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Contemplating Self Employment
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Bob is correct except for one very important thing he has wrong:
Never buy your kid a new car. Goes to their head and makes their friends jealous.
Go with CarMax.
Ned Miller
Chicago Videographer
http://www.nedmiller.com
www,bizvideo.com -
Better yet, a beat up tiny pickup truck is best. They’ll never be asked to drive a group of friends anywhere and you’ll always have somebody around to take out your ‘too big for the can’ trash!
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Better yet, tell your kid to avoid buying a car as long as possible: for a young person, its an anchor, financially shackling them to stay home instead of moving out. All the money you make at a minimum wage job gets eaten up by car loans and maintenance. My fiancee’ never owned a car, used taxis and the bus or rides in my car, and that saved enough money over time to finance our entire wedding and honeymoon.
Pickup trucks as date discouragers? You realize what else you can do in the bed of a pickup truck, right? A real date-discouragng car is a tiny econo-box with a large center console.
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Not a date discourager – a group discourager (Ie, 6 kids piling in his/her car all talking and joking and distracting the driver).
The Davidson’s don’t hit puberty till college and my wife is a 5 ft tall Japanese woman. Any child of mine will likely have no problem avoiding the dating scene, especially if he or she is anything like Dad!
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Fist off Bob, my prayers and best wishes to your mother-in-law.
Secondly, I appreciate your opinion. I have been poking around these forums for awhile and have read a lot of your posts. Truth be told I was secretly hoping for a response from you because of how much I value your business sense, knowledge and yes, your opinion. You’re kind of a virtual guru of mine and I have learned quite a bit from you here.
However, Yours is not a life that I desire. Your life sounds like a death sentence to me. I hope I never became so consumed with my job and money that the rest of my life becomes a secondary thought.
I find that my personal values and goals in life differ greatly from almost anyone I have ever talked to in the business world, where financial success seems to be the point of life.Again Bob, I respect your genius,experience and wisdom but seriously, “The only reward is the money”? I edit video because I love it. If I wasn’t getting paid to edit video right now do you know what I would be doing? Editing video! The church I used to work for calls me to do projects for them occasionally and they have no idea how thrilled that makes me, not for the money but because I friggin love to animate elephants and goldfish and crap for pre-schoolers(my favorite part is doing the voices). Makes me feel like my life has value and worth. I realize it’s not all editing all the time and that there is balance of sales/business/hard work that factors into the equation. But I promise you that the day I stop loving what I’m doing is the day I decide to stop doing it.
It’s not the 9-5 hours that I hate, it is the mundane routine that comes with a 9-5 job. I don’t know how to tie a neck tie and I hope I never learn.
I am willing to admit that I may be a fool that will get eatten up in the freelance world, and may struggle to pay for my kids collage, and maybe I should get out of freelance altogether and go back to painting houses. I also realize that I like to dream bigger than is likely possible, and there are probably a lot of folks that think, this guy has got a lot to learn about what its like out there, But honestly, what ever path I end up on will be the right one as long as I stay true to myself.Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying here. I am not under the impression that I can just work a few hours a week and skip through life with a smile and a flower. I work my ass off, but I make a personal choice to draw a line somewhere. If that means I drive a 09 Subaru instead of ’12 Lexus then that is fine with me. I have no intention making up for my absence to my family by throwing money at them. I’d rather spend an afternoon with my daughter at the park or playing guitar than buying her some crap ass piece of expensive technology she doesn’t need. Her car will be a Schwinn unless she has a job and earns it on her own.
I spent all last night finishing an animation project and all day with my daughter, and now I need to get back to this wedding video while my daughter is in the living room planning a sleepover with the neighbor kid(When she asks, I’ll act like this is a big deal, but I already know I’m gonna say yes)
Anyways, I hope you don’t hate me cause you’re one of the guys I look up to on here!
“You are the universe experiencing itself”
ChrisW
http://www.azprovideo.com -
a couple of more things from my “2 cents” opinions.
