Enough is enough. I’ve been working midnights as a operating engineer and getting off at 7am going straight to job sites for my business. It’s not glorious getting sprayed in the face with grease and working till exhaustion day in day out with 3-4 hours of sleep AT MOST. I’ve been slowly stashing cash and building residual accounts but leaving a job with insurance and benefits that pays 6 figures was an insane thought up until now. Either go in all the way or half @ss it. Burning the bridge is the only way in my eyes in which circumstance forces humans to go into survival mode and I’m ready for it. Here we go… 
7 Likes
I feel your pain man. You probably won’t get too many people telling you it’s a good idea, but I know the grind (swing shift and mandatory overtime in a steel mill) I have said multiple times that getting fired would be easier than leaving, because I work the best when I have to, not when I have a choice. The biggest fear for me is leaving insurance. I know I can pay my bills and wash for a living, but to cover the whole fam in insurance is a big expense I’m not used to. Goodluck to you sir, you will make it work no matter what path you find.
3 Likes
Plenty of guys here who have gone down a similar path. I don’t think many have regretted leaving the rat race, even if it meant taking a pay cut. Wishing you much success!
3 Likes
Just one caveat, if you quit that career job, you won’t get a pension. Self employment is GREAT but no retirement unless you sock money away.
3 Likes
there are no guarantees…period.
IMHO, I’d rather be the master of my own destiny. I personally will take the red pill everytime ;>)
4 Likes
Thanks for the kind words and honesty
Unless you’ve got a book of 300-400 customers I’d keep doing part time. Everyone is spoiled right now because people spending like crazy. Let the economy hit a bump or things slow down after stymie checks stop then things will be different. Plus inflation running rampant. When people start having to spend all their money on essentials, w/o a decent book of customers to draw from then things will tighten up. A lot depends on where you live and the local economy. If you’re in a booming area with lots of inflow people wise going to be different then if you live in a so-so area with outflow. Also if you live in a western state, then water restrictions could seriously impact you for maybe years in the near future. All things to consider.
PS: Also depends on if you have family of just you and wife. You say you’re working yourself to death, then cut back some on your side job or raise your price some so that you can make more with less work. Probably 90% of the people on here have gone thru the same thing so this isn’t the place to be crying about working so much. I’m 70 and until I injured myself a couple of weeks ago I’ve had 3 days off in over 2 months.
14 Likes
Keep the job. Washing sucks. No lie, of rather be back at the fire dept, especially if it paid 6 figures.
3 Likes
Hope you’re getting better, Rick! Remember, no sense in rushing back. Heal up good then ease back into it.
1 Like
For me, it’s an awesome second job and I love it, but no way would I do it full time. I’ve done the math on how many jobs I would need a week, 8 months of the year to equal my current salary, benefits and bonuses. As much as I like the idea of being my own boss, it’s not worth it. I like that I can book or not book as many cleaning jobs as I want and won’t hurt me at all to not do any for a couple weeks.
Yes it can be good money full time, but don’t forget the value of company benefits and steady income. Just my $0.02
4 Likes
Lol…not only me then! I feel worse after a few straight days of washing than at the fire dept.
By nature, Us humans are never happy.
Work is work, Some jobs you can defiantly like more than others, but being your own boss is hard to beat. Sure some day can suck, some days are hard but I’d hate to have to go and fill out an application and apply for a position somewhere.
6 Likes
I don’t think I could ever work for someone else. You get to a point where you can’t give up ownership and control of your working week to someone else. Imagine having to explain why your an hour late and when your allowed to eat your lunch. I couldn’t do it again.
9 Likes
Enjoy them while you can, work while you can, etc etc. It can all change in an instant.
3 Likes
Oh absolutely. I worked as a 1099 back in 2009 and it got old quick. I will say one positive thing about being an employee, once you’re off work, that’s it until the next day.
3 Likes
I’m retired and my last job was working for the weasels in government with shifting priorities daily, political appointees in charge, shameless suckups, and on call 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. I’ll never go back to that again. it was a means to an end, and it ended. I am now a comfortable retiree who PW as a side hustle when I want. I don’t like to sit around too much as I get stir crazy, but I also like to set aside several days to work on projects for myself and I can only do that as El Capitan of my business. I seriously had an issue with the gov setting up my business that they wouldn’t issue my contractor number until I told them my title. I was so flummoxed by this that I gave them an email with several to choose from. I think the list was like this:
Il Presidente
The Big Kahuna
El Capitan
Boss man #1
King
I have my contractor number, I don’t know which one they picked.
6 Likes
Honestly, I thought exactly the same. Then one customer after 5 years gave me a money offer equal to what I was doing as a contractor plus added full benefits. And frankly it’s the easiest w2 I’ve ever had. There are pluses and minuses on both sides. 
2 Likes
Where in the world have you been? A late hibernation?
2 Likes
That’s very, very true. I just got a job offer from a customer as well that has me seriously contemplating what direction I want to go. And the offer is open-ended so I have time to evaluate things.
1 Like
As Rick mentioned, with everything going on right now I don’t think it’s a good idea to quit a job with benefits and good pay until you get a large customer base. If you have a good enough nest egg put away to where you can provide health insurance and pay the bills it might be worth considering. Even still, you will all have to live a different lifestyle for awhile. Make sure your wife is okay with it. Just to match your current pay you’ll have to make about $8k a month but that’s not even counting health insurance, benefits, taxes, pressure washing supplies, equipment upgrades, etc. You’ll need even more if you can only work 7-8 months out of the year due to living in a cold winter climate. Supporting your family is #1. I vote for part time until you get more established unless you already have a large enough customer base. I washed for about 2 years before I started turning down jobs as a Boilermaker and went full-time washing. I especially turned it down if it was a maintenance outage at a steel mill @MickeysPowerClean 
.
2 Likes
