DOD WEEK 7 Career

RuleZeroDAD · 2017-05-15T18:22:48+00:00

I'm a Gen X'er with a healthy level of distrust.

My accomplishments are my own, and I give credit to absolutely no one when it comes to "influences in my life." My parents valued winning in areas they understood, and gave none to things outside their frame of reference. Sports - Yeah. Academia - Nada.

First child to go to college. Everything after that was all me.

With that mindset entering the workforce, I decided early on, that an employer would not dictate my time beyond what I found reasonable. Sure, starting out at BigLaw, I worked the 70+ hour weeks to meet billable requirements all associates were expected to achieve. I also had a vapid wife who like the status and fucked me like her life depended on it.

As I had kids, my priorities changed, and when I heard the "loyalty" line used in assessing my performance one Christmas holiday season, I realized that no one gave a fuck about what happened to me or what I was worth outside of my profession.

So I quit and started my own practice. Nothing is more freeing than being able to tell a prospective client with a sketchy back-story "No." No. I'm not obligated to help you out. No. I think you're full of shit, and I value my reputation over your money. No. I simply don't want to.

I make more money, work fewer hours, vet my own clients, spend time with my kids, and please the person that matters most, me.

With that said, I want to retire, so as a self-employed person, recommend some very basic but overlooked things:

Contribute to a retirement plan. As a Self-employed person with my own PLLC, an SEP IRA suits me so well. Investigate your own best option, but plan to quit someday.
Get good insurance. Health and business both.
Be your best marketer. Always be closing when it comes to putting yourself out there. Have lots of high-quality cards. Build a good website with a mobile option.
Build and maintain a niche.
OWN THAT SHIT. Your business is a direct reflection of you, and if it fails, it's on you. Conversely, if you are wildly successful, your SO will be happy to share on "our" success. Fucking AWALT.

alphabeta49 · 2017-05-15T19:03:18+00:00

Starting a business. Going from +/-$30k/yr (single income family) to anywhere from $60-180k/yr, depending on the contracts I can land. And I'm already directly connected to the best paying contract out there. I've got a great team of consultants, tax guys, and other professionals who are personally helping me out and doing me favors. Lots of people believe in my vision because I've passionately sold it to them. It's just a matter of time til launch,

I am beyond excited to go from shit pay with a shit schedule behind a shit desk... to being my own boss (similar to a landlord), making my own schedule, and making as much money as I'm willing to invest in. They say money doesn't buy happiness. But just doing better in my career helps.

I'm tempted to regret wasting the last several years treading water and not actually going anywhere. But those years served as the foundational network to launch into this new venture.

weakandsensitive · 2017-05-17T05:47:22+00:00

Some of you guys know the story.

Ph.D. Turning 31 this year. Been at the company for about a couple of years. Hit the 100k mark by 30, which was a goal. It felt nice and was good to accomplish that goal. The next 100k doesn't matter - I want that PJ life to be an option without taking on too much risk. But really, if I stay at 100k with high job satisfaction and the 5 minute drive, I think that's a pretty good trade-off too.

The corporate world is for me. I love it. I love the intricacies and complexities of figuring out how to get shit down and how to make money. The notion that talent doesn't get rewarded that people like to have is totally wrong. People are going to get treated exactly how they let themselves be treated.

The question is - how do you become an executive at a fortune 500 company? Baseline criteria is credentials and a demonstrated history of success. What does succeeding mean? Honestly, success, in my naivest view, is about managing expectations and properly selling a story.

It's currently in year 2 of a 7 year plan (with adjustable timelines). Adding value to peers, building credibility, and a list of things I can point to as accomplishments. Making connections with different parts of the business to bring a broader view and taking charge of the things I care about. I have a space that I'm in control of for sure, but my current role provides a lot of flexibility for me to go and learn about how to be better - things like, how do we help our sales channels? how does upper management look at situations/what do they care about, etc.?

I'm starting on an early career employee initiative. I think it will go well. I've gotten it green lit and the VP of the division (4 levels above me) is going to be the first headliner, which I think it cool as beans. I'm effectively doing the things I've done that have helped me the most (getting career advice from execs, for example).

