I’ve worked consistently from when I was 16 years old until I downshifted at age 49. I wasn’t planning to downshift right then. My boss (our 4th VP in 3 years) had resigned a week earlier and the company decided to reorganize our department once again. My position was eliminated unexpectedly.
After months of interviewing for jobs but not being too interested in any of them, I started the Inside Sales Dude blog to use as an expanded resume. To my surprise, an old colleague contacted me for freelance consulting work. Then another did from another company. After that, I decided to make a run at blogging and part-time consulting.
I had been working 50-60 hour weeks for the past 20 years of my career in different tech sales management positions. In my first downshifting year, I averaged less than 20 hours per week for half of the year, but it varied based on my project load. Overall I worked about 25% of the time last year on paying projects.
I did spend a lot of time writing the blog and working on setting up the biz but for me this was unpaid and a creative endeavor.
The rest of the time I spent living a life – exercising, being outdoors, spending time with my wife, playing with the dog. It is fantastic.
In my second year, work dried up. I’ve written about that elsewhere. Once my wife’s medical condition stabilizes, I plan to focus more on finding more consulting.