A close friend of mine left a cushy(6 figures) gig at IBM and went into business on his own 2 years ago (well he took me with him lol). It was a rough start – but we learned a ton and now we are both happier than ever. Making good money, tons of family time, and everything we do promotes our bottom line – not someone else’s.

It is also funny you mention consulting, because just recently as a side gig, my friend took a 1k a day consulting gig for his old employer. So don’t burn any bridges!

His story is here: Quit Your Job

It is good to see your post on this subject. Against all common sense it seems (given the environment) I left my job and struck out on my own at the beginning of this year.

I tend to make decisions based on what I want, rather than making them because of the things I am afraid of. Most actions are not entirely irreversible, so in the event that the worst-case scenario comes about, what would that look like? and could I cope with it? If the answer is yes, then off I go.

Tony Byrne wished me luck on my new ‘Indie venture’ and although I hadn’t thought of it in those terms he’s right, that’s exactly what it is. So now income-production (i.e. my job) is comprised of consulting around and writing about content, information and knowledge management; working on a graphic novel in which the heros travel through time to save the future of the planet and, painting pictures, drawing and making art in general.

I’d be kidding you and myself if I said the money was streaming in, it’s been a tough month for sure. Still I’ve managed to keep the roof over my head and the food on the table, and I’ve not regretted the decision for a minute.

I love nothing more than to see people doing what they want. While there are some baseline considerations which Maslow and Herzberg will happily tell you about (roof overhead, food on the table), it is refreshing to see you moving up their scale of needs and bringing life experience into the fore. We can be so busy being ’safe’ that the very term becomes an oxymoron. If you were 80 years old and providing advice to yourself, what would that be?

I look forward to hearing more from you.

Regards
Cairo

A much better approach would be to stay in your day job and start marketing yourself now by giving seminars, making presentations at workshops, etc. When the people you are presenting to start coming to you to ask if you can do some work for them … then — ah, then! — you can safely consider working as a consultant.

Of course, if you just want to be a contract programmer then there are numerous body shops willing to do the marketing for you (at, of course, their standard and indefensible uplift of your rates to them).