for smaller internal projects. (Yes, I know that adds up to 4/3. Why not continue to give 133% to my work?)
I’ve so far been over-weighted with “client work” (aka “pays the bills” work) and not spending enough time working on my own projects (see the right sidebar there). I’m wondering if I have really managed to escape “the man” or if I have just traded down for a different kind of “man”.
Still, I have to confess, that things are still much much better started working for myself. For instance:
- I see Kim and the cats nearly every day now.
- I’m working from home. Regularly sleeping in until 9am, going to the gym more often (mid day), and eating better (Kim’s cooking).
- I have actually spent more time working on personal projects over the past month than I have in previous months. Even though I’m not working on things as much as I had hoped, this is an improvement.
- I’ve had one of the best vacations of my life a few weeks ago in Maine. With -3 personal (PTO) days at the old job, I never would have been able to go to Maine this summer. Other bonuses include mid-week trips to the dentist and barber shop. And equally important (ok, more important) are the extra trips I’ve taken to see family and friends.
- Upon further thought, working for my new clients is by far more rewarding than the work I was doing before. So while I’m not exactly building my empire with every waking moment, I do get to put my own personal badge on the work I’m doing through Stranger Studios and the work is generally more interesting to me too. I can’t wait until some of my more recent projects are finished, so I can start writing about them on the Stranger Studios blog.
What are some things I had hoped to accomplish by now (and will strive to accomplish by the end of the next month)?
- I had hoped to have new health insurance by now. After applying for one plan, I was turned down because they had my address wrong and after fixing it realized that they don’t service residents in my county. I’ve applied for another plan, but it’s taking forever for the paper work to go through. Also, I thought I had cancelled my old insurance, but just received a bill for it on Friday. I don’t know if I should be happy of the fact that I was indeed covered for this past month or upset that I have to pay for something I tried to cancel.
- No new blog yet. I’m still running this old (if sentimental) custom CMS engine. Besides writing for the Stranger Studios blog more, I wanted to move this personal blog to a WordPress setup. All that’s keeping me from doing this is wanting to preserve these old posts (sniff sniff) and knowing that I will be required to put in a decent chunk of time making the design of the new blog kick ass enough for public consumption.
- I still haven’t written something which has not or will not end up on a blog. A poem, a short story, a book… anything. Bonus points for fiction. Bonus points for including material from the stuff I wrote in college.
- I actually haven’t yet returned my old work laptop and security badge. No one has contacted me yet; although I stopped reading company emails a couple weeks ago. The laptop’s come down with a pretty bad virus and I still haven’t backed everything up yet. In general, I’ve been pretty lousy to my ex-coworkers, who haven’t received a proper good-bye email from me. Some who deserve it haven’t had a call from me yet. Bad friend!
So that’s it (or part of it). Month 1 of my 6 month experiment is through. I’ve learned that this style of living is worth pursuing. I’ve also learned that I need to get my act straight, get my priorities in order, get my routine down (although a flexible routine is one of the bigger reasons for choosing this path), and continue to work hard so I can enjoy this life I’ve chosen.