Economic woes

Boy has the market taken a beating this last 2 day, and in general for the past 2 weeks!

Things are definitely not well, and I can sense a lot of anxiety, especially from me.

Have I chosen the wrong time to try to work on my own? Or will this be the best time ever for me?

On one hand, I do enjoy being my own boss, and not having to play office politics; but at the same time, I am feeling a bit pressured to come through with some of my projects. Don't get me wrong, good projects are there, but having to work with funders (whose own funds may be drying up) will be difficult. And also I'm trying to do some consultancy work, and now I am unsure how much these people will pay for such services.

It is almost like deja-vu from 6 years back when I joined a start-up trying sell consultancy services to companies at the time when they're more interested in staying alive. Hopefully, I have learnt from that episode, plus I am paying myself nothing until the first orders come in may help in prolonging my staying power, instead of sucking it all up on HR costs and expensive office costs.

However, it would be nice to enjoy a steady paycheck from an employer, and I know of people hiring. 

Ah.. decisions, decisions. The best for me would be to find something in between, but in these times, it's an employers' market and not the other way around. So unless I can quickly establish my niche, I'd better close one of my projects successfully. That one project will be able to last me for 2 years at my current spending level! So I can either slog forever, or try to hit it once and then slow down for the next 2 years before hitting the pedal again.

No one ever said that living life successfully was easy! I just hope with hard work and a bit of luck (and a prayer), I might just make it!

So I guess my decision has been made hasn't it?