Free from 9 to 5

I know I said I’ve cut down on reading blogs and forums to free up more time towards working on my software project. And I have. But today, I discovered a site where I spent the better part of an hour pouring through: Design Outpost. It is a forum based site, but the forums are for people looking for a graphic designer to custom design a company logo or a website template for them. And the whole design process takes place right in the forums.

A customer pays a fee to post their logo design wants and needs in the forum. And designers respond with designs right in the forum. A few cycles of feedback and re-design take place, again right in the forum for all to witness. And finally, the customer decides on a designer to work with and the designer gets the fee, and I’m sure the website owners get a cut or something, but I didn’t look into the details of that.

Instead, I just marveled at the talented designers bidding for the customer’s work. And I especially liked seeing how the designs evolved based on the customer’s feedback. I’m not only in awe of the graphic designs I saw there, but also how I get to see the entire process out in the open. When I need a professionally designed logo in the future, Design Outpost is one of the first places I will consider.

I am more and more unenamored of a job in corporate America. It bugs me that there are so many sheep here. A manager says do this by this deadline and people scramble to meet the deadline. It’s admirable, really, from one perspective, but pathetic from another. Why are you stressing yourself out for? I know you need to keep your job to make money and earn a living, but is it worth sacrificing your dignity and life doing someone else’s bidding for someone else’s gain?

I used to be one of these sheep. I never liked it, but I did it. My upbringing in the Asian tradition of blindly listening to and obeying authority contributed to this. And you could say I’m still a corporate sheep and I wouldn’t argue. But for the first time in my employed life, I have a deadline, but I’m not scrambling. I just plod along everyday doing what I can. I didn’t get any say in when the deadline shoud be; if I miss the deadline, so be it. So some bigwig won’t get as big a bonus, big deal. So a product gets delayed to market, what do I care? So profits are possibly lost; I don’t see any of the profit anyway, do you think I give a damn? What’s the worst that can happen? I get chewed out, I’ll repent with the proper amount of contrition. They fire me, I’ll work on my own software fulltime for a few months and see how it goes. Or failing that, I can always find another job. It’s not the end of the world. In fact, it may be the beginning of a better one.

I’m glad to say I reverted back to my daily showering schedule now. It was just the past 2 weeks that I really wanted to get stuff done that I needed to find more time.

And I will always need more time, but for the past 2 weeks, I especially needed big chunks of uninterrupted time. This is more due to my working style than anything. When I get into the flow, I don’t want to be interrupted. But I think the bulk of my software application is done and I’m tending to the details now that don’t require as many big chunks of uninterrupted time.

I’ve been working on this software idea of mine everyday this week, whenever I can between my 9 to 5 job and other obligations. But there are no longer enough hours in a day for me to do everything I want. So I’ve cut off TV (except for Smallville on Wednesdays and The Apprentice on Thursdays; I’m addicted to those two shows!). And I’ve cut half an hour to an hour into my sleep everyday. And most embarassing of all, my hygiene has suffered a bit.

I usually take a shower everyday without fail. I like feeling clean. But for the time being, I want more time, so I take showers every one and a half days. Monday morning, Tuesday evening, Thursday morning, Friday evening, Sunday morning, Monday evening, etc. So every two days or so, I don’t shower the entire day and devote that little bit of extra time to my project. I’m normally not a sweaty smelly person, so this new shower schedule doesn’t affect my hygiene too much (I don’t think).

Update 4/25/2005: I forgot to mention that forum/blog reading has also been cut about 70%. I used to spend 2-3 hours throughout a day just reading forums and other people’s blogs. Now I let new blog entries accumulate in Bloglines and just read them once or twice a week. Along with cutting out TV, this one has been a major time saver!

I have an idea. Very fitting and timely, after my last post. But I have an idea and I’m working on it now. Nothing ground shattering, but a simple viable software app idea, inspired by a fellow blogger who I shall give credit to later on. Watch this space for an announcement, maybe within 4 or 5 weeks.

