If this is Heaven, I'm bailing out.

[reddragdiva]

At 19 February 2006, I am working from home and making £50,000 per annum.

That's my new goal. (Note statement in present tense.)

The job search is fundamentally unappealing — I'm eminently employable at £50K or more, but it's a better-upholstered rut. I'll get the job, but I'd like motivation and rent doesn't cut it. I need a world to conquer. A shit job is so much easier in the service of a goal.

Having frou_frou over, talking about her shop, one day before work fucked me over, distinctly caught my interest. When I met Nicky in 1989, she was living in a two-bedroom flat, one bedroom of which was her vintage wardrobe. She's had a lot of jobs since then, but running a vintage clothing store is somehow a natural fit. Certainly much more so than her day job at IBM.

disastrid also gets many points for My Million Dollar Year: turning the pursuit of a buck into an actual art project.

I have greatly enjoyed being at home with redcountess by day and having arkady just a short walk away. I know I need to do this; the only question is how.

Suggestions on the next step are most welcomed. Telecommuting, pimping ho's on eBay, patent-sharking ...

Comments

[tintintin.livejournal.com]

No suggestions as yet, but much moral support! :)

[reddragdiva]

Thank you :-) It's actually fairly small as ambitions go. I will be on more than that in my next day job or the one after ... at the price of chunks of my brain.

It's part of my lifelong quest to reconcile keeping my brain with eating. It took till my thirties for me to cope with employment ...

[juliann.livejournal.com]

He he, but has redcountess enjoyed you being home al day? :) Actually, i am sure she has, but at the same time, I know if t were home *every single day* I'd axe murder him in two minutes. I need my spppppaaaaaaaccccceeee. Even if he was totally in another room (easy enough here) it still would bug the crap out of me. It already does bug me on 4 day weekends :P

[reddragdiva]

The girlfriend's place is 15 minutes' walk away ;-)

[juliann.livejournal.com]

Assuming you could still do your work there...

[reddragdiva]

Wifi will be my friend!

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I have broadband and Wifi is just a matter of picking up maybe £40-worth of hardware.

He's worked from here before. It's eminently do-able. I've already been offered a "sysadmin-from-home" position by a friend in France, so I know it can be done.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. I'm not home that much, but if I'm feeling shitty enough to be at home, I don't want anyone else around.

Despite the fact that we have a 3-bedroom house & thus each have our own computer room, one of the fundamental bases of our relationship is that only one of us can work from home at any given time. Otherwise we'd kill each other.

[missjanette.livejournal.com]

Can one do what you do from home on a freelance basis?
I'm also not sure I know exactly what you do, I am pretty sure it's network/systems/other geekery. Maybe pimp yourself out to do contract work from home?

I am trying to get myself motivated to continue my soul-sucking job search, but I'm having a hard time fleshing out my resume. Should I list "able to contain laughter when faced with potty humor from 3 year olds" as a job skill?

I don't have much else to add, except *pint* & to wish good job related wishes for you.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

Should I list "able to contain laughter when faced with potty humor from 3 year olds" as a job skill?

In your case, yes. For the rest of us, it would be silly.

[wednesday]

Uhhh... buy out Keenspot? Then you could also engage in the delightful and necessary maneuvers discussed at the pub the other night.

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

Ugh... don't like Keenspot anymore, not after how they treated hardartist...

Yeah... maybe you should take them over.

[hestia.livejournal.com]

I'm short on ideas for you but I've got truckloads of moral support for you. GO FER IT MAYTE.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

People congratulate me on having the guts to take the risk of opening a shop to sell my own work. It is a risk. But sometimes I feel like a fraud when they tell me how brave I am to do this, the shop is currently funded by Korenwolf's salary, it means tighter belts than we've been used to, but we're still better off than most (moving to the sticks has helped there, tbh).

