I need to get out of the house every day for a little while even when there is no surf. Otherwise, I would go crazy. Curious, did working from home help you advance as a surfer since you get more water time? It didnt' work for my ass as I'm still average and old.
Good post. Even after going free lance, I still try to be consistently available to my clients, partners, and associates. If I was wealthy, I would be at a foundation making sure everything ran smooth. I take a day off for surf rarely, usually a few hours when the tide wind and swell are great. Otherwise I'm working hard, trying to send money back to my family in Russia.
I spent 5 yrs on The Street, in NYC & Malibu. Trader & broker, both sides depending on the time of my career. Every market, primarily futures. Took a look around me one day & realized, there's nobody over 40-ish still doing the trading. The burnout rate is intense. Pressure, massive amounts of drugs & booze, all that stuff. So, one day I just resigned, packed my old car with all my stuff & drove souf. I knew I could use tools, dad taught us that from young, and I figured that I could learn the lock stuff. Beyond that, it was taking a shot & see what happens. The only other thing that I knew was that I just could no longer bear working as a suit & tie trader, not even for one more day. So, I left.
I started my own business doing garage doors in 2009. That's what I had done since out of high school in 1989. I got pretty good business and was making a little over $100K a year (before taxes) in profit from 2010-2012. The best part was that I only had to work 20-25 hours a week and could surf whenever I wanted. Sometimes I would do jobs in the evening and at crazy hours, which was okay, as long as they weren't residential jobs at somebody's house. The funny thing was I did a lot of work for local builders and contractors and they would call me to install the doors after they built a house. I would be over there putting in the doors at 10:00 PM -2:00 AM sometimes. The houses were not yet occupied, so that was fine. Though I did have the cops called on me several times when I did that. Not for noise, but just because the neighbors would see a truck there and a guy working and it looked suspicious at those hours. The cops usually wouldn't bust my balls after I explained to them what was up. Late in 2011 the opportunity for another job arose for me. This job paid approximately half of what I made on my own, but it was much more fun. And it was only seasonal from about September-April/May most years and I could do my own business still from May-August. I actually wound up making even more in 2011 and 2012 than I did in 2010, when I only worked for myself. That was combined with the new job though. My best friend got me this job. Working in the hockey equipment business and even having the opportunity to travel to every NHL city, both in America and in Canada. Less than a year after taking this job, I was pretty much put out of work, due to the NHL lockout in 2012. There was no business or money to be made, but I still had my own business doing garage doors and benefited from a lot of post-Sandy work, before going back to the other job when the lockout ended. I couldn't keep up with both anymore, so I stopped working for myself in 2013. I make a little more than half of what I made working for myself, I live mostly paycheck to paycheck and rarely have large sums of money in the bank, but I do have off from May-September. I also get paid monthly and it's year round, so I'm getting a paycheck every month, rather than just for 7 or 8. I usually have to work about a week or two in July and that's it. Though I work 80 hours a week sometimes from September-May, which is very draining. I do a lot of travelling as well and rarely have time to surf and rarely have more than one day off per week during those months (outside of holidays) and I usually spend time catching up on the massive sleep deficit that I rack up. I'm still surviving and doing good, everything is paid for and aside from my house for the next 8 years, I have no debt. I just can't afford new toys like I used to be able to, and I can't afford trips to Oahu right now without putting it on my credit card. If I didn't luck into this job, I would still be working for myself and making close to twice as much. Though I may not have had all this time to surf over the last 5 or 6 weeks, which have been really awesome here. Back when I worked for myself, I was at my surfing peak. That's when I was at my best. I feel like these last 6 weeks is the most I've surfed in a 6 week span since sometimes in 2011 or 2012.
