5 ms·

About a year ago I started moving towards not selling my time. It has taken a while to wind down all of those relationships, etc. but it has been the best and m

by akcreek 10y ago

About a year ago I started moving towards not selling my time. It has taken a while to wind down all of those relationships, etc. but it has been the best and most lucrative decision I've made in my professional life. I now have just a single commitment where I sell my time and I've got it down to 2-3 hours per week. It will soon be zero as well. I definitely wish I would have started this sooner or actually never started selling my time at all. I worked only for myself for the first 5 years out of school then the last 5 mostly for others (as a contractor - never an employee).

japhyr 10y ago
What do you sell now instead of your time?
trcollinson 10y ago
This is an excellent point. Can you give any more detail on what you are doing instead of selling your time? I don't want specifics per say, just general ideas about what you have switched to and how it has been lucrative. I find the idea quite interesting.
- akcreek 10y ago
  I bought a really small business in the translation industry late last year. Since purchase our monthly revenue has grown ~ 190% and we have solid plans to continue the growth. We have 4 people on our internal team, but everyone works remote and part time (approx. 20 hours/week) including me. Our main workforce is made up of freelance translators (about 45 of them at the moment). I handle development, marketing, strategy, etc. and the other internal staff handles operations and customer service. Our translations are mostly used for immigration purposes so it is a really gratifying business as many clients go out of their way to express their happiness with our service. We are dead serious about our business though... lots in our niche are not, but I won't bore you with the details.
  - pimlottc 10y ago
    So an LSP?
  - chris11 10y ago
    How do you handle the separation between home and work? I've noticed that when I am working for an hourly wage at a business I appreciate not having to think about work after I leave.
    - akcreek 10y ago
      I've never really had separation between home and work. I started my first business in college and have worked for myself ever since. I've had offices/warehouse related to some of the ecommerce stuff I've done, but even then I'd work from home a lot. My brother is a developer at an agency that I sometimes consult for. They keep a desk open for me there too so if I want to work around people I'll go in there. So there isn't much physical separation of home and work and there is really no mental separation either since I own my own business. For the most part I'm able to turn it off when I need/want to. If I'm not feeling productive or just want to do something else I can set the work down and pick up a guitar, go work out, ride a motorcycle, go see a movie, etc. and not think about the work until I get back to it. If I couldn't do that I'd probably prefer more separation of home and work.
brtw 10y ago
hey akcreek, I also recently started an LSP. I would love to ask you a few questions and talk more about your day-to-day working and how you are growing your business. We are moving slowly and could use some help. We would love to see what we can do to improve our work. If you wouldn't mind and you have the time, shoot me an email wcbirtwell@gmail.com . I would really appreciate your insight! Thanks

by akcreek 10y ago

japhyr 10y ago

What do you sell now instead of your time?

trcollinson 10y ago

This is an excellent point. Can you give any more detail on what you are doing instead of selling your time? I don't want specifics per say, just general ideas about what you have switched to and how it has been lucrative. I find the idea quite interesting.

akcreek 10y ago
I bought a really small business in the translation industry late last year. Since purchase our monthly revenue has grown ~ 190% and we have solid plans to continue the growth. We have 4 people on our internal team, but everyone works remote and part time (approx. 20 hours/week) including me. Our main workforce is made up of freelance translators (about 45 of them at the moment). I handle development, marketing, strategy, etc. and the other internal staff handles operations and customer service. Our translations are mostly used for immigration purposes so it is a really gratifying business as many clients go out of their way to express their happiness with our service. We are dead serious about our business though... lots in our niche are not, but I won't bore you with the details.
- pimlottc 10y ago
  So an LSP?
- chris11 10y ago
  How do you handle the separation between home and work? I've noticed that when I am working for an hourly wage at a business I appreciate not having to think about work after I leave.
  - akcreek 10y ago
    I've never really had separation between home and work. I started my first business in college and have worked for myself ever since. I've had offices/warehouse related to some of the ecommerce stuff I've done, but even then I'd work from home a lot. My brother is a developer at an agency that I sometimes consult for. They keep a desk open for me there too so if I want to work around people I'll go in there. So there isn't much physical separation of home and work and there is really no mental separation either since I own my own business. For the most part I'm able to turn it off when I need/want to. If I'm not feeling productive or just want to do something else I can set the work down and pick up a guitar, go work out, ride a motorcycle, go see a movie, etc. and not think about the work until I get back to it. If I couldn't do that I'd probably prefer more separation of home and work.

brtw 10y ago

hey akcreek, I also recently started an LSP. I would love to ask you a few questions and talk more about your day-to-day working and how you are growing your business. We are moving slowly and could use some help. We would love to see what we can do to improve our work. If you wouldn't mind and you have the time, shoot me an email wcbirtwell@gmail.com . I would really appreciate your insight! Thanks