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Do you love what you do?

Yes, I love what I do. I am busy saving the world one forgotten, neglected or abused teen at a time. Well, most days more than one at a time... And every day I get to work with people I consider heroes. Some of them my own heroes. A few of them kids I worked with that are all grown up now.

I work for a non profit residential care facility. I've held several positions there over the last nine years and change. Currently I get to do what I do best, building trusting relationships with kids that need them and mentoring, while also working within our ag education program, doing things I never thought I would be interested in and find I enjoy learning and doin quite a bit. HSH, you're not kidding about how much more fun it is to do creative work with your hands.

Today I taught a 14 year old how to use a jig saw (he did great too), helped the kids build several wood working projects, got to sit in on a wildlife class where they learned about ducks, helped a senior move an angry heifer out of the show barn (that was a confidence builder for her and me both), then we cut legs for a piano bench she wants to build out of mesquite branches. Tomorrow I'll probably get to help with welding and metal work projects.

There are days I get paid to fish with kids.

In the summer I help organize recreation oppurtinities. We do lots of crazy stuff. This last summer I got certified to instruct on our ropes course and teach swimming lessons. Not much more satisfying than helping a kid build confidence in a new skill or facing and conquering their fears.

The downside... I don't earn a whole lot, although my benefits package is really nice.

The real downside... They aren't "at risk" for no reason. Some days are tougher than others. I am, for better or worse, pretty good at dealing or helping them deal with all the minor crises their previous experience didn't teach them to cope with well (or taught them to cope with well with skills that won't be beneficial later for dealing with life's other challenges). I've gotten pretty good at dealing with (as in putting a stop to) physical violence over the years. I've managed to only get myself hurt jumping in between two angry teen age boys twice. The girls are worse... I hate having to end a cat fight between a couple of street tough girls... Speaking of effective coping skills that won't benefit them later... Sometimes, there are even bigger issues, and this year has been especially tough with the death of a former student/resident just three years after her graduation and... Well I'm not supposed to talk about the other, but it was even tougher and hit everyone in the organization, staff and residents alike, really hard.
 
I enjoy my new specialty of medicine (pain medicine) much more than my old one (anesthesia). I am making 10% now during my pain fellowship of what I would have made just going into practice with anesthesia. It's just a feeling of being much more valued and respected than before. I am gaining new surgical skills which is fun and interesting. I even get to yell across the drape, "hey anesthesia! The patient is moving!" at my former colleagues which I find quite humorous. I will be working in a small hospital next year which will remove all of the death by committee aspects of working at the university hospital. A life of no nights, no weekends, no holidays awaits me which is another distinct advantage over anesthesia.
 
I really enjoy what I do. I'm my own boss, make my own schedule, and can get on ostate.com anytime I want without anybody saying a word. It doesn't get any better than that. There are some minor annoyances, but I feel like I'm still new and fresh enough to roll with the changing medical landscape despite being in practice for 6+ years.
I work with a fantastic loyal staff. I live comfortably, and will be able to afford to put my kid(s) through college (including advanced degrees), and retire early. Can't ask for anything more than that.
 
Really digging this thread. Interesting insights for sure.

I'm a professional artist. To this day, that's both an uncomfortable and rewarding thing to say out loud because it doesn't seem like a real job. Anyone can call themselves an artist or a photographer and hang a shingle. In fact, so many people (usually soccer moms whose "business" is subsidized by a spouse with a real job) start up low end photography businesses, it makes getting a legitimate family-supporting business started almost impossible.

The barriers to starting this kind of business are very low, but as a result, the market is conditioned to believe that you really can pay $100 and get a CD full of unedited "good enough" images that a girl your sister went to high school with shot on her Canon T3i. We call em shoot and burn photographers, and you get what you pay for.

Anyway, my degree is in PR and all my business experience is in sales and sales management. I found that really helps me avoid some of the pitfalls that most "professional artists" (whether they are painters, musicians, photographers etc." fall into - which is that most practically give their art away and ruin the market for people who want to charge grown up money.

In any of those fields, you have a lot of enthusiastic amateurs who believe the path to success lays in "getting their name out there" by shooting, playing, painting and designing for free or damn near it. It makes the first few years in a business like this VERY hard. But, I've found that if you can last through that and you actually do deliver quality product, your demand grows and referrals come out of nowhere. In my case (and I know i've left a LOT of money on the table and have been very disorganized at times), it's taken 5 years to get to the point where I can actually project income, rather than just see what comes in this month and decide what bills I can pay and what will have to wait.

