Oh! To work from home...

So I'm sitting here at work, tired of fixing everyone else's problems, day dreaming about working for myself from home.

I could wake up and start whenever I want, leave my hair a mess and start working with morning breath, not have to listen to everyone else's crappy music, not sit in traffic 40 minutes for a 20 minute drive, work on my own machines, not have other people crash my machines, not be stuck appeasing the quality guys, not having to wait on their precious CMM, go home when I want, take off when I want, buy the machines that I want, buy the tools how I want, organize the shop how I want, and make the parts that I want...

But then, I'd have to run parts myself, inspect the parts myself, clean the shop myself, buy the tools myself, buy the material myself, find the work myself, reorder the tools myself, buy bolts myself, fix the machines myself, inspect the parts myself, eat all the scrap myself, deliver parts myself, bill the customers myself, collect from the customers myself, when the machine crashes - blame myself, when the machines break - fix it myself, work day shift, work night shift, work weekends, lose out on paid vacations, holidays, 401K, health, vision, and dental insurance, and if I'm lucky, even pay myself.

But I still woudn't have to sit in traffic every day...

Sorry, it's just a venting of thoughts. I guess if I really had the money to buy the machines and open up shop, I'd just invest it and hang out on the beach anyway...

Well, you summarized it very well. It really sucks, but it does have its perks.

If I had to do it over again, I would have quit my job a few years sooner. I hate working for people who think they know it all. Oh, wait, I do that now!

Josh

Jashley, you hit that one dead centre, and you're clued up enough to know the grass isn't always greener.

A word of caution, if do go on your own there's virtually no going back to working for someone else, in effect you become unemployable.

Me? I wouldn't commute for all the tea in China, let alone work for anyone else.

No, no, the idea is to own a tremendously profitable machine shop, with other people doing all the things you listed. You just sit back and rake in the profits. Hey, we were dreaming, right?

Limy Sami said:

Jashley, you hit that one dead centre, and you're clued up enough to know the grass isn't always greener.

A word of caution, if do go on your own there's virtually no going back to working for someone else, in effect you become unemployable.

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Why is that? I've been thinking of jumping off into the deep end and spending some time developing my own products.. How would that eliminate employment if I end up falling on my ass?

Since we are day dreaming, I'm going to run a fabulously profitable fab shop. We'll TIG/bend/rig/test nothing but the most exclusive race vehicles- Trophy Trucks, Class 1, Cup cars, rock buggies, big dollar prerunners.

Steelphil said:

Why is that? I've been thinking of jumping off into the deep end and spending some time developing my own products.. How would that eliminate employment if I end up falling on my ass?

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I imagine it reduces your bullshit-immuno tract to the likes of nothing.

Steelphil said:

Why is that? I've been thinking of jumping off into the deep end and spending some time developing my own products.. How would that eliminate employment if I end up falling on my ass?

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Don't shoot me, this is how it generally is.

A lot of places won't want to know you because - they know you are only applying out of neccesity - if you hadn't gone pop you wouldn't be there?? .........you know too much about how a business works, ...... having run your own show, you tend not to be very good at taking orders from others, you probably know more technicaly than their line managers, and if you've still got your shop at home they can be paranoid about you taking their customers and or taking things that don't belong to you, etc etc etc.

So this is how I'm thinking it should go down...

-Apply for a credit card and buy myself some nice tools. You know, calipers, height gage, gage blocks, all that good stuff...
-Buy new machines, and maybe a robot or two, and finance 100%
-Knock on some doors, rake in some killer jobs...
-Contract the AE's from the machine dealers to setup, tool up, and prove out the parts
-Sit in a lawn chair sippin' coffee - no - sweet tea, and use my new fancy calipers to check my killer parts coming off my brand new machine. (Yes, there will be a flat-screen on the wall facing my chair...) "Yup part's are good!"
-Buy some fancy labels and boxes online, have them shipped to my doorstep (you know, so I don't have to do any of that...) and drop my killer parts in the box.
-Call UPS, have them pick up my parts and deliver them to the customer. (again, so I don't have to do any of that...)
-Profit $$$
-Pickup my new iPhone and make a few calls "blah blah blah, sure I'll make your parts for a million dollars..... Yup, no problem, I'll take my time...."
-Contract AE's again...
-Repeat...
-Success $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


I mean, what could go wrong? Right?

Jashley73 said:

I mean, what could go wrong? Right?

