By Today I sent out my second set of monthly invoices. And the question above floated into my brain.
Is it worth it?
The ‘it’ is in reference to starting my own consulting business.
There was a great quote that Aetna sent out when the organization was going through a downsizing/reorg.
“The pain of every change is forgotten once the benefit of that change is realized.”
I’ve saved that quote for decades…I have no one to attribute it to. I’ve used it on implementation calls when implementations were going sideways and the pain of the change was very real. I’ve repeated it in my head like a mantra when my kitchen was being renovated. And now I’m using it for comfort in this transition period.
All the HR and Admin and the setup isn’t particularly fun.
Still -the answer is the benefit of the change I took – the move to independent consulting – has been worth the pain.
I sleep better at night. I’m in control of which projects I work on. I’m responsible for me (and Mavis). I get to play in different software every day. I get to meet new people and come up with creative solutions. I can promote myself to all sorts of creative titles if I want to. I think next Spring I’ll promote myself from President to CEO.
I hope you sense the sarcasm…because
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet
Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet
Titles are meaningless. They’re only important to people who think they’re important, which would be 1) sales who want to talk to the decision maker and 2) to politically driven people who want to climb the corporate ladder
I’ll save my thoughts on corporate ladder for another post.
I will say I do miss some of my work friends. You get close to the folks you work with every day on complex projects. The same thing happened when I left CS STARS. I really thought some of the gals I worked with were my bffs. Likewise, some of the clients I became close with, I thought were my friends. Some folks do stay in touch with you. Others you realize you were just work friends and not real friends. To be fair, we are all pulled in different directions. Best case scenario is they think of me but are super busy. Worst case is I was delusional and being used (ugh – that’s really worst case scenario!). If I think about it too much I’ll stir up all sorts of emotions in me. Instead I will hold onto/hope for the best. I wish only the best to those who are unable to stay in touch, for whatever reason. I am exceptionally grateful to those who do stay in touch.
My sister sent this to me – it makes me laugh. I hope it makes you laugh too!