Lots of life changing things happened at the same time; Divorce, parents divorce, remarriage, death of best friend, death of cousin, death of father in law, family illnesses... Lots of things that cost money, distracted my focus and really kept me from being able to bring all available resources to bear on this new business.

I can finally say that 2014 was the year that I had waited for. Contracts in place, clients lined up, finally upgrading some overdue equipment, and finally will be able to afford health insurance (something I always took for granted). Glow and I are taking the first vacation we've had since our honeymoon 3.5 years ago and we are able to absorb a large (for us) business expense without it affecting our ability to buy groceries. That may seem modest (it is) but it's a big win for us. I now "employ" two interns and will be hiring additional photographers to handle some of my overflow work.

So, again... this is the first year that I feel I will have made something like what I would've made in my last corporate sales job five years ago and I have no reason to believe the growth won't continue. Getting past that "startup phase" in a photography/graphic design company like mine is critical and damn near impossible - given some of the challenges and distractions we've faced, but it is an incredible feeling of accomplishment.

Everyone wants to own their own business right? Well, there are major up sides but some major challenges too.

On the upside,

I do create things for a living. I no longer work to make money for someone else's vision. I create tangible products that make people happy, exceed their expectations and memorialize a specific event or moment in time that will exist in theory, forever. There is something so intrinsically rewarding in that simple fact that it has made everything else worthwhile. I work from home for the most part, though I usually shoot on location. I've had three different studios and ultimately decided the thing to do was to simply rent studio space as needed when I do studio shoots, which is rare. Working from home is great in many ways. In some unforeseen ways, it's challenging - more on that in a minute. But I do get to work when I want to and can (again in theory) stop working and write a long post in the middle of the morning without looking over my shoulder to see if anyone knows I'm goofing off.I am my own boss and can (and have) fire troublesome clients. I am a huge customer service guy but the simple knowledge that I don't HAVE to work for a jerk customer if I don't want to is incredibly empowering. I have to be mindful of things like referrals, reviews, etc. so I usually bend over backwards to accommodate clients. But it's still great to know I won't get fired if one of them just needs to be told to go f*** themselves some day. Being thought of and recognized as a professional artist is really really rewarding for me personally. I come from a family of artists and musicians and as far as I know, only me and one of my cousins have managed to make a go of art professionally. I feel strongly that my dad and my uncle could've been very successful artists, but for me to stick it out and get to a point where I'm paying the bills with this is a really empowering thing personally.Did I mention I LOVE what I do? I do. It's not unusual for me to be up until 2:00 on an editing project. Unveiling someone's gallery or delivering a print and seeing a mom cry out of joy or seeing a new bride light up and hug my neck... well, man you don't get those kind of reactions when you sell another customer a print ad or radio spot (previous jobs). I love doing shoots, I love editing the images from those shoots and I love creating digital art in Photoshop. I love that those things define me and I welcome that.Through the flexibility of my schedule, even though I work a LOT, it's easy to put my kids activities on the schedule and build my appointments around that. Easy for my wife and I to enjoy two hour lunches, date nights etc. Just a matter of managing which nights and what times are booked with family first and then clients. Win or lose, you are in control - not office politics. You may run into office politics with the bidding process for big jobs, but you aren't limited by smarmy middle management douchebags who've managed to get elevated to their level of incompetence. For years I felt like I was Peter from Office Space and my natural tendency to be a smartass would kick in when I found myself in performance review meetings. it's nice not to have to deal with the obvious ridiculousness of life that anyone whose ever worked in a corporate job has to endure. No TPS reports for me.
On the downside:

