5 Strategic Changes To Improve Your Career 

That's awesome! I'm glad my content has been helpful.

You are welcome.

Thanks for sharing!

I am glad it was helpful.

😂 My grandfather was a farmer. My dad grew up as a farmer. I lived around farmers growing up. As I'm sure you know, being a software developer is easy compared to being a farmer. That isn't to say it is easy, but trying to outwork a farmer is a losing proposition.

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You are welcome.

Thank you!

Agreed. We've all been there too.

Thanks for sharing!

🙂

Definitely.

Thanks!

Thanks!

In English, we typically use those words interchangeably. Yes, there can be a slight difference (normal can mean "the standard or expected behavior" where common can mean "something that occurs frequently"), but we often use them to mean the same thing. If we were discussing something scientific or precise then yes, we would draw the distinction. That's not the case here. When something is not precisely measured, trying to apply common vs normal is not accurate. You cannot state that something is common but not normal without specific data to back that up.

I appreciate the kind words.

Thanks for sharing!

My recommendation is this: don't do that. The most likely outcome is that you will be bankrupt and back working for someone else. 3 out of 4 businesses never make it to 15 years. However, that does not mean you cannot succeed. It just means that there is probably a better way to succeed. Start doing something small on the side. Pick the business you want to do and do it in your off hours. Yes, that's hard, but guess what? Running a business is HARD. If you want to do software development as your side business, do part-time consulting. Once you do for a bit, you will realize that you traded one boss for multiple but maybe you will like that and maybe you can grow your business from there. If you want to do something totally different like open up a restaurant, open a food cart on weekends. See how you like it. Work at festivals, fairs, school events, and more. If you want to be a mechanic, take on one project at a time and work nights and weekends on it. Here is my hard-won piece of wisdom for you: if you won't put in the extra work to start small, you are almost certainly not going to succeed if you go full-time. Being a full-time business owner means putting in MUCH more than 40 hours per week. Add on the stress that comes from being uncertain if you are going to get paid, if you are going to be able to make rent, and if you will be able to pay back your loans and you will probably look back at your "regular" job as a vacation. I hate to sound harsh and negative, but too often I see people that take the leap into business ownership without a clue of what they are getting into. They know so little about what it actually takes that they think it will be easy (Dunning Kruger effect). You will save yourself a LOT of paid if you start small and do it as a supplement to your existing income rather than trying to do a hard switch. Also, PLEASE don't rely on loans to start your business. Everyone tells you that you have to have loans or investors in order to make a business work. That's not true. You can make almost any business work without either. It just means that you need to start small and resist the urge to leap ahead using loans. It may sound wise to make that leap, but I've seen far too many businesses that were ruined because they made the "logical" choice and then had to cut back and do layoffs before closing because they couldn't sustain their growth. Just so you know that I'm not just giving random advice, I've followed this exact pattern. I spent years working side jobs as a consultant. My original thought was to be a consultant full-time on my own. I even went as far as doing it for a year. What I found was that I could do it, but I didn't like doing it. The stress of juggling so many clients, handling non-payments, dealing with clients backing out of deals, and working through the slow times meant that I was spending far too much of my time working. I gave up a 40 hour/week job for an 80+ hour/week job that had triple the stress. I went back to a "normal" job for four years while I re-evaluated what I wanted to do and how. When I quit that job, it was because my side job was paying more than my day job. I now have five well-paid employees and have been working for myself for five years. In that time, I never took a loan or received any "investments" or grants. My total contribution to my business was $150 (actually more like $0, because I used rewards points to "buy" what I needed). After that, the only time I spent money was if the business had that money already in hand to spend. I have always maintained a high profit margin, which I reinvest back into the business. I maintain a bank account with 6+ months of total business expenses (salaries, healthcare, facilities, etc.) so that our income can drop to $0 and we can continue without layoffs. I have grown very slowly compared to what I "could have" done. In fact, I could leap forward if I hired another 10 employees. I can even afford to do so. I have not because that would put me too close to breaking even. Do you know what that approach has done for me? I only work 40+ hours/week if I want to. I don't stress about finances. A down month is no big deal. I feel like I'm retired. I do what I love rather than doing what I have to do. But all of that only comes from making LOTS of wise decisions and making hard choices up front.

@@IAmTimCorey thanks for the reply and the wisdom with it! I truly appreciate your advice as I look up to you! Yes what you say is true. The market right now is just a mess, everyday on LinkedIn or social gatherings there are people complaining about their work and boss, and being that mine is no better it multiplies the stress on my side. Money is no issue for me, im luckily well off, my issue is that there can be managers that will use your dignity as a walking mat, and thats why I despise working for someone else. A 9 to 5 with good conditions and good leadership is heaven on earth, but finding a unicorn is more probable these days than finding a boss who respects your dignity, pays you what you are worth, considers you as an equal and not as his slave. This is what im talking about and many relate to it. Yet again, thank you very much for the time you put to share your wisdom with me!

​@@IAmTimCoreyWow what a great response!

I am not sure what you are asking for.

@@IAmTimCorey sir. want to become CTO. kindly share your thoughts on this