The following is the first staff post by Shondell from Call Me What You Want, Even Cheap. Please join me in welcoming her to the site!
Cubicle 2 (Photo credit: El Negro Magnifico)
I have done the 7-3, 8-4 and 9-5 over the course of my career. Working 9-5 seems to be the standard for which most people refer to a 8 hour office job. It has gotten a bad wrap over the last few years because of the amount of layoffs and company closures. This has caused people to seek entrepreneurial opportunities over the years.
I no longer work a regular 8 hour shift, but if I had to go back to the office, which I never plan on doing again, I would go back to 7-3. Although 7:00am was extremely early for me to start work because it meant I had to be up at 5:00am, it was awesome to finish at 3:00pm when half of the world still had 2 more hours to go. It was also great for avoiding rush hour. In early and out early! I remember feeling like I had the whole day ahead of me when I would get off at 3:00pm. Probably because I could still make my doctor and dentist appointments without having to take a day off of work.
Working from home
Now I have the luxury of working from home and meeting clients through out the day. I call it a luxury because although my office life is completely different now, and I no longer go to an office for 8 hours and come home to do whatever I want. I must say the trade off is absolutely worth it. I work much more than 8 hours a day and sometimes I have to work on weekends, but I still wouldn’t trade it in for an office job.
I will say, working from home definitely takes some getting use to, especially if you’re not disciplined. But once you get into your own routine of what needs to get done, it makes life much easier. I always make sure my schedule is planned at least two weeks in advance which helps me to prepare my days. I then create a daily to do list. The to do list is really to help me plan for other activities outside of work such as blogging and my soon to be newly married life. I am a list girl, so a to do list is key for me.
Moving toward self-employment
Over the years I have noticed how much working from home has been preparing me to transition into self employment. A lot of the skills that I’ve learned on the job such as time management skills and focusing on the task at hand (because keeping the TV on and hearing Maury say “you are not the father” is really distracting! Haha) will help me a great deal when I become self employed.
It’s been a dream of mine to work for myself, which was one of the reasons why I decided to pay off my mortgage and car loan sooner than later. I have no desire at all to transition into self employment with debt.
Leaving my job is probably going to be the most difficult part. The job is great, but in my opinion once you get to a place where you’re bored and no longer being challenged, it’s time for a change, and my change will be self employment. I am preparing myself for the best exit strategy possible. In the mean time, I will just keep piling up cash until that time comes.
Once I am self employed, I don’t see my office life changing much from where it is right now. I will still work from home, meet with clients and do some travelling, which is similar to what I am doing now.
What type of office life do you have?
Thanks for the opportunity Kevin!
No problem! My office life right now is work at my desk, take a break for breakfast & lunch, catch up with the gf when she gets home, eat supper, more work at my desk, and take a break to go outside or get some exercise. đŸ˜‰
You have convinced me for a self-employed life. But I am rather afraid of the job security? I want to work freelance but somehow can’t muster enough courage to quit my day job and start working for myself. How did you do it?
You could try freelancing until you’ve made enough money from it to replace your income. The risk is much less than because you’re making the same money you were making when employed.
I have a great office life so I want to stay as long as I can. I’m too conservative to want to work for myself. It is a lot riskier in my opinion, especially since I have student loans to pay back.
Self employment is definitely not for everyone, which is fine. As long as you’re happy, that’s what’s most important.
My partner works a 6-2 and loves getting home early/skipping traffic.
I’ve worked everything from 6-2 to 5pm-1 and my share of double shifts. Right now I work a 9-5.30 and walk to work, and love it.