Personal Journey toward Self Employment

Back in high school I found out what my strengths and weaknesses were and started to developing a plan around that. I love working with my hands I am an artist so it was a natural progression to begin working in 3D: to design and build homes. It took me a while to get to that point, though. I like best: doing my own thing. I like the independence and the freedom that comes from self employment. Even when I had to work for someone else I was simultaneously doing other things that would lead to self employment. When I was in college the war was on and my number was close to the top (they were going to draft me any minute). I knew, however, that they deferred you if you were married or teaching. I graduated, started teaching and got married all in one week and was never drafted. I began teaching art at the high school level. I then took a job with a publishing company and became a representative for them. I covered the whole state and was then promoted to assistant manager. A Crisis Then in 1976 I had a car accident that put me out of commission for about 8 months and I couldn't do anything except think and read. This is when I began to read books on real estate and making money in real estate This planted seeds in my mind and I started setting some goals and time limits for myself in order to accomplish those goals. I went back to the publishing job after my recovery but it very quickly got to the point where I had someone telling me how much money I could make and how I should spend my time. After a couple of years, because of the work I was doing in real estate on the side, I was making more money than my boss and spending my time more fruitfully. I was then given the opportunity to become the national sales manager at the publishing company but I decided to leave and have never looked back. All I knew was that I wanted to be "a builder" I didn't have a clue what all that meant but I learned by doing. I never took a class. I was never a carpenter. I just liked to work with my hands and my goal has always been to own my own business. It hasn't been all fun and games: I have gone bankrupt and at several points along the way I was desperately looking for work (working for someone else). But I was almost un-hirable because, once you go on your own, employers know that they won't be able to keep you and mold you into their likeness. So, in a way, I was forced to stay self employed ...but I really didn't want to be employed by others anyway and when I would interview it would be pretty obvious. I couldn't hide it.

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