Hey, looks like you're new here! I blog about money. Saving, investing, insuring, getting, and using it! See my "about me" page for more info! To keep up to date, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or get the blog in your email! Thanks for stopping by!

This year’s been really good for me, maybe not financially with the recent market plunge, but that’ll be back; I’m not worried.  It has been good enough to make me think something bad is lurking in the shadows, narrowing its eyes and biding its time.

I’ve got my ducks in a row, my fingers crossed, and a good chunk in the e-fund to mitigate any unforeseen problems ahead; planning helps there.

My day-job is good; it pays the bills. I’ve been promoted, and have leverage to manage my time as I see fit, so long as my must dos, DO get done.  The situation is great, and I’m very thankful for the time I’ve learned to delegate.  It’s saved me a precious commodity these days: time. More specifically, time to dream…

I have a set of kids, a set of dogs, a cat, a full-time job, a blog, and a handful of other sites that keep me busy. My brain is always bouncing along, hamster running, wheels spinning at all hours as I ponder new possibilities for my time and money. Am I overworked? I’d say “no”.

I remember Pinyo saying a while back. I can’t quite pinpoint the post, but it was something along the lines of, “until I stop watching TV completely, I still have time to fit other things in…”I hear him, and can certainly relate. As the day ends, my wife and I relax to the soft blue glow of the television, after the kids are all snug in their bed. It’s our time; tough to come by, but we still fit it in. Often, we’ll retire early to the comfort of the down comforter and soft sheets, but I’ll still have brainstorms raining in my mind which pull me from bed at three or four in the morning.

Where Am I At NOW?

I recently spoke with a friend who was thinking of searching for a new job because of his disenchantment with his current employer. There was a lot of talk about outsource in his group. I can relate.

I certainly don’t like how big business deals with these situations.

They don’t inform the employees, so they may keep them saddled until scrap time. The manager’s job is to convince the employee that everything is fine; work should continue as normal. The sad part is, “the business” will keep you around until their needs change, and in doing so, they can’t tell you that you may be let go, or risk sending you on a search for a new job and thereby jeopardizing their business.

I’m all for capitalism, and do see the business side; if you tell us you might cut, then you will lose some of us early.

It’s wise to keep things right at the hip until news time, but it sucks for those on the chopping block.

Two years ago I’d have said (with about 100% certainty) that my job was safe, and we were sitting at the top of the food chain. I’m still fairly confident, but I’m only giving it 80% certainty, due to the economy, our cuts, and more recently, our quarterly numbers.

Where Do I Want To Be?

How hard do I have to work (for “the man” or for myself) to get that extra 1k, 5k, 10k, 20k, or 50k per year (which is more likely two, or even three)? How hard do I NEED to work to get there?

I enjoy working. More specifically, I enjoy working inside my interests, anything that drives me toward a vision outside sitting behind a desk, fingers on keys for eight hours a day.

In my mind I assemble new ways to do things; creating, crafting, improving, and collaborating. Until recently I was hung up on where to put that effort, managerial day-job or elsewhere?

I want to be free to make my own decisions. I like the security of a corporate job, the health and financial benefits, but it IS a business. They’re in the market to make money. If that means cutting jobs and salary, that’s part of the equation.

Observing trends, both global and local, I see myself switching my DAY-JOB to secondary income. I get 100% of my work finished, using perhaps 60% of my capacity.

I have time to watch TV, run a blog, read and comment on my favorite sites, keep up on news, etc. I have spare cycles, where should I put them?

Breaking It Down; Where Do I Put Those Spare Cycles

Put The Effort Into My Day Job

Let’s envision, I’m driving forward, enhancing the environment, and really tearing it up. I’m working late, finding new problems, fixing bugs, absorbing new apps; spending 50-60 hours per week really documenting, and diving to my elbows in each product I’m part of.

I’m not getting sleep nor time away. In the end, how do I benefit? Annual cost of living increase (3%) and maybe a 5-10% raise on top, if I’m REALLY busting my balls. More realistic, considering the times, 5-7%, and we all know that’s pushing it.

Additionally, I manage a team of experts. They’re good at what they do, and don’t need me to try to make more work for myself by hounding them. My knowledge base doesn’t cover every aspect of my teams expertise, but I know bits and pieces of everything, and could devote the time to getting caught up to speed wherever I wanted.

Back to my previous position; I know about 90% of that environment, and that number is falling after a year away from the team. Could I put effort back? Probably. Is THAT worth it? How much would I get paid to keep working hard at the job. More importantly, is the juice worth the squeeze?

I’ve been on both ends of the raise structure, as Manager and Employee. The 3% annual bump is going to be tough to leap next year, due to company goals and the general economy. It will be difficult to pull anything past 10%.

Where I stand now, making *maybe* 10k more for 1 YEAR of hard work? Minus taxes, I’m sitting on $500 extra per month. Is it worth it? Depends. What are my options?

