by Hope
Those who have followed me here know that the last few years have been absolutely insane job wise. I began as a contract worker in 2006 when my youngest son was 1 year old. That transition was the result of my desire to be home and raise my kids rather than traveling as I had done with my corporate IT job.
After losing my largest two clients who were with me 8+ years a couple of years ago, I made the decision to go back to corporate work. And thus the job search began…
Landing us here in Georgia after 13 years in Virginia. I thought I had a great W2 job. It wasn’t. Leaving me back as a contract worker in January and then unemployed in February of this year.
Make a Decision Already
I have really been floundering with direction the last couple of months:
- Find another corporate job and probably have to move again. I’ve applied for over 200 jobs all over the country since November when I posted what was going on at my W2 job.
- Take a local industrial job which would pay less but be steady. I have been minutes from accepting an overnight shift at a local plant. (Granted it was a 2 week temporary job.)
- Rebuild my consulting business. And recently I have begun really pursuing more consultant type work through sites like Guru, Upwork and other advertised part time and consultant type gigs.
In my opinion, one of the things that contributes to my lack of success is my indecision about what I want and need. What will work for our family.
Decision Made
As of last week, after three weeks at my new part time job, and several more job interviews and consultant successes, I have decided to pursue building my consultant business back up with a vengance.
But I’m also going to expand my offerings tremendously. One of the things I hope to add in a Young Entrepreneur type workshop based on how our summer challenge goes. We shall see.
Plan of Action
I’ve been working on creating a plan of action. Marketing plan. Services and packages to offer. Timeline. And more.
Bootstrapping it all the way. I’ve been attending networking events, SCORE training and conferences and getting a lay of the land.
One of the advantages to Gymnast training in a larger city in another state is that I really have two markets to pursue physically while I also market online. I have dedicated time in both cities/states.
Do you think being laser focused on this goal will change my financial outlook? Have any resources you would recommend? Do you need a high tech virtual assistant?
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Hope- first time commenting but I’m a long time reader. I feel like I’ve heard the re-commitment to consulting from you multiple times and yet somehow it seems to end up with your situation worse than before. What’s going to be different this time? I’m genuinely asking and I don’t mean to come across rude or negative. I have no doubt that you CAN do it. I just am curious what you plan on doing now that you haven’t done in the past.
My focus has definitely been split over the last three years, I think that is the main difference this time. I am no longer looking for a corporate world job, but focused solely on consulting gigs.
The reason it all fell apart 3 years ago was I got content and lazy. Yikes, to admit that. When my clients of 8+ years left with little to no notice I was not prepared. And floundered on what to do. The corporate world seemed to be the easy way. I have the education, the experience and the kids were older so I believed working outside the home would be okay.
But if anything this year of being back in the corporate world taught me it’s that, I love what I do as a consultant. I love helping people, I love the variety and yes, I do love the flexibility. I’m very good at it. With the laser focus back on building my clientele back up in a way that it hasn’t been since I first started my business 12 years ago, I feel like I’m in a really good place.
And it’s already paying off. I appreciate your question.
I think its a great idea to expand your business, but what I would be worried about is cash flow. Generally this would be best as a sidehustle until you get a base which is large enough to almost support your expenses. As Dave Ramsey says, if you are going to jump off a dock,wait until the boat is in sight! I would lay out a definitive business plan, how much revenue do you need to make this month, next month, this year etc. It sounds like you have a good base of income coming in now, but I wouldn’t count on new business to meet basic income needs. If you have almost no savings, then no – I would not do this as your only source of income. Good luck, though!
Totally agree. You ended up in a big mess when your last consulting clients quit. I wouldn’t give up looking for a steady job.
JayP,
I certainly appreciate this perspective, but seeing as I have been “job” hunting with no luck since November, and before March of last year for almost 15 months…waiting on the boat does not seem like a viable option. I’ve spent too much time treading water the last few years and not enough “bootstrapping.”
I know I can make a success of this. I’ve done it before and was successful, quite successful for over 10 years. I just know not to get content or lazy with my marketing and continuing to grow.
Maybe try for a part time gig while you are building up your business again to bring in funds. Also, what are you doing in regards to health insurance again?
Maybe an unemployment case update too?
Ditto to this. I’ve been wondering about the unemployment situation.
Same. As well as current budget and debts.
Ha, that’s a great question and one I wish I had an answer too! It’s still in the “audit” phase. As of this week, I am at the end of my 14 weeks of eligibility.
They assure me that my case is at the top of the list of local cases…but I’m not sure what that means. And evidently, neither do they. There’s been no movement on it in months. Literally.
I am hopeful to hear something this month…but who knows. Thanks for asking though.
Don’t. Get a job with a guaranteed paycheck from a company that exists. Pursue this on the side if you want, but it’s not going to pay the bills.
And I say this gently…I don’t get the idea that you’ve figured out entrepreneurism well enough to be advising others on it.
This
I successfully ran my consulting business for 10 years before the bottom fell out two years ago. I certainly feel like I know quite a bit about it. It paid the bills and some for all those years as a single mom.
And the bottom falling out was my own fault. I got content and lazy with having clients over 8 years. That was all. If I hadn’t quit growing and pursuing new clients…
Then I turned my focus to finding a easy paycheck…we know how that has turned out.
What happened with the part time job at the newspaper that was going to pay some of your bills?
Sorry, read your latest post and I’m glad to see that it’s continuing!
Yes, I now have two regular clients, one a creative type who make high end custom furniture. I’ve taken over the day to day operations of his whole business and even hired an assistant there this week. Yeah! I love it! Part time 20 hours a week. It’s perfect.
And then began today with a construction firm that is busting at the seams as a project manager/administrator. I am really excited about the work with them as well.
I am in a really good place mentally and motivated to build!