It's been a good day. Other than all the political nonsense going on (shut up already!), we've started fourth quarter projects for the big telecomm companies. And that's all fun and money.

"Knock it nice and smooth and watch it flow...never gonna stop me, never gonna stop...

Here's how it works: my clients send me projects at the absolutely last minute. It's great, because my biggest client is a bunch of slackers! They love that I can turn week long projects around in about two hours (years of experience boyos). In their own words"We like to do things half-assed, but if the situation requires we will do things quarter-ass!" (said with much pride and enthusiasm)
I met these guys sub-contracting through someone else. He was making TONS of money off me being a middle man. I'm a loyal guy, and was happy enough working at home getting paid the same rate I'd make in the middle of a desolate engineering department, but without the ties and no-smoking signs. I handled everything, project coordination, design and client relations. Basically, my boss billed for my work.
Then it came, the magical day that our clients had their first HUGE contract with AT&T. In order to make a decent profit they had to drop there expenses by around $100 per project. Not much at all, considering what we charge per project. My boss wouldn't move on the price. AT ALL. It didn't matter that at the time this was the only work we had coming in. It didn't matter that we'd both still be making good money. It didn't matter that our industry had been wrecked by the 09/11 attacks and hundreds of people we had known in the industry were sacking groceries or moving freight instead of calculating RF frequencies or doing contract audits. It didn't matter to him at all.
Thats when the client asked me, "Well whats wrong with him? Wouldn't you take this work for $100 less per site?" Tricky question there. Loaded to the hilt. Of course I would. And I did.

It took a week for me to finalize the deal. I had to, for my own conscience, insist that my boss take the work. I explained if he turned the work down I would quit and take it. I WANTED him to take it. Like I said, Im loyal. I have no idea what he was thinking, but he just wouldn't budge. So, without remorse, I started my own business, doing everything I'd done before, but now billing under my own name.
My business has grown since then. ALOT. We still do AT&T, I also do work for Alamosa, T-Mobile, Bechtel, Nextel and a few other smaller companies. It's stressful at times, but since I've started this my wife has quit her job, we've moved into a house and our standard of living has tripled. The benefits have far outweighed being available 24/7, 365 days a year (I do miss alot of holiday functions, but my family sees me all the time anyway).

The best parts? It's waking up and being involved at home with the wife and kids. It's having your best client call you up telling you "Kick ass job!". It's outlasting everyone else that has worked for your clients. It's knowing that you've finally found what you love to do, and your damn good at it.