Most of the time I hear advice that a regular 9 to 5 job or other schedule of being an employee is making us a slave or at least depreving us from our time by keep us busy enough to not be able to do anything else. But what are other options that allow both enough time to spend on a personal life and make a good living? Most of the time, owning a business eats more time than being an employee. This is maybe a discussion about work life balance, or even being with or against the anti work movement.
I also refuse the idea that tells me to be absolutely frugal. Yes, I live bellow my means, but I also spen d money on my hobbies and what brings joy and meaning to my life. I also save up some money for investment but investing is the hard part when our stock market is too small.
The question is serious. What are the other options or other insight in the situation and its alternatives.
Question is open ended and you can add in more point of views.
You are touching an interesting topic here: we produce more with less time and effort than before. This in theory should allow us more free time, but in reality we still work more regardless so that business owner earns more.
However, I see an issue here. The idea you defend does work when producing material goods, like food and goods where we need a means of production that is hard to acquire. But there are other methods where the means of production are cheap and available to everybody, like teaching, or programming or selling. I see here the biggest entry barrier is salesman skills like finding customers and clients, and ability to solve a multi million dollar issue. I chose that wording because raising a capitable in millions of dollars can be done in multiple ways most people do not comprehend. Personally, as a programmer, if I had the ability to convince people and find customers to build things for them, I would have my own company. Or if I had my salesman skills on point I would open my shop or commercial business. Those can also be considered means of production but since they are immaterial skills, I still haven’t finishes building a slot in my mind to receive them.
The issue is when we see those skills applied they seem trivial or too easy anybody could do them but they are also so hard very few people does them. We also often think of them “what did you even do? I am here doing all the work producing all the product” which is true, but lacking customers to sell to is the problem a majority of my aquiances are struggling with.
I do not say those are impossible to do but where the means of production is a skill, how does it change or affect your take?
I think your situation is exactly what a cooperative is built for. You have a bunch of people who work together and have a shared ownership of the business, tying their outcomes to the success of the business. You organise democratically to delegate the work and get the results you need. Someone good at sales can handle the sales side of things. Someone skilled in web design can make the web site. Someone such as yourself may work on a specific project for a client. The structure all together can do the work required while also managing having visibility, discover ability, and reputation. And if it isn’t working you can vote to change what you are doing.