So I won't go into the details of my sidewalking status, but suffice it to say that I haven't managed my money well, and have spent quite a while feeling sorry for myself.
That said, I'm 41, have 2 adorable girls (5 and 7) and a great wife. I'm also a freelance MS Access programmer. I've been doing that full-time since I was laid off a year and a half ago. I make about $60k a year. My website would have you believe that my company writes custom software and has a couple products for sale, but my mindset has been basic freelancing. My mindset has also been to apologize for the work that I provide to my clients (I'm not a 'real' programmer, and if I were, I would have been finished with this thing in 1/3 the time). Its changed a bit now, and I generally charge my full rate ($125/hr) for most of the hours that I actually work. (Hey, I'm not the best programmer in the world, but I do good work, and that work adds significant value to the businesses that hire me, so I charge for my time) ... I'm probably not charging enough for my time, but that's a different story.
I also have about $12K in a roth IRA (funded from the sale of our house last year), and a few thousand in the bank and about $15K in debt (which used to be $65k - we sold our house and paid down a lot of debt with the proceeds)
I think I have a lot of mindset things to overcome. I still worry a fair amount about what other people think of me. I want to change that to an 'other's first' mindset of 'how can I serve you?'
I've listened to the audiobook version of the Fastlane book. I'm on my second time through it. I've learned a few things:
1) my mindset needs to be focused on serving the needs of a lot of people instead of worrying if they like me.
2) I've always had a goal for myself of building an actual business (not just a job that I own)...something that takes on a life of its own. BUT ... the time is NOW, not 'when I _____.' I've had this desire since I was a kid. I remember buying a computer that I thought I could resell for a profit as a teenager (I don't remember what happened, but I don't think I made much money). I also started a business about 10 years ago that had a lot of potential (long story), but I got sued by my former employer and decided to quit.
3) I like the idea of building a business that use the Fastlane components, and it confirms my longer-term goal for my business which is to build a software product that I can sell on a subscription basis to other businesses. I don't have an idea on what to build yet, though.
In the short term, I need to make more money so that I can support my family better. In California, its difficult to live on $60k/year. My plan for that is to:
focus my freelancing efforts on building automatic BI systems for small companies (50-200 people). I have a current client that I'm doing this for, and there is a ton of value that I can provide to my clients. (The report that I'm producing for them will allow them to see the time and money they spend for each client of theirs. Previously, it was a large project to compile all this information, so this report was only produced once every few months.)
I should note that I have a hard time focusing on my work - 60K/year at $75/hour (what I probably actually charge for my time over the past year, even though that rate is improving) is less than part time. I spend a lot of time basically procrastinating.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
That said, I'm 41, have 2 adorable girls (5 and 7) and a great wife. I'm also a freelance MS Access programmer. I've been doing that full-time since I was laid off a year and a half ago. I make about $60k a year. My website would have you believe that my company writes custom software and has a couple products for sale, but my mindset has been basic freelancing. My mindset has also been to apologize for the work that I provide to my clients (I'm not a 'real' programmer, and if I were, I would have been finished with this thing in 1/3 the time). Its changed a bit now, and I generally charge my full rate ($125/hr) for most of the hours that I actually work. (Hey, I'm not the best programmer in the world, but I do good work, and that work adds significant value to the businesses that hire me, so I charge for my time) ... I'm probably not charging enough for my time, but that's a different story.
I also have about $12K in a roth IRA (funded from the sale of our house last year), and a few thousand in the bank and about $15K in debt (which used to be $65k - we sold our house and paid down a lot of debt with the proceeds)
I think I have a lot of mindset things to overcome. I still worry a fair amount about what other people think of me. I want to change that to an 'other's first' mindset of 'how can I serve you?'
I've listened to the audiobook version of the Fastlane book. I'm on my second time through it. I've learned a few things:
1) my mindset needs to be focused on serving the needs of a lot of people instead of worrying if they like me.
2) I've always had a goal for myself of building an actual business (not just a job that I own)...something that takes on a life of its own. BUT ... the time is NOW, not 'when I _____.' I've had this desire since I was a kid. I remember buying a computer that I thought I could resell for a profit as a teenager (I don't remember what happened, but I don't think I made much money). I also started a business about 10 years ago that had a lot of potential (long story), but I got sued by my former employer and decided to quit.
3) I like the idea of building a business that use the Fastlane components, and it confirms my longer-term goal for my business which is to build a software product that I can sell on a subscription basis to other businesses. I don't have an idea on what to build yet, though.
In the short term, I need to make more money so that I can support my family better. In California, its difficult to live on $60k/year. My plan for that is to:
focus my freelancing efforts on building automatic BI systems for small companies (50-200 people). I have a current client that I'm doing this for, and there is a ton of value that I can provide to my clients. (The report that I'm producing for them will allow them to see the time and money they spend for each client of theirs. Previously, it was a large project to compile all this information, so this report was only produced once every few months.)
I should note that I have a hard time focusing on my work - 60K/year at $75/hour (what I probably actually charge for my time over the past year, even though that rate is improving) is less than part time. I spend a lot of time basically procrastinating.
I'd love to hear your thoughts.
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