Going back to work for the man.....

I imagine alot of posters here have left corporate jobs and started their own companies or worked as indpendent contractors, but has anyone ever gone the other way? I've been in this industry 20 years, 7 years with my own integration company. As I get older, the constant travel, the worrying about getting jobs lined up, the constant paperwork and taxes, etc. are wearing me down. I'm thinking in the next 5 to 10 years, finding a nice in-house job, whether manufacturing, local distributor tech support, or teaching. Has anyone made the leap back to the corporate world and was it a difficult adjustment?

Hi there
Well the most important factor over here will be getting used to
"obey order of others rather then giving orders to others" !!

Have you got a 'customer' that is looking for help? That may be easier to slip into rather than apply in the usual ways. I have been offered jobs in the past by several of my customers but in those cases either the benefits were not right or my wife didnt fancy living in the area

Cheers

I doubt that you will be able to adjust to taking orders. Your new boss thinks differently than you. In your mind, several times he will be doing things wrong.
Expand your business enough to support hiring someone. Then you can manage and train.

I have made the jump both ways. I don't think you would be happy and I would hate the think that I would spend the last years of my career unhappy.

I agree with Keithkyll, expand your business enough to justify hiring someone to do your tedious chores.

The only times I've seriously considered going back to work for the man were the times when business was so slow that I started losing confidence in my ability to remain self-employed. I know I'd look at a "job" as a holding action until I could get myself reestablished as an independent.

I have both worked for someone and worked for myself.. I could not go back to working for someone..(I wont say never couse never is a long time). I would as others have said try hiring..Its tough letting some of the control go, but you do get used to it and you find that if you want that day off then you can just take it couse someone is there to pick up the slack.

Hope you dont throw in the towel!

Darren

Thanks for all the encouraging words. I have had alot of offers from customers over the years, so I don't think finding a job would be too difficult (I hope that didn't sound conceited), but I am concerned about fitting back into the corporate environment that I left 8 years ago. I've thought about expanding the business, but how do you guys get past your own egos? Most of us usually think no-one else can do what we do as efficiently, as cost-effectively or keep the customer as happy. How do you trust someone with YOUR reputation because as we all know, that's the lifeblood of our business? Beyond that, there's the whole issue of keeping more than myself busy. I can ride out slow times right now, but when I'm responsible for keeping others busy, I don't know. Honestly, it sounds a bit daunting.

Am back in the bonds of capitalistic wage slavery. Did I enjoy working for myself YOU BET.

The plus of working for someone else is I do not have to
1. Do it all marketing, secretary, design, install, test, customer interface etc etc.
2. Less hours - although I worked 12 hours a day for mystelf - guess I enjoyed it. Worst day self employed better than best at work here - sort of?
3. Better benefits
4. Able to use shop and do my fab work on weekends (big benefit)
5. Ability to say I cannot allow myself to care - the good side is I have to say this many times a day - so at least I still have morals and ethics.
DOWNSIDE
Dealing with management stupidity
Dealing with dingbat employees AND not being able to tell them what I really think because of Political Correct
Having Production more important than safety

It was suggested you hire employee(s)
The downside of this is
you have more paper to fill out IRS EEO etc etc
Higher overhead (worker comp, benefits, unemployment)
Now you have to scrounge even more work to keep them going

Dan Bentler

as i said..it tough letting go..but just think...if someone else is doing that job that you were going to do...it frees you up to get another...it snowballs from there..just remember..no one will the job as well as you, you have to look for someone who is close!

You said running your own business is wearing you down. Do you like going home everyday at a set time? Like having weekends off (if you get a 8-5 job)? Not having to worry about chasing jobs? No travel? These things can be very attractive. How's your personal life. Would you like more time with the wife and kids? Are you an Outdoorsman? Ever missed a hunting season because of making a job deadline? Want a vacation? You've earned a break. Let the man handle the grief and put in your 40 hours and enjoy your life.

You echoed my own thoughts on many an occation.

"is it worth it - why am I constantly scratching for work - why are they never satisfied - why do I keep losing customers etc etc.
It can be quite depressing.

Looking to next week with absolutely nothing on. It is enough to make you want a safe regular job.

My strategy has been through the quiet times not to worry. It does no good at all. I try put enough money away for these times.
Lol, I actually try and keep 6 months pay in the bank, it reassures me that I can at least keep going for 6 months without another job coming in.

Then the phone rings and we are away again

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
I have had my own biz almost 20 years now and we have grown from 2 guys to almost 20.
On job sites I always envy how the people in some of the plants get to switch OFF on a weekend. People in plants envy me, "...the financial freedom.... the time off..."

When It comes down to it, I prefer to control my own destiny. I have seen too many guys lose jobs and not even see it coming. I would rather be the driver than the passenger in a crash.

I am in the process of transitioning from self-employment to employee of the company I sold my business to.

After approximately 3/4 of a year I am satisfied with the decision. The frustrations are different than I expected, but about the same order of magnitude. The benefits are mostly, but not entirely, as I expected.

Surprisingly the "making your own decisions" isn't the factor I anticipated. This is partly because due to location (we are still in a separate office) and status we are moderately autonomous. This is also because in most bureaucracies anyone willing to make a decision will generally make things happen by taking advantage of the general inertia.

I hoped to get rid of all accounting and financial burdens. This is in process, and I'm slowly divesting myself of these burdens. That is the biggest benefit of the change. It is nice for my wife not to have to worry about loosing the house if a major project goes bad.

I do loose patience with the need for reporting and projections. I keep thinking "If you guys would shut up and let me do my thing I would be able to exceed your requirements."

The biggest challenge is the mental adjustment. I have worked to establish the attitude that I will treat my employer the way I wanted all of my employees to treat me back in the day. I have also established the attitude that it WILL be different, and the corporation is by the numbers of necessity. Further, they have to gear all systems to the lowest commong denominator, again of necessity.

There were a number of motivations for my switch. Obvioulsy financial compensation was one. A big factor was that I wanted to have something left to carry on with what I spent twnety years building. My wife, God bless her, had served her time helping me chase my dream and was past due for relief. Finally, I found myslef saying "I've done this before too many times" when confronted with problems. I concluded I was approaching burnout, and needed to cut the load (which hasn't really happend yet) and find new challenges (which has happened in spades).

The way the US economy is headed, any income at all will be a good thing. It's going to get bad.