Saturday 22 November 2008

Anyone there?

I would like to hear from former employees within the legal profession who have walked away from the 9 - 5 grind.

I would like to know how, when, why, where, and how much?

Quote from The Dude from the film of The Big Lebowski:-

"Is this a work day, I hadn't noticed."

That's all.


EDIT - NOT JUST LEGAL - I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM ANYONE WHO HAS ESCAPED THE OFFICE GRIND

5 comments:

Jerry Critter said...

I escaped the office grind about 7 years ago and went into business for myself -- consulting.

I love it, BUT I was very fortunate to work in one area for a long time, work with some excellent people, work with some excellent clients, and establish relationships which allowed me to work independently with those people. I also had strong support from my family who were willing to go without the stability of a regular paycheck.

Dreamer said...

Hi Jerry

Sounds like you made a fantastic move, it was a good idea to keep relations good with clients etc. Yep you definately need family support when you are off the regular payroll

Well done.

Anonymous said...

I'm not in the legal field but I quit my job in August to work as a consultant (health/ education)it's the best thing I ever did. I had a good network of colleagues that referred to me and I was fully booked within a couple of weeks so the expected cash flow problem didn't eventuate.Now I'm working towards buying my own office premises.

Anonymous said...

I was a Barrister in London until May 2007 when I gave it all up and moved to California to marry my American husband. I had met him while in LA on a scholarship from Inner Temple. We were both surfing in Santa Monica.

Now I'm trying to carve out a career as a freelance writer (when I'm not surfing!) It's a bit of a financial struggle but nothing beats getting up and surfing before starting work. It's far better than sitting on a tube with my face in a sweaty man's armpit!

Anonymous said...

Just reading back through your blog from start to finish and loving it. I can relate to a lot of what you are going though.

I have escaped the job grind, but only for relatively short periods. I also lived abroad (Thailand, Malaysia) for a while. In the end the need to earn money pulled me back into the workplace. Savings have the habit of running out on you! ;)

Working on a contract basis "worked" for me. My general strategy is to work contracts with big gaps between contracts (minimum three months). Living the simple, frugal life helps with this. I have popped back into permanent jobs from time to time (in one now). This is usually for a specific reason, such as to gain certain skills that I see as important to contracting work in the future, or for relationship reasons.

I've been trying to create passive income streams but to date have failed miserably. :) I'll still keep trying though.

In summary contract work with big gaps seems to work OK for me. The ideal is passive income.