Winds of Change, part deux

I don't mind the paychecks. It's the job I can do without.

It seems pretty foolish actually, going into the Christmas season, to quit one's job. But then again, I'll be able to spend some great time with the kids during the holidays and save money on daycare.

I've been trying to get things ready for when the financial umbillical cord is cut Dec. 2? I won't go into details here, but I'm going to try my hand at self employment (again). This time I've decided to take a crack at developing an idea for software that I've had for awhile.

I've already hired two developers to work on separate project ideas: one guy is in Texas, the other in Russia. It's reinforcing an idea that I've held for awhile -- if big companies can outsource software development, why can't little guys? So far, things are on schedule and on budget. They should be -- its what I've been doing for a living.

I would be very pleased if I could make a living this way. Stay tuned.

Winds of Change

Last week I turned in my notice. On December 2nd, I am giving myself the opportunity to try something new. That gives me a couple of weeks to figure out what that might be. I'll spare you the details. I had been preparing for this move for months now, even refinancing the house to free up about a thousand dollars a month in cash flow, and purchasing an apartment building to provide extra cash flow. That won't come close to replacing the $80,000 a year impact that my job has on the family, but we'll manage. I may even try my hand at being a stay-at-home dad for awhile. The kids are 6, and nearly-5 and nearly 2 now.

So doing the rough math-- $1000 in improved cash flow from re-financing, $750 cash from the apartment building, $1000/mo savings from daycare... and we're at nearly 1/3 of my present net income. It'll be a stretch, but we'll manage until something comes along. Something always comes along.

Last night was tremendously windy. We had nearly 12 hours of winds gusting past 55 mphs. About 1:30 am, Jane and I were awaken by banging on the side of the house. The banging was constant and wouldn't allow any further sleep. So I got dressed, put on my warmest coat, and stepped out into the dark wind tunnel to remove a branch that had fallen on the house. After that, I couldn't get back to sleep. I just lay there, listinging to the roaring wind, reassuring myself that I'm doing the right thing for my mental health, that we'll be ok. Things always work out for us. I just need to have faith.

New doors are already starting to open. I hired some programmers in India to work on an idea that I have for a email encryption product. They seem like good people, very smart. If they can deliver on budget, and if I apply my Microsoft-honed marketing skills, I'm hopeful that I might be able to develop it into a new revenue stream.

I've been exploring the internet lately, and found videos.google.com, where anyone can post a video of virtually anything. Browsing the site randomly, I quickly came to the conclusion that we need to start issuing licenses to own a video camera. Google apparently wants to become the king of crap home video. But then I found this video someone made from inside Hurricane Wilma. It helped me put our high winds last night into some perspective.

Have a blessed day, and be sure to hug your spouse and kids tonight.

Diet update: up to 180 -- slipping a bit, up about 5 lbs. Need to keep a watch on the weight. I think the stress has been getting to me a bit.