The Wealthy Worker

Well, my first month of being on-call is over and it went very well. As I mentioned previously, I had a minimum 20 hour per month clause in the contract and the rate was about 50% higher than normal due to being on-call. They didn’t call me that much and so it was a good idea to have the 20 hours in there! Things were pretty stable after I left and any major development is on hold so there wasn’t that much happening. I was on vacation for 2 weeks so it was nice not to have to answer too many calls. But I was prepared to do what I had to - once or twice I was swimming or lying in the sun when they called, but answering questions on the phone isn’t that taxing!

I’ve decided to only work remotely and there’s a possibility I can get some remote work in a couple months or so when the same client will start ramping up. So for the next couple months I am going to work on another business idea I recently started (online interactive guitar lessons). Not only that but I’m planning to move to the east coast where I have another house which we recenlty bought. I plan to get it set up with furniture and services and do my work from there.

The key point for you to take out of this is to know what you want and figure out a way to get there. It takes some thought to gain clarity on what it is you really want. Do you really want a large business with lots of employees and travelling around the country, or would you like to work from your country home or a tropical resort on a one-man internet business? Would you like to work with one client for months or would you like to have multiple clients for short-term jobs? Do you want/need to work full-time or would you prefer to work part-time on multiple interests? I realized that there are certain things I don’t like about the IT work, but I kept doing the same things expecting a different result (the definition of insanity). So I’m committed to living the dream. I hope you are too.

I read today that General Motors plans to close one of their truck plants, because people are moving toward more energy efficient vehicles due to high gas prices. However, the workers who belong to a union want the plant to remain open and have blocked other workers from going to the plant to work.

If there’s one thing I’ve been emphasizing throughout my blog is that you need to take control of your career and empower yourself. Relying on unions or governments to support you is the wrong approach.  No business should stay open in order to provide you with a job. It needs to stay open to make a profit and when it makes business sense.

If you’re working in an SUV plant you might have had a clue that your job is at risk. If you’re in IT you’re aware of the trends of outsourcing and new growth areas such as SOA. The bottom line is no one person or company owes you a job.

As I sat here today working remotely, I happened to be looking out my dining room window when I saw someone back out of her driveway and hit a parked car. After a few second pause, the driver went on her merry way. 15 minutes later she came back, pulled into her garage and closed the door behind her. So I left a note on the victim’s door informing them as to what happened.

My question to you is, ‘Do you take responsibility for your actions’ at work or at home? The first instinct after making a mistake might be to try and hide the error, or run away from blame but we need to face up to our mistakes and be honest and ethical. I find that people are very understanding when you admit a mistake, rather than when they find out what really happened eventually.