tacman1123
Confused about dryer sheets
I'm 55 now, self-employed most of my life. Fortunate in my early 30's to get a stock windfall that allowed me to spend the next 15 years effectively volunteering, getting contracts to cover employees by not myself (We did have one non-advocacy client that paid my salary for a few years, but it eventually downsized).
Then 2009 came and I decided to shift the focus of my efforts from advocacy to research, and re-brand my organization from a not-for-profit to a for-profit company.
Alas, my hopes for a second home run never came to fruition. What profit I made was put back into the company, building up the technology and expecting a big win when the time came to move from a handful of clients to a national market. At the end of 2017, I realized that this was unlikely to ever happen (a really hard thing for me to accept!), and that I'd be better off being grateful for the market recovery and focusing on financial independence, And that my organization was the biggest risk to my financial future, and I wasn't willing to continue spending more on it.
It's an odd feeling. My habit, for decades, is to work long hours with the expectation of a big payoff. Thirty years ago that worked, then in the advocacy projects we also had great success, albeit not financial (We provided key infrastructure to local and national groups advocating for smokefree workplace laws, including bars and restaurants).
Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about the next step. Some is financial -- every week the market goes up more than 2% I'm reminded of early 2008, and how I said to myself "This can't last". And was right -- but didn't do anything about it!
But the financial part is solvable (another thread in the money forum for that). I'm wondering what my daily life will look like without that goal-driven mindset. Or what that goal will be if it's not another "big win".
Yes, these are GREAT problems to have. I look forward to learning from this group about how others have transitioned.
Tac
Then 2009 came and I decided to shift the focus of my efforts from advocacy to research, and re-brand my organization from a not-for-profit to a for-profit company.
Alas, my hopes for a second home run never came to fruition. What profit I made was put back into the company, building up the technology and expecting a big win when the time came to move from a handful of clients to a national market. At the end of 2017, I realized that this was unlikely to ever happen (a really hard thing for me to accept!), and that I'd be better off being grateful for the market recovery and focusing on financial independence, And that my organization was the biggest risk to my financial future, and I wasn't willing to continue spending more on it.
It's an odd feeling. My habit, for decades, is to work long hours with the expectation of a big payoff. Thirty years ago that worked, then in the advocacy projects we also had great success, albeit not financial (We provided key infrastructure to local and national groups advocating for smokefree workplace laws, including bars and restaurants).
Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about the next step. Some is financial -- every week the market goes up more than 2% I'm reminded of early 2008, and how I said to myself "This can't last". And was right -- but didn't do anything about it!
But the financial part is solvable (another thread in the money forum for that). I'm wondering what my daily life will look like without that goal-driven mindset. Or what that goal will be if it's not another "big win".
Yes, these are GREAT problems to have. I look forward to learning from this group about how others have transitioned.
Tac