Changing Careers

[Guest Skinty]

Anyone who has a good idea for business should seriously consider going alone and making it happen

That's basically the conclusion I came up. Even if I was to retrain from scratch and start a new career, I'd still probably end up as a grunt but for someone else. Working for yourself on something long term isn't really working as you have the motivation and enthusiasm for doing it.

I spent many hours trying to figure out a sustainable lifestyle that would allow me to be contended. If I can achieve that then as far as I am concerned, I am rich.

I figured that if I start up my own business then it has to be something that will keep me interested so I can devote all my time to it. And preferably an idea that doesn't require a huge outlay of money to get it off the ground. Ideally something that can be ramped up slowly and which can prove itself financially viable before I take the plunge.

I decided that I really want to be living, semi self sufficient in the highlands of Scotland in some remote area while I do my own scientific research and my partner works the land. And to achieve this I need my research to pay for itself. I need to get rid of all debt and have some savings behind me. I need the tools in place and the knowledge and experience to make this work. That's what I have been working on these last few years.

[guitarman001]

I salute you, sir, for doing so well! I just seem to come to a mind-block when folks talk of starting businesses, online or otherwise. What I need is to learn of a few, how they started, the different ideas etc. Can't imagine many would be willing - I honestly can't think of many possible ventures, which is probably the problem.. never mind going about building the ideas for real!!

[Guest X-QUORK]

Have had a bash at breaking free from the office rat-race in order to have a crack at running a small business with my wife, two years later I'm back in the office. I won't go into the whys and wherefores, but a couple of quite important things should be considered when entering into business start-up. Firstly, financially you could lose everything and in fact, most new start-ups do. Secondly, wave goodbye to time off for the first year or two at least. This might seem inconsequential at first, but when you have a family it soon becomes a big deal.

Both negatives, but of course there are wonderful positives if you can make it work. I admire those who make a go of it and wish them the very best, but alas the majority don't get much beyond the first year.

[profitofdoom]

Have had a bash at breaking free from the office rat-race in order to have a crack at running a small business with my wife, two years later I'm back in the office. I won't go into the whys and wherefores, but a couple of quite important things should be considered when entering into business start-up. Firstly, financially you could lose everything and in fact, most new start-ups do. Secondly, wave goodbye to time off for the first year or two at least. This might seem inconsequential at first, but when you have a family it soon becomes a big deal.

Both negatives, but of course there are wonderful positives if you can make it work. I admire those who make a go of it and wish them the very best, but alas the majority don't get much beyond the first year.

In my youth I had what you might call a chequered career history (Two jobs in the same day!) Then I trained as an English teacher so made the obvious move from there.Been a second hand car dealer for 32 years.

[The Masked Tulip]

I used to do everything from installing and setting up all the hardware to writing the programs as well. Reason was I didnt want to fall in to the old situ of when something goes wrong the hardware comp blame the software comp and vice versa.

Plus I couldnt duplicate myself fixing many PC's so your hourly wage is limited to whatever you charge plus when dealing with retail aka the public especially, most expect you to fix it instantly. If you are charging £50 +vat and you need to reinstall the OS and customer files after a virus has got in, you could spend a few hours getting the PC back up to where it was. This is assuming taking the drive out, setting it as a slave and scanning for virii doesnt fix the problem for example of a common problem or sorting out wifi problems when no one knows the ISP username & PW details for example.

Yes, this is the problem... A simple virus removal can take a long time, especially if it a virus that stops the PC booting and, as you say, setting it as a slave to a healthy drive and running AV on it does not work.

Likewise, my linksys router began dying a few weeks ago and the wireless 'died' on Tues so, wanting to experiment, I ended up spending Wed and Thurs changing wireless settings, getting it to work with one PC but not the other, etc, etc - how could I have charged people for that. In the end, the cheaper and stress-less option was to go and buy a new router for 65 quid.

One point though, the problem is if you come from a corporate IT background is that you focus on fixing the problem and getting everything working perfectly. In the PC repair white van man game the secret, so I have been told, is to fix one thing and the one thing only, not allowing the users to get you to fix everything wrong with their home IT systems or you wanting to try anyhow... One job, one call-out charge, one solution.

Of course, easier said than done though.

[Guest Skinty]

In my youth I had what you might call a chequered career history (Two jobs in the same day!) Then I trained as an English teacher so made the obvious move from there.

[guitarman001]

In my youth I had what you might call a chequered career history (Two jobs in the same day!) Then I trained as an English teacher so made the obvious move from there.Been a second hand car dealer for 32 years.

Crikey, do you prefer that to teaching? I gather both are quite stressful!