Quote:
Originally Posted by nekokami
Ricky, I hafta ask... does your job always leave this much time for projects, or is this a slow patch? Or do you not sleep? Because I've got a zillion projects, too, but my job needs about 8 hours or so of work a day, which keeps me from getting real work done. 
Should I consider a change in careers?
DG, good to see you back!
Regarding actors, I'd like to be Jackie Chan, despite the fact that he's male and I'm not. I'm not sure what that says about me.  |
Look at it this way. I make what most people would consider an obscene amount of money by the hour. Since I never much cared about whether I got rich or not (no ... I take that back ... I never wanted to be rich ... too many people trying to kidnap family members), I choose to work on fewer projects and less hours.
In addition, while the paint is drying on a cabinet, or part of the floor has wet sealer on it ... I can earn a quick grand by doing a project for a client. It's not so much the choice of career, it's what you do with it that counts.
I can very easily live quite comfortably on 8 to 10 hours of work each week. People who want to be really wealthy in my line of work put in hours that would just kill me ... I didn't like them as a junior associate and I'm certainly not going to impose them on myself. No way ... no how.
I figured this all out one day while I was still a rather young attorney just starting out my solo practice. I got a call from a very high power attorney in San Diego who needed a piece of research done and quick. As it happened, the call came in on my cell phone and I was near the library, and had my laptop with me.
I popped into the library, had the answer the attorney needed in about 15 minutes ... wrote up a short memo .... ran over to his office and printed it out for him (with citations). The whole process took maybe an hour. I billed him, I think it was $100 for the hour's worth of work. He paid me $800 because I had saved his client $4,500,000 in taxes. I didn't ask what he charged the client for his services ... didn't want to know.
People pay me to think creatively and find ways to legally keep them in the big bucks. The key word is legally. It's what I do and I'm good at it.
So, I have lots and lots of time to dig ditches, mow the lawn, feed the cats, clean the litter boxes, .... and like that there. I tried hiring people to do that sort of stuff for me a few times. But found that I really love doing them myself. Just love mopping the floor ... my iPod blaring in my ears ... boogying wildly while my floors become shiny and pretty.
