Ask HN: How Did You Escape 9 to 5?

I essentially used the 4 hour workweek script and am somewhere in the middle of that timeline, setting up my business now. 1. Figured out how to get all of my work done super fast 2. Started taking days off and working remotely using my above efficiency skills to put more and more time into my side project while still meeting all of my deadlines and obligations 3. Negotiated a remote and part time contract that only has me in the office 3 days a week. 4. Grind.

I'm still in the setup phase of my business (a hydroponics farm/green wall installations) but being able to devote entire days to getting going has been immensely helpful.

I started working the new contract about a month and a half ago. It was hard staying focused at first and I was a little too happy - go - lucky with my newfound freedom (Overwatch). So, while I was getting everything done for my 9-5, I've been moving slowly on the farm. Things have been better these past two weeks and I'm excited to get cranking in a serious way.

I should note that before I had even considered building a business or taking this step, I'd been doing research for the past 4 or so years that started my last semester in undergrad. I'd also done many small scale, non commercial projects for different clients in the evenings/weekends before I made the jump. Like another poster, to me, this is the equivalent to grad school. I could spend a bunch of money on an MBA and learn some things, or I could start this business, learn hands on, and potentially walk away with profit instead of debt.

I did something like this early on in my working life. I got to the point where my side business had repeat customers and enough of a portfolio where I felt confident that I could bring on more customers. It wasn't a full jump, but the side business became the focus and I took on different side gigs to supplement income. I went back to a 9-5 after a few years, but during that time I did see consistent growth in the business.

Just about everyone in IT. The (software) factories are thriving the world over and despite what StartUp people and various other revolutionists will tell you, hardly anyone is even trying to disrupt this. Because people (both employers and staff) are mostly happy with the status quo. You'll hear a lot of talk about reduced office hours, flexible office hours, working 4 days a week, "commuter revolution", etc, etc... those things are statistical outliers that haven't really affected the large picture. Leaving your job to build a business is probably the _least_ statistically significant factor in all of this.

So yea, factories (and factory working hours) are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

I haven't fully done it yet, but am on my way. About 2.5 years ago I left my 9-5 career (about 8 years into it) to become a contractor/consultant, basically continuing to do the same type of work, but for multiple clients, with an hourly rate. This was at the same time that our first child was born.

It's probably the best decision I ever made. I'll make about 1.5x what I did as a 9-5er this year while I probably worked less hours overall. I work from home 80% of the time. No commute, so much less stress, I'm lucky to have great long-term clients (who I wouldn't have been able to acquire without my previous 9-5 time).

Eventually I want to bootstrap a startup - that's phase 2. I've built up enough of a cushion, even though child #2 arrives in a month. I've got a side-project going on that will hopefully turn into a business. I'm still figuring out how to best transition, because right now the $ is good and difficult to voluntarily turn down.

> It is tough, income is still less than I what I made in my cushy job

But you have more ways to avoid taxes (both legal and not so much). If you get paid cash for anything, you may be able to conceal the income. You can creatively shuffle losses into the limited liability corporation, to avoid being personally affected, and basically just sock it to whomever the corporation owes.

Self-employed people typically have way more ways to write off expenses.

In Canada, if you're an employee, you don't get to write off anything. Drive to work? Can't write off gas or car repairs as a business expense. Work from home a lot? Sorry, can't write off any portion of your rent or mortgage. All that changes if you're self-employed; you can write off every this and that: transportation; the proportion of your home that is your office. On the yearly tax return form, all employees can claim a meager little "employment amount": a token sum compensating them for their inability to write off anything.