I work at least 80 hours a week and never ever feel caught up. The things I don't get caught up on weigh on me heavily. There's someone posting in this very thread that I said I would do a project for several months back and still haven't. That kind of thing happens because of all the deadline projects that come up. Yearbook, football orders, basketball orders, turnaround time for portrait projects and weddings. Those are all things that fuel the business and create opportunities to make art for people, but they also keep me from getting to the fun projects I *want* to do or the brother in law projects I said I would do and never get to. The hours I put in are never enough to get done with everything on my list. What's the answer? Hiring someone I can't afford, who will make me more efficient and (in theory) allow me to handle a larger work flow and make more money? Or do I need to streamline some of what I do so I simply have more time and only work on high end projects? Some combo of the two? Time management is easily the biggest challenge of owning my business.Speaking of time management... when you work around your clients' schedule for photo shoots and gallery reviews, you find yourself working early in the morning, late at night and nearly every weekend. Sure, you can take afternoons off, sleep in and do editing whenever you want to, but it results in a real lack of structure when it comes to availability for family, recreation etc. This is the first year since I was a little kid that I did not have OSU football tickets. I just knew I would be working every saturday and there was no way I could make enough games for it to be worth it. Speaking of lack of structure, in this day and age... you have to be able to network with your clients. That means... social media, email, texting and phone calls from people who think artists get up at 7:00 AM (We DON'T) or that it's OK to call you on a Sunday night at 7:00pm. And you have to be wired in to your phone so you can respond to those things in real time. There are very few boundaries or barriers between you and whatever randomly pops into a client's head at any odd time. I've gotten texts from clients at 1:00 in the morning. They assume I guess, that I'll see it in the morning but I can't work that way. I am OCD in the sense that if someone contacts me, I have to reply. The inability to escape from my smart phone is very stressful at times - especially when I'm working on deadline stuff. Even though I love my job, there's no sense of ever being off work. All the things that aren't your job, become your job. book keeping, taxes, marketing, collections... None of that is sexy stuff and it's really time consuming. I probably spend 5% of my work time actually taking photos. 40% of my time is probably spent editing or working on graphics projects. The other 55% is spent ordering prints, receiving, packaging, delivering prints. Marketing, networking, continuing education, generating quotes, following up with potential customers and customers who I need some kind of response from. Ideally you outsource this stuff. But it's a constant struggle to know what to outsource and what to handle yourself to keep costs down.Working from home actually can stress you out because you don't interact with other humans. That may seem counterintuitive, but it's true. There's a certain amount of human contact that is actually healthy and when you remove yourself from an office environment you really create new challenges for yourself. Can't take a break and visit with someone at the water cooler (that's what this board and a few other outlets are for). And there's no outside force to tell you to quit goofing off and get back to work. That all has to come 100% from within and when you are an artist, that isn't something that comes naturally to your personal.. look, a squirrel!
 
Great post Mega. I can relate to that as you pretty much described my wife and sister in law in your first paragraph (thanks a-hole
smile.r191677.gif
). They were both working for their parents and managing/operating 5 separate family-owned businesses. Then the economy tanked, and the housing market tanked, and the used-car business tanked, then the bank got greedy. So needless to say, they needed something to do to make income. They are both creative as hell (runs in their family somehow) and they came up with making their hobby their business. They are more professional than the soccer moms with point and shoot cameras though lol. Trying to start up from nothing and build up clients was difficult. Now they are booked solid 2 months in advance. You nailed it with the late night editing sessions and responding to texts/emails/facebook messages at all hours of the day. I think they are in a pretty good place now, except each of them has a former classmate/friend pop up with the turn and burn photography business now.

As for me, I like my job pretty well. I have a good staff, good director, and a good CEO. I get paid well and have good benefits. I could go work for another company and deal with the public, but I really, really hate that.

The previous place I was at from 2001-2009 and loved it up until the last year or so. I advanced through 4 positions there. We had a remodel with a brand new department for us complete with lots of automation and technology. It became a national showcase model where people from all over the nation would come in and tour our department before they bought the same equipment. With this came directors that I didn't even know, who I had never talked to in the 7 years prior, coming in all of the time trying to act like big shots. Then they stiffed us on our annual cost of living merit increases on top of it, and I was gone.

However, if money were no object and I could do what I love, I would build/restore vehicles and be a contract sports writer. I spend most of my free time building and working on cars (I've shown you pics of my turbo Regal and Mustang before I think) and restoring things like American Restoration - pedal cars, gas pumps, etc. (Note to self - I need a much bigger shop)

As far as the sports writing, I worked for my dad as a sports writer for a newspaper while I was in college. That was the job that I LOVED the most. Covering games, talking to coaches, interviewing players. I got to cover a few OSU games and sit in the press box, go on the field, interview Les Miles, etc. As fun as that was, I actually enjoyed the high school stuff more.