1) you have NO IDEA of how painful it will be paying for Medical Insurance for your family by yourself.
Medical insurance is obscene, and if you are covered by it for your family right now, you have no idea of what you are about to get yourself into. I assume that you don’t want to base your family life by just showing up to the emergency room, and hoping that they will help you for free.2) when you do work for clients, many clients will not pay you when you need the money. Most will not say “boy Chris, you did a great job, here is your check”. Trying to get paid is part of the aggrivation of a freelancer (as well as constantly searching for new clients). Technically, this is called having a “cash flow” problem.
3) as for “the 9 to 5 grind” – it will always be a grind. But I look at what I do for a living, and it’s a lot better than digging ditches, or working as a bank teller, or hotel employee. I always use the example – even if you are a rock star, and you are Madonna, or Lady Gaga, or The Eagles (or whoever you listen to) – you will go out and sing the SAME DAMN SONGS month after month, year after year, and get back on the tour bus, go to the next city, and play the same damn songs. And when the years pass, and you write new material – no one wants to hear your new material – they want to hear the same songs that they grew up with, and so, to get your paycheck, you play the SAME DAMN SONGS (and get back on the bus and go to the next city).
If you are a top heart surgeon, no one will give you the opportunity to do plastic surgery, or skin grafts. You will do your specialty over and over and over. So, if you are a great graphics guy – people will hire you to do graphics, and if you are a great camera man, they won’t say “Chris does everything” – they will hire you to do camera, and you will have to beg to do graphics.
And just to be more depressing (which I usually am) – while I fully understand that you want to savor every moment that you can with your loving daughter right now at this age – once she hits 15 or 16, she is probably not going to want to spend lots of time with you – and all of a sudden, her friends will become the most important thing to her – and not you (even though she will still love you) – and so, you will have all this time to do other stuff (like your career).
There is nothing wrong with painting houses. As there is nothing wrong with doing home repair, electrical work, plumbing, security systems, gardening, etc. These are all profitable careers to be proud of – but if you are doing it by yourself, you will find that it is a LOT OF WORK, and you may not have the free time that you think you will.
Again – just my stupid opinion.
Bob Zelin
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[Chris Warren] “-I am tired of working 60+ hours per week and want to work at home and spend more time with my daughter. “
I started my own company back in 2001 after a three partnership with another guy on my first company. 60 hour work weeks are welcome respites from the usual never-ending workweek. When you work for yourself you MUST be available almost every waking moment via email / text / etc….. When they know you work at home, the clients expect you to work 24/7 since you don’t have to go anywhere.
And you have to work VERY HARD to keep your clients, expand your client roster and just keep up the quality work your clients expect.
[Chris Warren] “-I will kill myself(and probably others) if I have to go to a 9-5 and sit in an office”
Well, you did say you left a good job for more money. In this industry, more money does not necessarily equal creative and job enjoyment. I know that firsthand which is why I got out of corporate work and started my own company.
[Chris Warren] “-I love the freelance work I do, especially getting out to do location stuff
-My daughter is 10, loves helping me out, and dreams of working with me when she gets older (she shoots and edits her own projects now)”That’s great that you love the work and certainly more fun getting your daughter involved. I’m amazed at the quality of the young kids today. I’m currently working with some high school kids on an animation project for an upcoming documentary.
I created a three part “Starting Your Own Business” series for the Creative Cow a few years ago and pretty much everything in there still applies. Except that I believe it’s even harder to start your own business today and build a name because EVERYONE can be a video producer today. Tools are so cheap that it’s harder to get a foothold and hold it. But pretty much all my thoughts are in the series, hope it’s helpful.
https://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/273/your-own-business-part-1-are-you-ready
https://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/277/your-own-business-part-2-setting-up-shop
https://blogs.creativecow.net/blog/300/your-own-business-part-3-running-building-your-business
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“This American Land” – our new PBS Series.
