Getting the bling with the gig

I've learned an important lesson the last few weeks:

Money != Happiness

I know everyone 40 or older is out there saying, “Yeah, duh!” But here's the thing, I came from a broadcast background before making the leap to “Internet guy” and developer. I think most would agree that it's unusual for a guy to go from television production guru (and striking on-air talent ;)) to developer writing a book in the span of five or six years. Consider then that in my former life that I might as well have been rich making $30k USD a year. That still doesn't go a long way, but here in the Cleveland area, that's not bad.

So imagine when someone waves a contract gig in front of you that would gross six figures, more than three times what you made a few short years ago. How can you resist that?

I should've known better. In 2000 I sold the domain popworld.com to a British firm for $100,000. It paid off my car, bought my wedding, honeymooned us on Kauai and eliminated lingering credit card debt from my college days six years prior. That was a critical point in my life, and I realize now that what I should've done is invest in making an attempt at floating my own business. I at least had the common sense not to blow it all on stupid stuff.

So what's wrong with the gig I'm on now? Well, for starters I have nothing to do. There also isn't a lot of potential to be challenged, the work isn't interesting and in the long-term there's little chance of any real professional growth. At this point I could just walk away, but that might not be entirely responsible without lining up something else first.

If my own projects generated a nice $40k a year, I wouldn't need to work for the man. I'm only half way there.