Right now, the company is investing in me as an employee, providing me the opportunity to grow. I think as long as that continues to happen, I'll be satisfied in my job. The company has a partnership with a top-10 mba program. I'm hoping to participate in that program in the next 2-3 years.

Lots of millenials like to bitch about work. I don't. I love work. It's one of the most red pill environments I can think of. I have yet to meet an executive or successful senior individual who's looks at anything but themselves as the sole barrier to their success or failure. I've felt successful that not only do I work for work, work also works for me. Wouldn't have it any other way. Add value, expect value, get value.

It's kind of cool. I'm just as open at work as am I anywhere else in life. I make no judgments on others and have no issues presenting my world views. It's been effective for me so far. We'll see if it changes. If it does, you'll see it in OYS.

wn36 · 2017-05-15T19:21:35+00:00

Won't say exactly what I do because of doxxing but I too took a job almost 2 years ago that allows me far more ability to manipulate my schedule and pays more in the long term.

At the previous job, I was 34 and maxed out on pay. Job functions required extra work outside of and unrelated to my main area of expertise. I had to play the political game, walk on egg shells, watch what I said and constantly had to watch my back/cover my ass. It was exhausting. I was there for 11 years.

The new job requires only that I do what I am trained to do and nothing more. I come in, do my work and go home. No calls related to work outside of work, no extra duties, no politics or ass covering. Hell, my bosses don't even know who I am. I can move my work days around and to make time for family functions. In the 2 years I've been here, I've gone on family vacations 3x allowing for fond memories that I would've have otherwise been able to make at the last job.

I took a massive paycut my first year to be able to do this. My lesson learned was that it's definitely not all about the money! Even with the paycut, me, my wife and my kids are happier because I can lead a low stress life. I quit drinking and started lifting and my whole life changed. Also, in the long term, earning potential is more than double what it was. Smart move all the way around.

Guys....don't be afraid to make a move. Close your eyes and jump in with both feet. Sometimes you have to take two steps back to take one gigantic step forward!

thunderbeyond · 2017-05-16T16:00:01+00:00

STEM field.

About a year ago I was invited to a conference on career development. They asked us to think of the parts of our current jobs, and our past jobs, that gave us the most enjoyment. For me, it was continual learning and new challenges. The realisation was, that whenever I was in a job and those parts weren't there, I got annoyed/unmotivated/lazy and left.

I'm in a job now where I have that, and I have worked hard to cultivate that. I do like my job, and I'm going to stay there. Fuck, I work quite a few unpaid hours just because I believe in what I do, and enjoy doing it. As long as those elements of continual learning and new challenges are there, that is.

As I read through the posts here already, I can see those elements of your career that are most important to you. Don't lose focus of these.

Edit: made my field of work more ambiguous.

addictedtoyourface · 2017-05-16T18:57:26+00:00

I'm in a cube job working for the MAN. I don't hate it, I don't love it. I'm sticking it out so my kids don't have to pay for my mistakes.

Earlier this year I started two notebooks. One documenting everything I want out of life (everything, even completely ridiculous things). The second, documenting what steps I'm taking to achieve those things.

I have a hobby that I love doing, and I'm looking to turn it into a business some day. I had my first paying customer (is a $50 bottle of whisky a real payment?) this year and motivated the hell out of me. I'm actively working towards making that my main source of income....it will be many years before that happens, but I'm taking steps away from the MAN and towards being independent.

black_jack_davy · 2017-05-15T22:06:03+00:00

I moved to a "bossless" position as teaching faculty, although I'm still embedded in a large university. The position is secure, and I've laid a lot of groundwork that will pay off in future semesters. I seriously expect to only need to work 30--40 hours per week moving forward, which gives me time to pursue outside projects (NOT goof off on Reddit :).

Things to work on:

Fix my productivity and workflow. Have made strides in this direction, and it's helping.
Start thinking about the medium term. Now that I'm out of triage for the semester, I need to lay out the plans for the next phase of my career and how I'll get there.

lidlredridinghood · 2017-05-15T23:09:20+00:00

Female role....

I work in health care, have a private practice. It's growing slowly, I'm about to raise my prices for new clients. That is 10-15 hours a week.