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I wouldn’t classify your opinion as stupid. I value the opinion of someone that has your experience, that is one reason I come here to the Cow, to grab info from those that have gone before me. As for myself, I certainly don’t have anywhere near the years and experience that you and some of the other folks here do, but I am definitely not some young kid fresh outta school. I began working in audio production in 1996 and made the professional transition to video around 2001. I have been doing freelance work for about 10 years and have built up a small client base as well as a bit of my own experience.
To respond to your points:1) I began covering my own insurance about 5 or 6 years ago
2) Couldn’t agree more, I learned the hard way never to count on money that isn’t in my hands.
3) I always thought that too about most “rock stars”. However, there are artists such as The Grateful Dead or Phish that don’t rely on setlists, and mundane formats, and love to get creative with their songs and incorporate spontaneity and improvisation. Same thing with jazz, Some of the most mind-blowing live music I have ever heard was completely improvised jazz.I guess I am really more of an improvisational Freelance Jazz Editor
-I think I will print that on my business cards.“You are the universe experiencing itself”
ChrisW
http://www.azprovideo.com -
Thanks for the response Walter!
I bookmarked and read those articles a while back. Very helpful!
In fact the section where you talk about saying No to certain potential pain-in-the-ass clients led me to cut loose an ongoing cheapo client that was paying almost nothing for what was really just a headache. The funny part is, she just emailed the other day saying she has been struggling with finding someone else, and is willing to pay full price to do the work “right”The reason I switched jobs was to build up enough cash to actually make the switch to freelance, what I realized in the process is how much I hate office jobs. I may struggle to find the time to take a weekend off to go away with the kid when I am self employed, but at least I don’t have to fill out a “Time off request sheet”
I don’t think I really expect to work less, Just be away less. I find that part of me loves the nights when my kid falls asleep on the floor of the home office while I edit way into the night and next morning drinking tea and eating chips. For some reason 80 hours at home just feels way better that 40 hours in an office to me.
“You are the universe experiencing itself”
ChrisW
http://www.azprovideo.com -
[walter biscardi] “60 hour work weeks are welcome respites from the usual never-ending workweek.”
It’s funny that the phrase “60 hour weeks” keeps coming up, because my wife and I had a joke about that around the video production company we ran:
What do you call a 60-hour week? VACATION!!!
The lightning round:
- Every client reduces the flexibility of your schedule by half
- You have a potentially infinite number of bosses
- …and none of them is in a hurry to pay you, no matter what.
Bob’s example of his mother-in-law’s illness is a good one. “Making your own schedule” means that you get to choose WHICH half hour you get to visit her in the hospital…but that’s it.
If you’re lucky, you can push a deadline out a day, then cram two days work into one just to catch up. But you can’t always change deadlines. Not only because of crazy clients who hate waiting. Maybe your clients are jolly and supportive — but TV stations, ad contracts, events and trade shows where your video might run — none of these will move a single second, for any reason. You HAVE to hit that deadline.
Look, I wholly relate to having soul-crushing jobs, and have left jobs because I felt myself slipping away. But if I’m being honest, I got into some of THOSE jobs because working alone was killing me. I had great clients, worked in exotic locations, had a great relationship with my wife — yet because of all those long hours in the dark by myself for so many years, I thought I was going to die.
This isn’t some “Are you man enough?” macho bs. This will AGE you. You will have LESS freedom, not more. Your mind will never stop humming, and the mental discipline to stay focused will take a physical toll on you. It’s fine saying you’re not working for the money — but that changes when you don’t HAVE money, and the only way to get any is to beg and lower your standards to compete with well-educated, highly skilled children who are doing this while they’re living at home, and don’t need the money to stay alive. You need the money to keep a BUNCH of people alive, and you will do what it takes, and it will take its toll on you.
Sticking with the “soul” language, there is a higher spiritual price to pay for this than is generally discussed, and we (especially as men hovering somewhere on either side of middle-aged) pay an even steeper price for not discussing it.
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