talking about work.
I used to work for myself as a freeelance engineer.
took on a major contract for a big, big player in the industry and decided to stay around for a bit, finally joined as staff.
five odd years down the line Im thinking of going it alone again.

reasons vary but being own boss, potential for more earning and maybe with a family round the corner the extra wage may well be enough to replace mrs. Peanuts salary meaning no big financial hit if/when she gives up work.

how do you know when its time?

this time I intend to properly go it alone, rather than use a consultancy who will take a cut.

these are my ramblings and Im not sure why Im posting, but for all you others who have taken the jump, when did you know it was time?

Andy

 

woah you're gonna replace her!?
to be honest, if you don't do it before an 'ikkle Peanut comes along, you prolly won't want to take the risk after!

 

I made the break over a year ago now from a consultancy to go alone. Haven't regretted it yet and it has been very rewarding so far, but hard work. I am also in engineering but dont know what field you are in. I work in transport planning.

My advice is that you need to be confident that you are going to get the work you need, particularly with a family on the way. Put the feelers out to some good contacts that you have made, provided that you can trust them not to report back to your current employers and see what sort of response you get. If its favourable and you can ideally secure a contract in advance then what have you got to lose. At the end of the day from my experience there is currently a major skills shortage is my field of engineering and I always know that I could get another job if all else fails. If the situation is the same in your sector then why not. But - dont jump until you have something in place.

Hope this helps.

Del

 

thanks guys!
Im a civil engineer and the skills shortage is very apparent here as well.
its been on the cards for about 3-4 months now and last weekend I was able to do a private job for some reddies.
which only made me hungrier to take the plunge.
lol at replacing the mrs.
the idea is to suppliment her income in the early stages of family life so that we are not suffering a hit on two fronts:
a) loss of one income
b) cost of adding to the peanuts clan (inevitable and unavoidable)

The problem is that I dont want to simply go to another firm (whether on a contract basis or simply freelance) as I might as well stay put, I want to pick up small chunks of regular work for a couple of different firms to run at the same time.
2 days a week at X, 1 day at Y and two and a half at Z.
harder to set up, I know, but ultimately it will be a more stable business model for me to have various streams of income as opposed to one basket of eggs.
Now the seeds have been sown its inevitable that its going to happen (worst case scenario: get another engineering job tomorrow), just a case now of perfecting the timing

Andy