11–20 of 89 posts
I took the first job I could get out of college. I am paid, like you, 1/3 of what I should be making (according to state stats). I have a mortgage, and a puppy to take care of. I barely squeeze by, but the company would be screwed if I left. I've tried to get other jobs with no success so far. I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck not only in my current job, but in New Mexico. Sorry for the rant, but I feel where you'r…
How much more would you be delayed if did contract work 2 days a week? Would your startup be more at risk of failing if you freelanced those two days a week, or if you risked surviving without it?
Debit, I think, has a ongoing negative effect... you are committed to paying $x a month, even after you've spent the original loan on your initial bad idea. Now you've gotta come up with operating cash for the business, for yourself, /and/ the cash to make a payment.
I see debit as more of a "you have this one shot... if you fail, bankruptcy" kind of thing. Which can be okay for some things... but it's not how I work. See, usually I end up doing the wrong thing first. After that, I have a better idea of what the right thing is... but if I took out a loan and spent it on the wrong thing? now I'm stuck with a pretty big debit payment. Only spending the cash I can get my hands on through the fruits of my own labour puts an upper bound on how much money I can spend on bad ideas.
Now, for me, I ended up just spending a while contracting and paying off the debit that way... if I hadn't been an idiot to start with, I'd be a year ahead now.
Sep 1 will be the 1 year anniversary of my decision to go out on my own. In the last 10 weeks I have missed rent payments, missed insurance and had it cancelled, sweated 2 dollar bus rides, not eaten sometimes because I didn't want to spend money on food.
At times, I have regretted my decision to leave a comfortable life, doubted, cried, bargained, been depressed and thought things the former me could have never imagined me thinking.
I've learned a lot, but not enough, and while part of me is deeply worried, the bright spots are really bright and I am hopeful that I'll emerge stronger. I've separated some real friends from fake friends, learned where I'm strong and where I'm weak, realized how amazing my girlfriend is, and grown up a lot.
I'm still depressed and unconvinced I'll be net better off. And this might sound awful, but part of me is glad when I see that other people have pains and doubts, because it makes me imagine that I'm not alone in the struggle, that the lack of immediate success doesn't mean I'm incompetent.
Good luck!
it's incredibly tempting to spend all the revenue on myself. the business won't grow if i do that, though. it's hard.
I am. I usually pull about 150 - 175 a year contracting and now I am making 0 because I am working on my startup. Money starts to disappear fast when none is coming in.
I am broke. Sep 1 will be the 1 year anniversary of my decision to go out on my own. In the last 10 weeks I have missed rent payments, missed insurance and had it cancelled, sweated 2 dollar bus rides, not eaten sometimes because I didn't want to spend money on food. At times, I have regretted my decision to leave a comfortable life, doubted, cried, bargained, been depressed and thought things the former me could hav…
I took the first job I could get out of college. I am paid, like you, 1/3 of what I should be making (according to state stats). I have a mortgage, and a puppy to take care of. I barely squeeze by, but the company would be screwed if I left. I've tried to get other jobs with no success so far. I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck not only in my current job, but in New Mexico. Sorry for the rant, but I feel where you'r…
Dude, drop the puppy. :)
I took the first job I could get out of college. I am paid, like you, 1/3 of what I should be making (according to state stats). I have a mortgage, and a puppy to take care of. I barely squeeze by, but the company would be screwed if I left. I've tried to get other jobs with no success so far. I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck not only in my current job, but in New Mexico. Sorry for the rant, but I feel where you'r…
Where in NM are you? (I'm in Los Alamos.)