I’ve been trying to get myself free from 9 to 5 job mainly by thinking of a business I can create and grow, but there are other ways. One that I’ve touched upon is to really love what you’re doing. If you can find a job you are passionate about, it won’t feel like a 9 to 5 job. However, I feel this isn’t the right path for me to take. I’ve had 4 jobs in 8 years, and at every one, I started feeling the boredom and futility at the 6 month mark. You might say I’m in the wrong line of work (software), but I don’t think so. I really like writing software, especially embedded software, where the programs I write actually cause something physical to happen like move a motor or cause an LED to light up or scan in a bar code. I would be writing software even if I didn’t have to. So I think I’m in the right line of work, but the wrong environment. I value my time and would like more control over it.

Another way I would feel free from a 9 to 5 job is to work part-time, but have passive streams of income, where you have money coming in with little or no work. I would include things like an appreciating stock portfolio or selling digital goods over the Internet in this category. Pick the right stocks, grow my investment and sell. Or set up a website selling something that can be downloaded and just administer the site every now and then. But picking stocks is HARD and I haven’t been successful at that. And I’m working on the digital goods idea, but haven’t come up with anything viable so far.

An extension of selling digitals goods is for me to write a software product and sell it myself. A little more work than just selling an e-book or some other digital information, but this would probably be the business that holds the most promise for me as a software developer. But again, the initial idea is what’s missing. So I’m still reading, exploring, studying and hoping. Waiting for that spark of an idea that might lead to my freedom from a 9 to 5 job. Apparently, I am not alone.

Not only are individual Americans not prepared to compete globally (see last post), corporations who are off-shoring are also ill-prepared for globalization. This article exposes the short term thinking of corporations engaged in off-shoring. All off-shoring accomplishes is lower short term labor costs (and increase profit for the next X quarters), but does nothing in terms of strategy and future positioning. In fact, off-shoring may be the wrong strategic move. American corporations are essentially training a foreign workforce that, in a few years, will attain the required skills to compete against them. But corporations have become infamous for their short term drive to meet Wall Street numbers, so I wouldn’t expect any change in their “strategy”. So what can we, not being corporate drones, do to put ourselves in a position to take advantage of corporate non-action in this area? I don’t have the answers, but hoping someone smarter than me does.

This NY Times article (dumb registration required) is sobering. I’ve been talking about how much I would like to be free from a 9 to 5 job. After reading this article, I may have to start talking about how much I NEED to be free from a 9 to 5. The Internet has advanced globalization like nothing else before. Corporations are off-shoring not only because it is cheaper, but because the workers in India, China, etc., are hungrier for jobs, work harder and, in many cases, are as smart, if not smarter, than American workers (a result of the failings of our educational system). Corporations as we know them may indeed disappear; they’ll become shells of companies with the meat in other countries. There is no such thing as a patriotic corporation. Hence, the NEED to be free from a 9 to 5 job as soon as possible, not just the desire. Read the article. It examines the many factors contributing to globilization and how individual Americans are ill-prepared to compete globally.

The United States does not require private employers to give employees any vacation. That they do so is left entirely to each employers’ discretion. The European Union, on the other hand, mandates 4 weeks of vacation for employees. Spain and France take it even further and prescribe 30 days and 5 weeks of vacation, respectively. Even the Ukraine has a minimum vacation time of 24 days.

As baby boomers retire and younger workers take their place, I don’t think younger workers will be satisfied with the typical 10-14 days of vacation time per year. We have had the luxury of examining our purpose and place in the world, and corporate America is seldom the place we want to be. Employers will have to adjust, or they may soon find their young workforce leaving in droves to make their own way in the world. I, for one, would welcome a transition in the business world away from corporatism. To what, I don’t know. But I hope to be among the escapees when it happens.

Read Part I of this interview here.

How hard/easy was the transition from a 9 to 5 job to running your own business? Did you have other means of support while you were getting your business off the ground (part-time job, spouse, etc.)?

My husband finished veterinary college in 1997; that is when I quit working full time. He has supported our family since then, so I had the ability to start this business without needing to work another job to pay our bills. (If I didn’t have 4 kids, I could have started this business by working nights and weekends on it…)

Aside from the demands of child rearing, I just couldn’t face going back to work for a boss again. I doubt I will ever do that unless I have absolutely no choice. It doesn’t suit my temperament very well. I was lucky in my last 9 to 5 job that I had a great deal of autonomy in my daily work, or I would not have lasted that long.

Are there things you miss about a 9 to 5 job?
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