I Quit My Job!

Perhaps a few of you are familiar with a post I wrote awhile back about wage theft. It was about whether or not salaried workers should get paid overtime or not. I know there is a whole camp of hourly workers that automatically assume that salary employees are high wage earners that far surpass them in income. Many time’s this isn’t the case at all. I have some engineer friends at a major automotive company that earn the equivalent of $60 an hour, if you base their salary on a 40 hour work week. I also have a couple friends who work on the line at an automotive plant, earning about $28 an hour. The engineer works nights and weekends, and probably averages about 80 hours per work, effectively making her real wage about $30 per hour, a mere $2 more than her blue collared counterpart. For $2 less an hour I would much rather work a 4o hour work week than an 80 hour one. This is precisely what was happening to me at my current job.

Just as my title says, I quit my job! I put in my notice late last week and I couldn’t be happier. I am giving my employer roughly 3 weeks notice, which is probably standard for most jobs now, if you don’t want to burn any bridges that is. I’d love to tell you that I quit my job and am officially retiring at the tender age of 34, but that isn’t so. I also wouldn’t mind telling you that my online endeavors have struck it rich, and that I can now maintain my lifestyle based on my online earnings, but, unfortunately that is also not the case. I can tell you that I found a new position at a similar company, except that it will be far fewer hours than I am working now. How do I know this? Because I was verbal about it from the very beginning. I enlisted the help of a recruiter and gave him my basic requirements for the job search. First, I wanted the company to be within 15 miles of where I live, which just happens to be the distance to my current employer… he found one within 9 miles, even better! Second, they had to have a corporate office within Michigan, check! Third, they needed to be profitable, which they are. Job security is a big one for me, I was laid off from a company back during the great recession, and I don’t exactly want to relive that experience again. Last, but most certainly not least, I wanted a company that was OK with placing an emphasis on work/life balance. Which it turns out this company does.

Work/life balance is usually a no-no to bring up during any interview when job hunting. It often times is seen as red flag to potential employers that you are lazy or looking for the bare minimum effort. While I can understand their rationale, there are actually many times when this is not the case…and I am one of those times. I want to work hard and be successful in my career, I just don’t want to sacrifice my health and time with my family to do so, why is that so wrong? I constantly read about Google, Apple, and the several other tech companies who are looking for the best talent out there. In fact, these companies are downright going to battle with each other over this talent. We know they offer fat compensation packages, and let’s face it, money does talk. We also hear about their paid lunches and dinners, dry cleaning services, take your pet to work day, nap rooms…hell, it’s like they want you to stay there forever! In fact, they want exactly that. The more incentive they provide you to stay at work, the more work that will inevitably get done. While all of those incentives are kinda flashy at first glance, I would much rather them tell me about their flex hours, virtual work policy, and overall work/life balance offered. Thanks for the free food, but I’d rather go home and eat with my wife than at my cubicle. Again, why is that so wrong?

When you look at my new total compensation package from the new employer I am actually going to earn less per year than I do already. However, the hours should be about half of what I work currently…which means I am close to doubling my effective hourly wage. I am fine taking home a little less each year, especially when it means adding several dozen more hours to my personal life. In fact, I fully expect this new move to add significant income to my bottom line. How you ask? Well, I now have about 40 more hours available to me each week to spend working on my online endeavors. I don’t plan on using all 40, but maybe now I can spend an extra 15 hours a week building up this site and the rest of my online empire. Honestly, I’d love to write on here more frequently, and I am disappointed I don’t get more time to. I’ve said before that multiple income streams is important when it comes to financial security and building overall wealth. I like having a day job that keeps me current on skills and provides a little more even keel of earnings, but having an “online job” allows me to earn and invest extra money…which in the end should equal an early retirement! I might pay for it right now, but why not spend some of my younger years working extra so I can spend more time with my future children down the road.

The daily grind, the bumper-to-bumper commute, the cubicle dwelling, it’s all played a part in us looking for something more out of life. We all need to have jobs, we all need to earn money, but we also all need a personal life to boot!