After nearly 20 years of working for a small town Midwestern newspaper, surviving the good, bad and the ugly when it came to bosses and co-workers, enduring cockroaches crawling on my pica ruler (the newspaper building was rather a hovel), not to mention the lousy pay--the day came when I thought--there has to be something better than this. I want to run my own business and work for myself!
That day was my third day on the job.
But never one to make a hasty decision, I persevered for 19 more years working for someone else. And I'm glad I did.
If I had bailed when I wanted to--and I wanted to more times than I could count cockroaches--I would not have a successful advertising agency (which I run with my husband--more on that in future posts) today. I would not have the lifelong friends and mentors I treasure. Nor would I have had all the invaluable on-the-job-training I received during a technological time period that went from big blue Compugraphics, whose size rivaled a fish house, to virtual layout, design and communication on computers whose size rivals a pack of Dentyne gum.
What I'm saying is before you take that leap to self-employment there are things you have to know. Things no one else will tell you. Until now.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Yes, the leap! Hurry up with the next installment, the thing I HAVE to know.
ReplyDeleteI miss those fishhouse-sized tools. I just saw the latest Will Smith movie, Seven Pounds, which features a giant printer just about identical to the one Haas' ran at the HD. The good old days. :)
ReplyDeleteTell me about overcoming fear, will ya, sometime soon? Leaving the safety of a regular job is s-c-a-r-y.
Great blog. I can remember when the computer at Federated Insurance where I worked in the early '70's was as large as a room. I want to read more. I think a blog that starts out as good as this one does, should inspire others to make the leap to their own business. Can't wait for the next installment.
ReplyDelete