It’s time to launch my latest website. This is one I’ve wanted to do for a while… actually registered the domain and started building it over a year ago.
Over the years people have asked me, “Paul, how do you always find such good jobs?” It’s true, over the years I’ve tended to have positions (including the current one) that have been more laid-back than most, more stress-free than most. I’ve also tended to have stuff I do on the side that brings in additional income, and enough free time to work on those projects.
On the other hand, I have friends who always seem to end up in the worse-than-usual jobs. They come home miserable every day after being berated by a cruel boss, or gossiped about by immature co-workers. They put up with unreasonable workplace rules that seem to be there only for the sake of having rules. They put in 60-70 hour weeks, not because they love being there or because there are true once-in-a-while emergencies that require it, but because they’re peer-pressured to do so and because there seems to be a new “emergency” that pops up every week. When they finally quit, they soon get another job that’s just as bad, as though they’re a magnet drawn to sucky jobs.
I also know people who seem to have every qualification to become entrepreneurs and start a business of their own, even if on the side for a while in addition to their day jobs. But they’ve never considered it, because they’ve been brought up to believe that you work 8 to 5 (or longer), Monday-Friday, 50-51 weeks a year, from the time you’re 22 until you’re 65 (or older). They see doing anything else as illegitimate and risky.
Therefore, for these people, I roll out my next site
Here’s an overview of what you’ll find there:
First of all, fun stuff. Kits to help you decorate your cubicle; cubicle action figures; Office Space and The Office DVDs; Dilbert comic books.
Resources to help you cope with your current job and make it not suck so much.
Resources to help you find something you like better. A lot of my “luck” in finding the cool jobs is not luck at all; it’s that I learned what was out there, and I knew how to make myself visible. (My last three jobs have found me, as opposed to me finding them.)
Resources to help you escape. If you’ve thought about leaving the 8-to-5 and starting your own business, you’ll find tools to do it here. You’ll get encouragement to take the plunge, and you’ll learn questions you need to ask yourself to determine if it’s the right move.
I’ve also included resources on spacing “mini-retirements” throughout your career, rather than working like a dog until you’re 65 and never having more than a 2-week vacation to relax and enjoy being alive.
I almost did a blog on the Rat Race site, but I decided against it. A lot of my current co-workers read my personal blog, and if they clicked over to that one I worry they’d get the mistaken idea that I’m complaining about my job (which is not the point behind this site) rather than trying to help others get to a better place in life. There are a few posts I already typed up for it, and with the Rat Race blog on hold, I may post some of them here, in the weeks and months to come.
Hope you enjoy the new site, and remember, even if you win the Rat Race, you’re still a rat.