The road to self-employment

Well the journey has begun. My goal is to become a self-employed freelance writer. I have no intention of becoming the next J.K. Rowling, but I do love writing, seem to be fairly good at it, and have the self discipline (I think) to be successfully self-employed. I've set up a web site to reserve the name--http://www.virtualprofessionalservices.com--but am still working on the details of the business plan. I kept the name fairly broad to allow me to branch out as I learn more about the market and what fits best for me (and because family members with other talents may come on board). However, I also have in the back of my mind an idea to create a virtual network of professionals who are good at their job and can work together on projects, such as one person doing graphic design and the other working on written content. I don't want employees--I want colleagues. I still need to figure out those details.

Time for that later. Right now I just need to figure out how to generate income, marketing, contracts, etc. Exciting, but also just not enough hours in the day to get it all done!!

Turkey Day

Or I guess I should say roast day. We decided not to do turkey this year. Jim cooked a roast out in the smoker, coated with a rub made from his own special recipe. His mom brought a spiral cut ham. I cooked broccoli and rice casserole. My mom fixed chicken and dressing. We had gluten free bread and pecan pies. Numerous bottles of wine went to their reward. It is now almost 6 hours since we ate dinner and I am still stuffed.

All in all, it was a day to be thankful for family and friends. It was a really great day.

I think I need to be my own boss

I've decided I will never be happy until I can control my day myself. I'm not happy with the new job--it is not at all what I was led to believe it would be. I'll stop there--the internet is not a good place to air dirty laundry about your job if you want to stay employed. I do need to stay employed. But I need more autonomy. One of the basic tenets of managing professionals is to give them a goal...then get the hell outa the way. We seem kinda short on long range goals and there is no autonomy to speak of. Stifling, for want of a better word.

More as my sojourn into self employment unfolds. I have lots of ground to cover--how to set up the business, setting up a web site, sketching out a business plan of some kind. Two things really interest me--writing and evaluation. I have some experience in both and a big shiny PhD that ought to be worth something---we'll see!