33 - Quit my Job - What should I do

I hear you can make a killing selling yurts to hippies or driving for uber in NYC.

Think outside the corporate box man!

isaac brunhau wrote:

Instead of running back to tech why wouldn't I just make less money running my own small business and live a bit more frugally?

Heh. Good luck getting people on this forum to understand frugality.

+1 to starting a small business. If you want to do really meaningful work try the peace corps. You won't make that much money, but you'll make a big difference in areas that need help.

Another idea would be teaching English in Asia. There's a lot of demand in places like Japan, China, and South Korea.

Good luck

Ghost in Korea is always promoting teaching English in the Far East. If I was free, I would do that for few years.

First of all, congrats on having $65k in the bank at 33. That's more than most people at your age have.

Can you imagine if you had a kids and a wife to support and felt this way? Your life would be miserable.

You can do whatever you want and have a solid cushion of money to last you and have no depending on you for food & shelter.

Live it up.

what's wrong with you people?....$65K can buy a lot of hookers and blow. Head to vegas, dude!

65k will last you a good 6-10 years.

1.Move to a cheap apartment.

2.Don't have kids or get married(too much mula involved)

3.Be smart about what you buy, dont buy dumb sh*t like a pace band,etc.

4.If you can get a part time job do so,so you can keep earning some side money.

Taxes are a pain in the ass so you solve that yourself.

Heck yeah! Stick it to the man. Don't be a sheeple, go LIVE! This is your opportunity. You have some savings, experience and you know what you don't want to be / do. Man, that's a gift. You just did what most people wish that they could do.

You're only on this earth for so long, don't spend it punching the clock for the man in a mindless job with a house in burbs.

Go for it!

You should always line up another job first.

Learn how to make beer and become a brewmaster

Go to Bhutan

Serious response here. Here's my input.

1) Read some books. I highly recommend the 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. Sounds gimmicky, but it is really a book about philosophy and life. Just read it.

2) Definitely travel. It doesn't necessarily have to be something grand like traveling around the world non-stop for a year, but you should definitely travel some. Traveling is a luxury most people never get to experience due to time, money, and familial obligations. You have none of those. Go travel and focus on just having an experience, doing things, and seeing places you've never seen before. I suggest reading T4HWW first though.

3) Run a bit more. Running clears your mind. It will help you think.

4) Not sure exactly what career advice to give you. Many people are like you, if not most people. They're middle aged (okay, you're not quite middle aged yet but getting there) and receive little or no satisfaction from their job and feel like they're wasting their life. You have essentially two choices/ways of looking at this: a) your job is your life, so you need to find something you genuinely enjoy and find meaning in. This is very difficult but possible. I cannot help you much on finding out what that is for you. b) change the way you view work. Instead of it having to be something you are passionate about, view it as a means to an end. Your day job is a source of money. You can do other things you love during time outside of work. How many accountants love their job? Probably none, but they do it because it's a decent job that allows them to go to concerts, buy cars, have a hobby, etc. I'm not necessarily recommending this; just that it's a different way to look at things. Here's a link that explains it better:

5) Get laid. You have plenty of time to make that a priority. Go have a little fun. Like running, it will also help you reflect.

6) Don't spend your days sleeping in late and staying up all night on the internet. It's an easy habit to get into and is a waste of time/life.

...

I hope this has been somewhat helpful. Best of luck to you.

Advice that amounts to "generate a good idea then execute it" isn't really good advice.

Take half your cash, buy a dual sport motorcycle and take two years to ride it around the world. (HorizonsUnlimited.com). I say start out with half your cash but spend all of it.

You will never, ever regret it. You'll come back partner material or one helluva entrepreneur.

If you start out heading south then you need to leave in a month or so - so you need to get cracking.

Oh, video up and bring us all along.

Now go out there and get them Tiger!

isaac brunhau wrote:

Best advice yet,

What is your small business? Even though you work longer hours for less money was it worth it? How old are you?

DahOneWhoCannahType wrote:

]

I run a small business, mostly love it, and it pays, sometimes very well. If you think you have a good idea for a small business, do it. It is wonderful because it is so challenging and because you learn so much about yourself.

In the end, just identify some problems that people are willing to pay you to solve, then solve them. I'd be skeptical of the sustainability of any path that does not meet that criteria.

I'm 52 now and started the business at 42. I work less hours as I used to work long hours as someone else's employee, and I am insufficiently focused on growing my business (see below). There is more risk, but a lot more pay... when I have a contract. My small business has three parts (1) IT consulting/project management and (2) process improvement consulting, depending upon the contract. (3) When I don't have a contract, I make no attempt to get a new contract. Sooner or later someone always calls me. If I get an offer, I always take it... I've learned never to say no to paying work. During the contract breaks, I throw myself into other projects which I hope will turn into profitable products. That part of the job -identifying a problem worth solving, trying to solve it- is totally engaging. During those times I easily "work" 12+ hours per day, seven days per week but it doesn't feel like working. So far none of these product development projects has paid off like I wanted, but I've gotten contracts based upon what I learned pursuing them.

I live pretty frugally, so I have zero debt and zero financial stress. That works well given my laissez-faire approach to getting new business. But it's not all great. Have been thinking of taking the business development side more seriously because I am the only billable employee. Having something in the pipeline will smooth revenue. Having another contract or two would smooth revenue. That would reduce risk. I know that is going to be a massive time suck... so haven't made the commitment.

Anyway, one piece of advice I offer is: find problems that someone is willing to pay to solve, then get paid to solve them. Probably sounds simple, but I've known smart people who couldn't see that clearly.

I'm going to leave my job when I'm 32 and I'm going to travel for about a year and a half.

Go hang out in your mom's basement and surf porn and troll lrc like the rest of the typical depressed LRC millennials around here.

DJkke wrote:

You could try giving back to humanity through volunteer work or missionary work. Go to Ensenada, help the homeless and learn Spanish. Then get SCUBA certified in Belize and work on a yacht back to Florida.

helping people seems like a good suggestion.

I'm not sure what job you think exists on a yacht. Jobs on yachts are either:

- skilled sailors (delivery or crew on a mega yacht)

- cooks and similar jobs on mega yachts

No yachts have their own scuba diver, that makes no sense. Now he could get onto a crew list and try to tag along on a boat for free, but there are virtually no boats that will be looking for crew from Belize to Florida. Most boats looking for crew to leave the central Americas will be sailing to hawaii, galapagos, or south Pacific. A very small number may be heading right back to Ensenada area, and even fewer going through the canal and towards the southern caribbean.

Anyway, the only scuba jobs for money are dive masters, which takes a bit of time to reach, it doesn't happen in a weekend or two.

I took three one year's periods off from any type of work between 25 and 35.

Twice, I traveled and just hung out. Once I just wanted see how fast a runner I could be on higher mileage.

I do not regret those periods.

No big plans was the secret. Winging it.

Then went back to hi tech and had a career, married and raised a family.

DO IT WHILE YOU'RE YOUNG!

I am in your exact position, OP. interesting timing on your post. Except I'm 28, and with $25k banked.