Why not work for yourself?

Amid the worst recession since the 1930s and perhaps the worst ever for the construction industry, I was somehow able to find work today. Not from one of those big corporate conglomerates for whom we have been taught to work tireless and give everything we have. Until, of course they decide that your salary is no long worth it's weight in the liabilities column of their balance sheet and they discard you like the wrapper to a tootsie-pop. At which time we are taught to hit the streets with ambitions of again becoming a salary that may or may not be worth hanging on to when things get a little rocky.

Rather, I found work through a Craigslist ad I put up shortly after I was laid off for a partner in a proposed design build operation. Rich Sanford is an architect who was laid off from BLT Architects and was incidentally working on the same casino project as myself prior to our unfortunate temporary dismissal from the working world. However, Rich pulled himself immediately out of the dumpster for construction professionals and decided to look for work on his own with the creation of Sanford Consulting performing architecture and drafting.

While Craigslist has had some unfortunate press recently involving their erotic massage services, Rich is certainly a much better contact than that nerdy guy from Boston. Rich landed a job drawing site plans and details for the installation of fiber optic telecommunication lines into an apartment building. Television and Internet seems to be recession proof. The job consisted of a survey of the existing site as well some more detailed drawings showing locations of fiber distribution terminals outside the building. You don't need to be Harvard educated (thank god) to do this job, but its solid work that has potential for repeat business. Perhaps this is why Rich asked if I could help him with the survey and drafting on a subsequent project.

Rich and I visited two sites today for which we will be supplying survey and fiber distribution terminal drawings. It was fun, interesting, and liberating all at the same time.

While Rich and I both intend on moving more into commercial architecture and construction (perhaps independently, perhaps not) this a great job to give us both some much needed income in a time when income is more elusive than an honest bank executive.

You should try this self-employed thing - it's fun as hell.

Why not work for yourself?