"My goal is to achieve complete financial security and have all the flexibility I need, while staying motivated. I'm sure we would all love that." You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want financial security then you have to work and earn money. If you want flexibility to surf then don't work. "Being your own boss" doesn't mean anything because just like someone said earlier, the customer is the ultimate boss and you will work your ass off for them if you want to be a successful entrepreneur. Also you need to understand the difference between earning a profit and earning a wage. One is a lot easier to earn and a lot less risky, especially in today's over regulated, highly taxed environment. Bottom line, there is no short cut in life. "Be your own boss" is nothing more than a cheesy one liner that gives the false impression of not having to work hard and sacrifice your leisure time. Work hard, Earn income, save and invest it and then you will achieve your goal of "financial security with flexibility". The unfortunate part is that American culture has evolved in such a way that it has morphed into the opposite of what its founders intended which has enabled government to grow to a gigantic size thus making it harder for everyone to earn income and save & invest it to achieve your goal. #MoreGovernmentMoreProblems
My goal is to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I can learn what it has to teach, and not, when I come to die, discover that I had not lived. I do not wish to live what is not life, living is so dear; nor do I wish to practise resignation, unless it is quite necessary. I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that is not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.
Good post ^^ I've lately come to the conclusion that very, very few entities actually function correctly, let alone well, when they reach a certain size. Big govt: broken, dysfunctional, lost. Airlines allowed to merge into huge airlines: their clients hate them. Giant sprawling railroad companies: inefficient, impersonal, disgusting experiences for clients. Giant, sprawling hotel chains: usually terrible on the large corporate aspects, but saved from decay because most of the actual hotel operators are local franchisees / local folks. Home Depot: need I even go into that? And on & on. My theory is that the big entities s/b allowed to fail. Every time. As well, the real, true successful bidnesses are the small bidnesses of America. End of story.
“What has surprised me most about humanity? Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” - - Dalai Lama
Agreed. The company I work for used to be much more functional when we were a smaller organization trying to find our way. Through the years I have watched the company become more and more dysfunctional as we "grow". The larger we get, the worse the company gets at the basic little things that we use to be great at. It's frustrating to watch it happen. I will never work for a large company for this reason. Small - Medium businesses or start ups for me. I don't see our company getting as big as they are trying to make it, they just aren't good enough at being a small - medium size company yet to get there.
if you can do it...do it when your young...Iam in my 50's and always contemplating doing something on my own...Iam the boss in my current job and really answer to one person, the owner, and of course our customers...but always and still would love to do something on my own, that is mine.
owning ur own business is quite a step.iv always wanted to be my own boss but after seeing the owners of companies I worked for it makes u think is it really worth it.sure the guy goes on vacation 10x a year,but everything is always in a rush and u have to be working 24/7 no breaks,even on vacation u have to cut it short to come back to do a job in order to keep good clients.
Of course he is married. Why do you think he is always talking sex?? He doesn't get any anymore!! All done!!! hahahahaha!!
I appreciate all the advice and info., particularly that provided by Yankee. I definitely understand that it doesn't come over night and nor does it come easy. Your story is interesting. And my cheesey one liner "being your own boss" was just to start some conversation and learn from those who have been where I have not. With that in mind, I've succeeded. Im currently working in a position that offers me pretty good financial stability and flexibility that most 9-5 people don't get and that entails a 7 hour work day and over 8 paid weeks off per year. Almost never a time when I can't use my leave either. I haven't not surfed multiple times a week in over a year. I'm not bragging about my situation, but I work hard and I'm good at what I do. But, I still have a yearning for more because I know I'm capable of it and I'm young. I guess before I go all in I need to truly figure out what it is that I want to do. Its easy to half arse something, but giving it your all takes work, however I think it would be less work if it's something one loves to do. My dad is doing this with a particular profession and I know he rakes in a significant amount of cash on the side doing what he absolutely loves. I just need to find that for myself and work up the motivation to go all in. The whole working mobile concept seems to be a great route. Even if it takes working extra hours, if I could break and be where I want to be that would be rad. Thanks for all the knowledge and ideas. Definitely appreciate it.
I agree to a point, but depending on the business and how well it scales, you can work your ass off for a couple of years starting up a business and getting it up and running, then either sell the business and cash out, or hire out the core day to day functions, and focus on the business strategy. Either way, you can find yourself working a handful of hours a day/week while still making a lot of money *and* catching every swell.