I have smoother small, 1 woman business making custom clothes. This is just starting, bud already I'm raising my rates to keep my hours low. That's anther 10-15 hours a week.

I may get another hustle going, but currently my protested income for 2018 is 30k. I've talked to my captain a lot...he supports me working less, but enough to maintain financial independence. We both want me to be here, because we want me here. The goal is to be financially comfortable, with time to take care of myself and pamper him regularly.

ddin73 · 2017-05-16T17:11:49+00:00

I'm a UK based IT (business analyst) contractor operating through my own LTD company. When in work I get between £350-500/day+VAT (gross into the company). I didn't go to college, didn't finish school but worked in IT since 1999, went contract for myself in 2007 and never looked back.

I pay into a pension, tax free investment account (ISA) and am building an FX trading account as well as buying gold and bitcoin.

I love trading, have been doing it (and getting my ass handed to me) for about 8 years and only just starting to turn a corner after spending hours on a simulator practising 1000's of trades and just watching price to develop subconscious pattern recognition and that 'feel' for the market experienced traders have. Basically clocking up my 10,000 hours - it's like lifting and everything else, takes hours and patience and you just gotta fucking do it....

My main passion is music so I'm also putting a lot of time into getting my guitar skill up to pro/session level as well as learning and practising the production/tech side of it (any music producers here will know what I'm talking about) as well as some theory/keyboard and sampling and synthesis. Would rather focus on specialising on what I'm best at but right now it's all me. Here's a snippet of some of a track I'm working on ATM:

https://soundcloud.com/hedgefunk/grungy-20-snippet

Plan is to get my own stuff out there, collaborate with others, start a label, sign some good acts, invest in some studios etc - while playing the markets to help fund it all.

Seed money is coming from my day job - currently out of contract but got 2 interviews this week.

FrozenSoil · 2017-05-21T13:44:58+00:00

I work for, and with, family.

My father is owner and CEO, mother is CFO and that's it. Discussions have been had and hopefully within the next year or less I'll be having a portion of ownership within the company.

While I'm unsure about income, there is a secondary product we're developing in an entirely different market as a further processed byproduct that has serious (seven figures annually) revenue potential. That said, total capital investment will also be near or above seven figures. If the product does well there's the possibility of doubling our output with another half million or so in machinery and structures.

This is the plan moving forward. On top of my small cash crop operation and punching the clock, this could be a serious revenue stream that could put me where I want to be, which is simply comfortable.

Wife is carrying serious student loan debt, which we had hoped would be forgiven due to her work in the medical field and working for a non-profit. Turns out her place of employment doesn't qualify so we're still on the hook.

Currently, the biggest cost is childcare. 90% of my wife's take home income is absorbed by it and there's really no way around it. She carries the health insurance as well, so her leaving the workforce would be a net negative as the costs would still accrue for loan payments on an unused education and health insurance would be needed as well.

A few items can be cut from our budget but it would be back into an austerity mindset on the budget and it was mentally draining as we cut out even basic "pleasure" items. This was done only to keep our heads above water. I may need to revisit this, however as a way to find tools to tighten the belt once again.

Sl0wRideTakeItEasy · 2017-05-18T02:51:28+00:00

I am the very earliest of the millenials by most scales. Bounced around a lot for work as a full time employee looking for satisfaction and good pay for job requirements, never found it. STEM field, and with a wife and 2 kids and 3 months living expenses saved struck out on my own by starting a small business and contracting. Went wildly better than expected, and now I work 12-18 months and then stop and take 6-12 months off to do whatever I feel like (travel with the family mostly). Rinse and repeat.

We live simply- no car payments, no credit card debt, no need to keep up with the good-little-consumer neighbors.

Don't chase the dollar, chase the quality of life. If your monthly living expenses are low, it doesn't take a big income to have a great life.

Title	DOD WEEK 7 Career
Author	Scurvemuch
Upvotes	15
Comments	35
Date	May 15, 2017 5:47 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MarriedRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/marriedredpill/comments/6bbwsz/dod_week_7_career/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MarriedRedPill/dod-week-7-career.198821 https://theredarchive.com/post/198821

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