decisions decisions....

The Prize Is Lobster

I currently work a contract job for a Fortune 500 company help desk. The job pays the bills and its stable enough, and in the upcoming months there will be the process of interviewing for full time work. Im pretty confident I will be offered a position which would be a 10k annual pay increase.

I also work a very part time job for a neighborhood computer shop. The job has been more about getting recent experience on the desktop end rather than the supplemental income.

Now, early last week the owner of the computer shop extended an offer to partner in the shop. There would be no upfront investment to be made but a time commitment of 20+ hours a week.

I am sort of at a crossroads about which path to take, and obviously no one can give me the answer thats going to solidify it for me but Im looking for some thoughts from outsiders.

My current job does offer part time, so I could contract mornings, and work at the shop afternoons. The only concern about this approach is that the pay thru the shop is a cut of the monthly profits. I looked at their numbers and there does seem to be stability but not as much. On top of that if I go the part time route it pretty much pigeonholes me into staying a contractor.

Comparing the pay scale as part time contractor and part time at the shop vs full time contractor does not seem to be too far out of line, maybe $100 monthly less doing both part time.

On the flip side the reason I have not completely written off the idea is because if the business really picks up and takes off...I am in the position where I essentially will work at a company of three people (including myself), which means that I will actually have input compared to the more button down corporate environment I am in now.

So yeah...any thoughts?

GT-Rob

I think a lot of it should depend on your personal situation. Do you have kids? Mortgage? A sick mother? Basically, this could turn out to be a bit of a risk, so you need to be able to take it.


I personally would do the computer shop gig as I have done the help desk thing in a large corporate environment and I hate it. They paid well but it wasn't worth it, and I now work for about 2/3rds the pay at a smaller place that I love every day of. Not everyone is like that though, and would rather the stability and ease of the grind.

The Prize Is Lobster

Well, I do like my helpdesk job okay. The company is decent, and I do well...but overall I feel like I might be happier doing the smaller company thing.

No kids, I rent, and other than the general expenses of that/car/insurnace/etc...I dont live too lavish of a lifestyle or outside of my means. Probably my biggest expense is eating out rather than cooking at home, but thats simple enough to stop.

At this point the shop has earned business strictly off of word of mouth. No advertisements generated, nothing.

Part of the problem with it too, is that business remains on the smaller side because with a lack of available manpower, its hard to really push your name out there and expect to handle the workload.

On the plus side, if I do go the part time/part time route, I can keep my health insurance. I guess my biggest concern is I already feel like I am in somewhat of a pinch right now with what I make full time, and can I realistically bank on the chance that the shop seeing a significant increase in clientele will balance things out or see a leap in my pay?

Also, if this does not work out, the possibility of inadvertently screwing myself over is a concern.

blargoe

You don't have a lot of commitments and are young enough to endure a failure (not saying you have a HUGE risk here). So for me it would depend really on what you like better and which path will give you the range of experience you would like to have after x years.

If you try out the computer shop 20+ hours and it doesn't work out, you are still part time at the help desk and I would imagine you could still get one of those perm gigs you mentioned.

Kasor

If your goal is to be next millionarie, then it might be a good chance for you. However, make sure you do the risk assessment. For me, I will secure a F/T job first before I invest anything. You need money for investment and you don't want to get a bad credit in your early life.

Again, you can take th risk. However, do you have experience on doing business, mantainining bill and account, customer service and someone that you can trust for backup if you can't make it to the shop.

Think deep and looking everything. However, if you are young. Nothing can stop you, but as you go older and gain more experience. You will learn to look into different factors. That's why MBA is good degree that help to determine how to produce a great project.

Good Luck