Speaking as someone who started out as a lab technician and moved through such unenviable jobs as selling encyclopaedias and "house siding/cladding" door to door (in Perth!), through debt collection for the tax office, to tech support, sysadmin and finally self-employed artist/crafter/shopkeeper/and-stuff, I'd say do what you think is necessary for you to be happy, all the while keeping an eye on the bottom line. The bottom line being "can I do this and still pay the regular bills?"

If all else fails, you could set up as a contractor and take a part-time job stacking shelves of an evening in a supermarket until the contract work is regular enough and bringing enough in.

[reddragdiva]

You got it!

I'm currently going through things I actually like doing and working out how any of these could be monetised. It's disconcerting to realise that one of the things I really enjoy is demonetisation of this sort of thing. I'm a victim of communist Open Source propaganda.

[topbit.livejournal.com]

I'd love to do that myself.

Ideally write a kick-ass web-service and either sell it for millions, then live on the interest, or sell access to it and upgrade as new ideas come to me. The good idea is the harder problem though.

In the meantime, I'm giving some thought to moving to London and getting a well-paid programming job there. QOL may go down (my rent would triple, at a minimum) but access to fun stuff in the capital may make it worth it. I hate commuting though.

Now, tele-working for a London company at London rates, and I work where I want - that would be good in the meantime.

[venta.livejournal.com]

patent-sharking

That just makes me think of a large, jet-black, glossy shark. A patent leather shark, spraying water as it lunges for the kill.

Not helpful, I realise. But quite pretty :)

[disastrid.livejournal.com]

it only takes one good idea. and you're full of those.

[reddragdiva]

My key problem is persistence. As you know, Watson, persistence is the single common quality to success. And I'm a ridiculously lazy bastard. So it better be something I love like breathing.

Teaching rock reviewing?

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

What about figuring out a cross between computer foo and music foo, or has that already been demonetized?

Re: Teaching rock reviewing?

[reddragdiva]

I probably couldn't do that with rocknerd.org, but starting a second site on the subject would be unfortunately detrimental to the first. I'll probably keep the idea cooking, though.

[scatterbeetle.livejournal.com]

I always wished I could be paid enormous sums of money just to sleep. I think I'd be really good at that. :o)

Good on you for setting yourself this goal. I hope you come up trumps.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

As the Queen of Insomnia, that would be yet another job that was not a possibility for me. :-(

It's a great idea, though.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Dead seriously, I've been looking the same way: I know that I don't want to do this dead-end job of mine for another twenty years, so I've been trying to build up my own business on the side. If you need any suggestions, let me know: have you very seriously considered starting a pet shop for unconventional pets?

[arkady.livejournal.com]

That's more my line. It's easier to list the pets I haven't kept than the ones I have. I've even been in the position of having Dr David Taylor (yes, that Dr Taylor) write to me to ask advice on the keeping and breeding of Mongolian Reed Voles.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

I SEE A BUSINESS HERE! I SEE A BUSINESS HERE! The three of you running a pet shop...it's gold-plated platinum.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Yes, if I didn't let my personal principles on the matter get in the way....

[reddragdiva]

I'm not sure there's a viable market for gold-plated platinum pets in any case. And the startup costs will be ridiculous.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

Yes, if I didn't let my personal principles on the matter get in the way....

fwiw, this was what forced me out of the pet industry. the depression i got from dealing with other people was simply unbelievable. and all the morons. the people who just couldn't see sense about how to care for their pets (oh, i need to clean teh cage?), the people who told me that their cat kept having kittens, but they just used to drown them because having her spayed would be *cruel*, the rabbit abandoned at the shop with the harness *inside* its skin because it had never been loosened...

