Once upon a midnight dreary… I used to work as an operations shift manager for one of the largest nuke plants in the northeast. I quit years ago for health concerns, but occaissionally took a 6-month procedure writing contract at very exhorbitant rates. I haven’t done that in few years, however, and in the meantime my renovation business has caught fire. I’m booked out until almost the end of the year, with several additional contracts under consideration.
Soooo, I got a call today from the agency I used to contract with, asking if I could go back to the same nuke site and write some procedures for them. The price is almost half of what I used to get, and not much more than what I get tearing apart stranger’s bathrooms and kitchens.
The catch is, and you knew there had to be one, is they want me to start in several weeks time. I’m knee deep in a BR reno, with the last phase of a kitchen reno after that, and shed teardown and rebuild after that, all of which I’ve accepted deposits for.
I’m torn between going back to the steady job and decent (although not great) pay, and doing what I absolutely love to do, which is play with expensive tools on other people’s houses. I would do better financially, at least in the short term I think, by going back to the old grind. But that means putting my business on hold, at a point when it is getting stronger, and the referrals are steadily, if not flooding in, than at least trickling in, such that I work Saturdays on the smaller jobs, like door replacements.
What would you do? It’s an unfair question, I know, since your situation is different than mine, but I guess I’m looking for what your reasoning is for the decision you make, if you had to make one. And maybe I’m looking for support for a decision I might have already made, but don’t know it yet.
I’ve got to learn to cut down on the verbage.
Replies
Nick,
i'm retired ga'ment, so anyway, my 2 centavoes
since the work/business u love is starting to catch, and you're not being offered anything that will compensate the possibility of losing your business growth, if not the business. it also sounds like you are not getting any great $ incentive.
can u realy afford to put off customers who are already lined up to "bump-in" another customer for six months?. what will that do for any reputation u have established
main thing is this is your decsision, since u will live with it
bobl Volo, non valeo
Nick-- - " doing what I absolutely love to do, which is play with expensive tools on other people's houses" . From this sentence, I think you should continue growing your business and leave your previous life behind. Life is too short to stay in a job you don't enjoy. Just my $ .02
Is that the kind of job where you are only allowed a certain dose of radiation? I used to here stories of nuke plant workers who: Where only allowed so much radiation annually, so if you got your doseage by july, you got the rest of the year off. Hell, some guys were sneaking in to the reactor rooms jan 1 and "POW". they got enough radiation for the year. "Take the rest of the year off"
If that's the case, go back to your job, on the first day back, take your "badge", and drop it in a uranium pit or something, get your "dose", and get your three month's pay, or something.
A long, long time ago contract rad workers were known to run up the exposure, but when they were told to go home, they weren't paid (by the utility, that is. They could have had a clause in their contract regarding exposure over the limit, but I doubt it, to prevent exactly what you suggest. And when you reached your yearly limit, you had to wait until next year to work in a radiation field again, or get an exposure waiver, which were pretty much unheard of.) Although I received more than my share of exposure over 25 years working in the nuke field, there is no way I would want a single millirem more than I had to have. It just isn't worth the risks.
Besides, unless they moved the procedure writing group into the Containment structure, no radiation exposure would be involved. (Other than the background sort, which we are all exposed to, though some - Colorado, for instance - more than others.)
But thanks for the suggestion.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
I highly encourage you to enjoy your life. This is not a dress rehearsal.
In contrast to jim and mongo------alot of people believe that this IS a dress rehersal---and that we get infinite attempts at this thing called life-----
however-----If I understand the situation described correctly-----why would you even consider going back?
Remember----you left the old life for a reason
they aren't gonna pay you much more than you are ALREADY
making.
they want to pay you HALF what they previously paid you
Looks like ZERO benefit to you accomodating "them" on this
why would you even consider it?
I have a book in my library entitled, "Do What You Love - The Money Will Follow."
I wouldn't take a 50% pay cut on a contract job unless I was hurting real bad for money. If you roll over one time, they're not going to still respect you in the morning.
Follow your heart. This is not a practice life.
nick,
about seven months ago i did the same thing that you are thinking about doing. i had a small remodeling business 4 years going and was just starting to get bigger jobs (at the end an offer to do a whole house from ground up with an adjacent airplane hanger). then, my wife, who is a doctor and from germany, got a once in a lifetime offer to do research in switzerland. her new salary way more than compensates my giving up my work for awhile. it was a difficult decision and i did not want to be the deal breaker who prevented my wife from following her career so here i am for the last 7 months in switzerland. however, i, too, loved my work and looked forward everyday, rain or shine, to going to work. there is a lot of good to say for being where i am now and i am learning new things every day. but, given the same choice again, i am not sure that i would make the same one. starting out on your own and watching your hard work and effort grow and pay-off is something a lot of people do not get to experience. as your business and reputation grow it becomes just like one of your kids. you wouldn't give away one of your kids, would you? the best advice given was to follow you heart. i will be going back and picking up, hopefully, where i left off in a year or so and i am already counting the days. good luck.
brad
Thanks for the replies, all. I called my contact and told them I was unavailable. It was an easy thing to do.
Thanks again.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
There are very, very few people who can say that they enjoy the work they do. If you don't dread going to work each morning when you hear that alarm ringing, stay with your own business! Good luck.
Seems to me you already answered your own question.
Putting the business on hold might burn some bridges with customers. That could hurt your referrals and potential business when you get back into it.
And all to do something it doesn't sound like you want to do too badly anyway.
It isn't often you get a thread where the answers are unanimous. But so far, that seems to be the case here. I'd take that as a pretty serious sign.
From the moment I picked your book up until I put it down I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.
Gotta' agree with all the others, you answered your question with the doing what I love to do line.
Keep on building.
Do you have to work full time and can you work at night or out of the house with one or two days on the job site?
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.