Put The Effort Into A New Venture

This is the black box for everyone, at least to an extent. Sure, we know people that have done it, and we seem to have a grasp on how we THINK we could do it ourselves. We’re interested in something outside corporate America.

I’ve tried a handful of small efforts to make money on the side; inventions, get rich quick schemes, clothing sales, multilevel marketing. Nothing’s ever panned out.

I’ve been slowly edging my income closer to $300 extra a month on random online endeavors, Google ads and link selling on sites, etc. But the kicker is the EFFORT. The energy I put forth for the extra $300 now is about 2-4 hours a week.

Ramping up sites takes time, as does writing info which captures people’s interest and replying to emails, but the money’s there, and won’t be leaving until months or years.

Even after I stop updating, it’s still there. It’s a sunk cost of time, and I like that. I’d like to do that 10, 20, or 100000x more; but how?In my situation, most of my team can do what they need without me there. True, same here.

They need guidance, but when you break it down, I’m a glorified baby-sitter. I’ve got free cycles. It’s a new concept, but I think we should embrace the feeling instead of filling it with more time working for “the man”.

Instead of getting upset or frustrated with the company for lack of information, advancement, and things to “fill your plate”, think about it in a light where you’re getting paid decent money, without exerting the EFFORT you once had to.

If you take a new job, what number would satiate your move? 10k? 20k? 30k? 40k? 50k? What’s your number? Whatever it is, once settled, you’d want more. Anyone that’s received a raise once, realizes another one’s just kissing the horizon and the new amount isn’t doing the trick anymore.

Money drives us, but shouldn’t be the end-all-be-all of our decisions to take on more work and responsibility.

What Am I Currently Doing?

I can absolutely say (and my boss agrees) that 100% of my job is done correct, and as needed. I received “above average” annual review. Technically, I’m at 108-ish percent of job capacity. I think to myself, “really?” Because I feel like I’m often spinning tires and not contributing like I was on my prior team, but that’s the model of a managerial position; you’re supposed to facilitate the people doing the work, period.

You fly low enough under the radar that you don’t need to preach from the mountains about the company direction, but you also float in between administering an app and managing the people who manage the app. You need to have a working knowledge, but not get your feet too wet. Again, my boss has specifically told me to stay out of the day-to-day operations and try to see the group holistically.“Know what’s going on, but don’t try to fix what’s going on”.

Stupid, I know, but that’s the job description, and apparently I do that better than just “meeting expectations”.So after about the 2nd month on this current job, I started casting it in new light. I WAS getting everything done, and WAS doing all I was required to do, but still had spinning cycles. I don’t know whether it’s just my mindset/determination, etc, but I definitely get bored when not engaged.

Contrary to popular belief (wait for it, wait for it) - managing isn’t especially engaging, and isn’t supposed to be.

So I’d say that my 108% I’m giving to my job is really only about 60% of my TOTAL ability to give. I’ve got at least 40% more in reserve. Do I devote it to pushing harder and getting a 10k raise? Do I look for another job that will give me that extra 10k, but have more responsibility and more time eaten up? Or do I use the time I’m given AWAY from the current job, still give the 100% they’re looking for, and really drive at something on the side? I think the answer’s obvious.

I’m not starving on my salary, and you hear it time and again that you should keep your day job until you can afford to quit. I’m looking to mine until the last possible second. I like the money and the freedom of being able to work from home. I love that it doesn’t take 100% of my time, but hate the fact that I’m just a cog in the machine.

I feel the company would drop me like a bad habit if they needed to - I don’t want to be stuck in that situation. I want to be able to drop THEM. I want to have something else cooking that pays my bills and know the day job is just a supplement.

How liberating that would, not shackled by the corporate job, able to know you’re giving what’s expected, while optimizing your available cycles to do more than just drive rigors further into a group of folks that can get by just fine without you? I believe it’s an easy decision…

Conclusion

I’ve tried it – I’ve given the last 10 years to corporate America, thinking it was the answer and what I wanted from life. The money’s good, but not “great”.

The freedom I get in my particular group is good, but not good enough.I’m convinced that giving 110% to someone other than myself isn’t going to cut it for my best life. I’m not saying I’m going to give less. I’ll still give everything needed to get the job done.

Everything else, as it stands, can be reallocated to things for MY dreams, not the boss’s.The first picture/post title I found stumbling last night and it really clicked for me that I want to do something more than “providing status quo”.

I want to do something that I’m responsible for; something I’ve poured my heart and soul into. As it happens, I don’t think my current day-job is that “something” which will help build those dreams…

A big shoutout to WriterDad for his help in editing this post.  He’s a gun for hire if you’re interested in fine tuning your writing  ;)

photos by: borrowed time | demi-brooke, fotologic, Vittis from Lithuania, me’nthedogs, Abulic Monkey, Tillo13

Popularity: 13% [?]