Career Change

[lookout123]

Howdy y'all. It's been awhile and life has been busy. Good but busy. Now I've got a moment to breathe and a huge choice sitting in front of me so off to the cellar I go in search of advice. Cuz we all know that one thing the cellar is never short of is advice. or was it bullshit? or crude jokes? hhhmmmm... there does seem to be a shortage of labrat's nudie pics lately though...

huh? oh yeah, back to the advice part.

I'm an employee of a company, but work entirely independently and have no manager. We have a compliance department that keeps me out of trouble (and bugs the crap out of me), but other than that it is me, my assistant, and my clients. I come and go as I please, and really have it pretty good. I go months without seeing another employee of the firm. Without going into a lot of the details suffice it to say that I will leave this firm in the next year(ish) to do one of two things.

1) Go absolutely independent. My name over the door, my name on the checks, my ass on the line. but instead of taking home $.40 on every dollar (that's what I get now) I generate I would average $.90 on every dollar I make. Granted I would have to pay the rent and my assistant and everything else out of that but even at last year's numbers I would have come out about $25,000 in the positive all things being equal. and the numbers should go up each year.

2) Become an employee of a regional outfit that will set expectations (which are generally very low and laughably achievable), pay me only an average of $.35 on every dollar made, and put me back into the world of having coworkers. (although I would be the only one who does what I do, or is in my chain of command, so to speak) Generally, if I'm hitting my goals nobody will give me any more hassles than I have right now.

You might be asking why I would even consider a lower payout. That's easy. In addition to the clients that I go out and find and create this employer will give me access to thousands upon thousands of warm leads who are already clients of the company with millions held there. That's right - a bank. So although the payout is lower, the production numbers are much higher due to the nature of the beast. The people I know that have gone from my current firm to this bank format have usually doubled their production within 18 months and see a 10-15% increase annually after that. And they don't have to sign their lives away in the form of leases, bonds, equipment, etc.

I can make a comfortable living whether I choose 1 or 2, or for that matter, stay where I am. Option 1 provides a much higher POTENTIAL high end income but I'm more of a work-to-live kind of guy so it is unlikely that I'll ever hit those lofty heights anyway. I guess what I am asking is: given the opportunity -if the income was the same would you rather own your own business with no boss in sight and no limit on your potential earnings, and the top level of prestige within this industry that goes with it... or is it better to be an employee so that it remains just a job, not a life. Knowing that the sign over the door has someone else's name, and desk and phone belong to them? And it always will. But they hand you clients in greater numbers than you could ever reach on your own. Hmmm? What would you do?