Luckily my dad wanted better for me, and told me that the newspaper business wasn't going to a money making job and that I needed to stick with my original degree plans. I was pretty upset but that's probably been the best advice he has given me.
 
As far as the sports writing, I worked for my dad as a sports writer for a newspaper while I was in college. That was the job that I LOVED the most. Covering games, talking to coaches, interviewing players. I got to cover a few OSU games and sit in the press box, go on the field, interview Les Miles, etc. As fun as that was, I actually enjoyed the high school stuff more.

Luckily my dad wanted better for me, and told me that the newspaper business wasn't going to a money making job and that I needed to stick with my original degree plans. I was pretty upset but that's probably been the best advice he has given me.

Russ that reminds me of a few things I forgot to mention as a high and low of owning my own biz..,

One thing I absolutely LOVE is covering football. When I first started doing this, I called a friend of mine who was the editor of the Bixby Bulletin. I felt if I could get some stuff published it would help promote the biz. She asked me to write game stories and shoot football games for Bixby. It was the same year our current head coach started at Bixby. Over 5 seasons, I've really developed some nice friendships with the coaches and athletic department and it's lead to a lot of fun projects like murals and stadium graphics projects. But honestly the best part is just being involved with the program, hanging out on the sidelines to shoot the games and getting to know the kids. It's a lot of fun at the level of sports where it's still about playing a game with your friends. Seeing that kind of stuff, the sideline banter etc. I really love doing that. It's not a huge money maker - I sell pics to the Tulsa World and to football moms - but it is really something I alway look forward to.

A downside of all the time commitment that comes from being busy in this kind of field, It's been a year since the last music gig I played. I miss that a lot but just haven't had time to practice, promote the bands, look for gigs etc. I really miss performing and playing music with my wife and with my friends. I have got to somehow find time to do that again.

One last thing - I don't even really mean anything negative towards shoot and burn photographers. It is just a very crowded market at the low end. I think if they fill a market need, they deserve to do that. Getting into the next level of the market is the challenge, but it's really rewarding once you are there because you are no longer shopped on price, you are sought out by people who want art and the value of that becomes very subjective. I'm totally OK with being too expensive for someone who has a niece who will shoot their kids' senior portraits for a hundo. I won't even try to talk them out of it. Budget is a big deal for a lot of people - hell i couldn't afford to hire me and I'm far from the most expensive guy in town.
 
Originally posted by Poketologist:
HSH, you don't work for my friend Cody, do you? Hell of a great guy and very creative.
That's exactly who I work for. He let me come to work for him after he got done laughing at me. I've been there part time for a little less than a year. He sure likes to yell at his family though, but I give it right back to him.

He he is damn good at what he does.
 
I work for OSU and it's the best place in the world to work. Great people, exciting work that makes a difference, and great pay and benefits.
 
I like that I'm good at what I do.

It's a corporate gig. I get to wear tshirts and jeans and can drink on the job.


There are plenty of perks, but I could leave it behind to make my own product.
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I really, really like my job. Fantastic benefits (both health and flight) that have allowed me to do and see far more than I otherwise would have.

I spent 13 years working up through the ranks at other airlines just to get to this point (and company). I've been here 6 years and can't imagine being anywhere else.

I wish that my industry took holidays or weekends off like many others do, but the overall positives outweigh the negatives. Where else is your birthday AND the day following your birthday considered a holiday ( = holiday pay)?
 
I love it, I work too much at times but, own my own firm and love beating the IRS one on one or helping a client do a merger or acquisition or just giving them peace of mind their taxes, payroll, financials are done correctly. I can take off in the middle of the day if I need and set my own schedule

I was corporate before I started my own company and couldn't stand the politics and the joke of performance reviews

I refuse to implement performance reviews as a formal process at my firm

I don't think I would ever go back to corporate
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I can't imagine a job that better fits my education, aptitude, gifts and talents than the one I have now. I work for a great board of directors and I have an unbelievable group of people that work for me.

It is very multifaceted with a ton of problem solving, but I also get to spend a lot of time outside doing things I love in a beautiful setting.

I can't imagine doing anything else.
 
