Help!!!!!!!!!!
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- fodcj
I am so fucking bored! It is a lovely day outside (in London) and I'm stuck in a big air conditioned office with a commute of 3 hours a day and really wondering if I can do this for the next 40 years.
Not sure becoming freelance is the right answer for me as I have a lot of commitments like a large mortgage etc. and worried about the uncertainty of regular jobs... what have others done when faced with this dilemma? Bite the bullet and just go for it, run away to a new country to try something different or just keep playing the lottery in the hope that the big win comes your way?
- creative-0
I'm right there with you
- rubifuse0
I'll have your boring job.
- i_R_error0
open a surf camp in morroco and sell your house.
- That sounds cool... small problem though, I can't surf :)fodcj
- learn.i_R_error
- are you camp though?mimeartist
- Peter0
This for the next 40 years? What are you, 20?
Your workplace will change. Just don't go postal and you, and everyone around you, will be just fine.
Big air conditioners are crazy though. They're looking at you?
- fodcj0
The job is not that boring... I love design and what I do but just can't imagine being in the rat race for the next 40 years. There has to be something better out there!
- Peter0
Bah. Rat race. It'll be fine, 10 years from now.
Is this it, btw?
http://www.futurenet.co.uk/futur…
- jamble0
It's tough, I've got commitments but I bit the bullet Dec 06 and been freelancing since. It's never going to make me a millionaire but on the plus side, I don't have a 2.5 hour daily commute to work in an office for a boss I don't like.
You can make it work if you really have to but I'd suggest if you're thinking of freelancing, make the decision now but spend the next few months saving up some money to live off in case you don't land any work immediately because that will take a lot of pressure off you.
Failing that, fuck off somewhere nicer and try something totally new. Depends on whether you've got family etc though as to how practical that is.
- scribbler0
I know where you're coming from. I've been thinking this for the past couple of years. Toyed with the idea of freelance but like you was worried about money/mortgage etc.
I've decided that I'm getting out of London and setting up something by myself but in order to do that I have to work like a bitch for the next year. Pay off any debts, save up some cash, network like crazy to add some clients to my small and meager list.
It's tough because on the one hand I'm bored and lethargic, working for other people/boring corporate job etc etc but what I really need to do is get off my arse and go for it.
You need to work out what gets you excited about design. I'm not interested in being a super duper creative director or working for huge massive clients. Now I've worked that out it's easy to see what I need to do to get the spark back. Work out what get's you ticking and go from there.
- fodcj0
That's exactly what I need to also do scribbler, best advice yet. Where are you thinking of moving? To the coast, the country, the mountains? Don't want to do something together do you :)
- moth0
I'm working from home today because I've got some guys clearing my garden. Suns out, they've got chainsaws, smokes, tea....
I want their job.
- jamble0
I wrote this a while back, don't know if it would be of any help, it does sound like you're about in the same situation as me and this was a list of things I wish I'd really planned before quitting http://www.welcomebrand.co.uk/we…
- scribbler0
Hey fodcj, got a few locations I'm thinking about, but Lake District is tops at the moment. I'm print, my boyfriend is web so we're gonna hopefully do something together.
The best thing you can do is make a plan. Makes you feel heaps better. You then have something to work to rather than just getting up and going to work every day.
- goodidealuke0
If it's any inspiration.. I just chucked my job in at a really good studio to move back to New Zealand as i find living in London a death sentence. So I'm back to New Zealand for a few months, then where to from there who knows. And really who wants to be a desginer for the next 40 years. If it's not working make change. Life's a long journey..
- Inspiring but gutsy! How is the design scene in NZ?fodcj
- Really good.. The clients aren't as big but the creative scope is big..
goodidealuke
- kelpie0
start a folk parody duo! that's huge in kiwiland :D
- rafalski0
Write/design an iPhone game and sell it through AppStore. There are teenages out there developing their apps soon to be millionaires when AppStore launches.
- johnnnnyh0
I gave up working for someone 6 years ago and started my own business. After the first few months we relocated to Cornwall - been here ever since. Get to go to the beach, surf, sail boats etc. as well as working. Have more control now but it can be worrying too!
Work out where you want to be and roughly how you might get there, then put it in place. We paid off debts before we left London. Would hate to have big debt hanging over my head now.
Go for it - you're a long time dead.
- goodidealuke0
Now that's what i'm talking about.. managing your own time and life is the way forward.
- jandiroo0
downshifting?
i quit my job,moved to another country and started working a lot less.. earning a lot less... and spending well.... less.
i have more time to do my things, to be outside, to be with my friends. i'm happy because i have enough to eat and to move around and i don't have the pressure and boredom of an everyday office job.it's not an easy step but it's defenitely a great experience.
=)
- rafalski0
Semi-Retirement is your answer:
http://www.whywork.org/about/fea…