i even had my partners in crime, but i couldn't hack it. they've both become veterinary technicians now, but i'm just so glad that i'll never start the day by seeing a box of half frozen kittens again, and i don't regret leaving that business at all.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Quite. I long ago took a stand against such places by refusing to "rescue" rats from them, no matter how cute or what threats of feeding to snakes the pet shop owners made. Every animal you buy from these places condemns another litter to be born into misery, because it simply gives the message that some chump will buy them. Pet shops are all very well for buying accessories and what-not, but not for buying animals. When you buy from a reputable breeder at least they check you know how to look after the animal first. Back when I was still breeding rats, I practically put prospective owners through the Spanish Inquisition before I would even put them on my waiting lists - they had to tell me what books on rat care they'd read, give me the name and address of their local vet (and yes, I checked up on the vets to make sure they actually knew something about rats), inquired in detail as to what bedding and food they intended to use, and what size cage they had ready. If possible I requested references from other breeders (and yes, a great many of the rat breeders in the UK compare notes on buyers and warn people of "blacklisted" ones), and all buyers had to sign a sales agreement. I also recommended membership of the NFRS and their local rat society/club, and gave them details where necessary.

Somehow I doubt the average pet shop would be anywhere near as thorough as the average breeder.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

That's a large number of thousands. I feel very little, hoping I'll get £12,000 next year if I do really well this year. It'll be for doing something I like though.

My goal is to earn £12,000 and not destroy £1.6m worth of equipment.

[reddragdiva]

"You mean I get PAID to do science??"

I must admit, playing with toys as big as I do is a lot of fun. Macho GURRR.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Go on then, how big's yours? ;)

I got to play with 300 kV electrons yesterday. Mmm, power, or as Nile would term it "death rays".

[reddragdiva]

Mine is nothing like that 'l33t. Just huge clunking computing power in little boxes ;-)

[frou-frou.livejournal.com]

Do you have list of suitable IT companies who support working from home? IBM are currently encouraging us to do so - but of course, I don't want to do that. If you don't have a list, make some enquiries.

Glad to hear that I'm some sort of inspiration - some days I wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew and would dearly love to give up my day job and just go play in the shop. The fact is that I have to meet my debts/bills and so this is the path I must tread for a while....I've been thinking of seeing my accountant and drafting up a financial plan to work towards freedom.

Ideally, I'd recommend if you could somehow acquire both sides of a semi: you and Liz in one side, Rose in the other. Or perhaps - you and Liz and you and Rose. Do they do three sided houses? You could have a bit each and then you won't get under Liz's feet when you're working from home :)

[reddragdiva]

Heh. If only you could work for IBM from the shop.

I am dealing with one prospect for such literally as I write this. There's nothing like setting a goal to get the Universe working your way, is there. You and I and megabitch and disastrid know all this is possible because so many have done it before. It's being the one doing it that's the hard part.

I think living within walking distance will do for now ;-) Our present flat (£715pcm) is really about as cheap as something livable gets in London. And that livability is questionable while our landlords are so reluctant to fix anything ...

[arkady.livejournal.com]

If landlords are reluctant to fix things, the next stage is often getting them to agree to let you get something done about it and let them pick up the tab.

[reddragdiva]

At present getting them to answer our queries would be nice. I may see if a crowbar would help.

[belegdel.livejournal.com]

Consulting.
IT equivalent of selling your soul to the devil :)

Get paid vast amounts of money to tell corporations what (99% of the time) their staff have already tried to tell them but ignored because "minions" couldn't possibly know anything. You have to pay someone a lot of money before they can possibly know anything of worth.

AFAICT all you need to do is be able to bullshit using the latest buzzwords.

You've probably heard all this before :)

[reddragdiva]

Move from concubine to streetwalker? Hmm!

[liz-lowlife.livejournal.com]

Seems a bit too obvious, but apart from being a superb computery, geeky-type and irresistable to the ladies, what can you actually do?.

Might be an idea to explore those talents that you have neglected and go from there.

Another idea (and this is *really* hippy shit) is to visualise a few times when you did something well and it gave you satisfaction. (Oh, God, I am really opening myself up for lot of rude comments here!) But the point is to analyse the skills you used and go from there.

Not much use really, I know....but it did kind of work for me...

[kest]

If you decide to go the freelancing route, remember that a good part of your job is hustling (aka networking.) Everyone you've ever known who's ever remotely liked you that you've worked with, every friend of yours, every person you scrape up on the internet, must be schmoozed and passed your business card.

Some people take to this like fish to water and others don't.