I'm a Professional Firefighter in the second largest city in Oklahoma ;-)............I freaking love my job.

It's a great schedule, I work with great people and get to make a difference in the lives of our customers. (citizens)

It is challenging, rewarding, exciting, scary, physically demanding and just plain fun!!!!

I have had a few different part-time jobs and I am about to start a new one doing Insurance
Audits. Pretty excited about this new opportunity as I will be pretty much setting my own hours and working from the house. I can see myself working fairly late into life as I thrive on being busy. I also enjoy taking trips and those cost money!!


Good thread Mega
 
Been at a livestock show with my (work) kids the last two days in Belton. We had a few animals place and one of our medium wool lambs took first place in her class. Kid was ecstatic. Just 20 minutes before her lamb's class she was still complaining about how pointless it was and her lamb would never work with her. This was just her second show, and she does still have issues getting this lamb to consistently brace well. The first show she forgot to hydrate the lamb the day before and finished almost dead last. We learned a lot between shows, especially her, and today she learned that hard work pays off and she can make a difference even when she is scared.

So, once again, YES! I live what I do.
 
First, Redson I see a lot of positives in your post for both you and the kids.
Second, Mega great thread. Unfortunately, I have been to busy being self employeed to tell you until now. Hope things continue going in a positive direction for you, your family and your business. Go Pokes
 
Originally posted by poke957:
First, Redson I see a lot of positives in your post for both you and the kids.
Second, Mega great thread. Unfortunately, I have been to busy being self employeed to tell you until now. Hope things continue going in a positive direction for you, your family and your business. Go Pokes
Thanks 957, and same to you!

Self employment... I think everyone I ever worked with said they wanted it, but there is definitely a value to being able to leave the office at 5:00 and not worry about work until the next morning. Being able to budget around a known salary, project 10% raises, schedule vacations etc.

Self employment takes a huge mental toll, is statistically likely to fail and sucks your time like no job anyone would ever tolerate - all the while, putting less in your pockets (usually for several years) than you would if you just followed a responsible career path.

It puts everything at risk. You rob Peter to pay Paul and hope you are justified in the decisions you make - especially when you have a family depending on your success. It's directly led to me having some pretty serious anxiety issues at times, but man it feels good to know that as I do begin to become legitimately profitable - it's my business I'm building instead of someone else's.

Not having a performance review to worry about from some pin-head middle manager (named Chad) with the IQ and scruples of a rodent making decisions about who to promote based on who kisses his ass the best and knows when to lose to him at golf. For me personally, i can't put a price on those things.
 
Just now saw this thread, so will put in my 0.02.

I am a pharmacist. I really like my job now, as I get to see patients and prescribe their meds...similar to a physician. I basically augment the physicians by taking over some of the drug therapy of the patient (at least all the MD is willing to turn over).

I do not diagnose, do not have the training for it, and do not really want to anyway.

But I get to help patients get their diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol to their goals...and I get to teach a lot in the process.

Much more rewarding than counting pills.

Laws are starting to change in some states, like California, where a pharmacist can be reimbursed as a provider for insurance.....plus, esp with O-care, there will probably not be as many physicians around....so the clinical pharmacists, NPs, PAs, etc will be picking up the slack. Not saying that is right/wrong, but probably will just be a fact.
 
I am beginning to more and more dislike my team after the last few weeks...

We have lost another of the valuable team members and he will undoubtedly be replaced by an under-qualified, worthless employee. My boss's last 4 hires have been true head scratchers. They are way below our standard and have ultra-poor communication and customer service skills. He must have something in the works for himself because he hasn't made a worthwhile addition in a long time.

I am beginning to wonder if I should continue looking since another opportunity didn't materialize....
 
No, I don't. It's becoming really difficult to get up and go to school each day, knowing I will be emailed by a parent who is upset their child is receiving a B in my class despite the fact the child is a special ed student or becoming the enemy of parents and players because the player's name wasn't mentioned in a season synopsis article in the local paper or the player didn't receive the post-season accolades the parents feel they should. Every day is filled with spoiled, entitled children and parents who do not hold their children accountable for their actions. I'm sick of it, and am hopeful that some other doors will be opened once I finish my masters degree (sports administration) next summer.
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This post was edited on 11/30 4:13 PM by Wally12
 
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