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Please can I have your dealers phone #

The biggest problems with owning the place:
1. right now you work, you leave, you have a separate life outside the shop
1a. as owner you may physically leave the building but you NEVER get a day off, its always on your mind
2. as an employee there are always" those in control" to blame
2a. as owner, its almost always your fault
3. as an employee you get paid overtime
3a. as an owner you work however many hours you have to to hopefully get paid at all after the power, insurance, employees, suppliers, etc.

My life was much simpler working for someone else but I don't know if I could go back to it... too many dilbertism's are real.

WILLEO6709 said:

...................... too many dilbertism's are real.

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Ain't that the truth....

Jashley73 said:

So I'm sitting here at work, tired of fixing everyone else's problems, day dreaming about working for myself from home.

I could wake up and start whenever I want, leave my hair a mess and start working with morning breath, not have to listen to everyone else's crappy music, not sit in traffic 40 minutes for a 20 minute drive, work on my own machines, not have other people crash my machines, ....

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Pretty much all true except for the part about "I could wake up and start whenever I want"...

The reality of self-employment could not be further from that. I was self employed for over 30 years. People used to say "It must be nice to only work when you want." To which I replied, "That's true provided that you always want to work". It doesn't matter if it's Christmas or your kid's birthday. If you run a small business it is all consuming.

It's only for those for whom the alternative that is more ghastly and unpalatable than working all the time... is working 8 hours per day for the other guy.

Do it if you want. Do it if you can. But do not romanticize it. The reality of doing it will not allow it.

If were day dreaming here F it. I'm selling my machines, shop and all. Going to open a custom female only bathing suit shop on some sunny beach close to the beach bar!

Hell as long as I am going to fight to get paid, worry about finding the next work order, be sure everyone gets paid, I might as well enjoy some eye candy.

Coming up on 18 years since I quit my job, sold my house, moved in with in-laws and started out on my own.

Started out working from home (in-laws with wood stove heat, no internet, and cows to tend), living the dream as they say - yes that is what it has been . . .

Then you have a really successful product - your customer gets bought by a multi-national and they say your stuff is crap and they are going with a big established company - you get depressed for a week, then you get a call and they say that after reviewing the two options, they decide to go with you and they want to order what equates to your prior two years gross sales in the next week. . . .

You hire a couple of people - (they all work out fabulously) . . . you discover that you can't fire someone with cause who comes to work drunk because it isn't in the employee handbook that they cant come to work drunk . . .

(all the while thinking to yourself "I need an employee handbook?!?!" . . . )

Develop another great product and Vlad the impaler (atty for Proctor and Gamble) decides to send you a nasty letter via. registered mail implying that you are infringing on a patent . . . So you get to put food on the table for a team of attorneys to get it figured out that you don't infringe - Vlad doesn't care "We will sue you out of existence and then go out for dinner and drinks" is his reply . . .

Fast forward a few years - 27,000 square foot building, 49 employees, 22 mile commute . . . what happened to working at home?

Yes - owning a business is a dream (and it builds character ), I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

I like the part where I have equipment worth hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands in receivables, tens of thousands in POs , yet there are times that I don't have the cash to buy a cheese burger. This is the dream...

ewlsey said:

I like the part where I have equipment worth hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands in receivables, tens of thousands in POs , yet there are times that I don't have the cash to buy a cheese burger. This is the dream...

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First order of business is to buy a 50# sack of pinto beans and the same of rice back in the corner of the store with the wic sign on them.

WILLEO6709 said:

2a. as owner, its almost always your fault

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Just guessing that Jashly is married, he should be used to that part already....


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

ewlsey said:

I like the part where I have equipment worth hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands in receivables, tens of thousands in POs , yet there are times that I don't have the cash to buy a cheese burger. This is the dream...

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Jan 2010... Bottom of the recession.... We have checks comming in late - if at all... Occasionally taking in scrap to make a payment if the checks didn't come in in time. Not going out and having fun. Definitely living in survival mode. ...and here we were getting our stuff around for taxes.

I had to turn in my "inventory" numbers.

I came up with $70K between raw stock, WIP, and finished goods on the shelf.

Oh - Mamma was NOT a happy camper!

40 minute drive to work?
... I don't think so ...


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

ewlsey said:

I like the part where I have equipment worth hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands in receivables, tens of thousands in POs , yet there are times that I don't have the cash to buy a cheese burger. This is the dream...

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Yeah.... but you could buy that cheeseburger, if people would PAY YOU ON TIME!

toolmaker76 said:

Yeah.... but you could buy that cheeseburger, if people would PAY YOU ON TIME!

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I could call the bank and get a burger advance.

I don't even mind the late payers, I just don't like not knowing when it will come in. It's bad when a check shows up and I have to dig to figure out what it's even for.