I had loads of jobs before being a self employed plumber, I hated most of them.
The last job I had was for one of the big energy companies, I used to build and maintain databases and software, the job could be OK sometimes with a sense of challenge and achievement. However I hated the managers, supervisors, section managers, team leaders, department managers etc.
Any corperate work nowadays has way too many Indians. Turn up 15 minutes early every day for 3 months then get there 5 minutes late one day and you get kicked. Go to the toilet too many times and you get kicked. Spend too long on a cig break and you get kicked. Take a personal call and get kicked etc. etc.
I could only take so much kicking from the jumped up rses competing with each other to bollock the little guys. It actually makes me annoyed just remembering how it was.
Compare that to plumbing and there's no competition. I have no-one to answer to other than the current customer and to be fair they are almost always very nice and grateful that you are there to sort out whatever job it is.
I get the odd day when a bad job or a crap customer will get me down but I only have to remember the dread I used to feel driving in to my old job to make it all feel better again
Being able to nip out to the shops or chippy mid-job or going for a ciggy whenever I want still makes me feel good to this day, I especially like it when a potential customer phones up and I just know they are going to be a pain in the rse. In my old job I would have no choice but to put up with that tosser and make sure they were happy before I finished. In this job I just price myself out of it or tell them I'm too busy. I love the freedom it brings, as others have said though, the paperwork is a pain but it could be a lot worse.
I'm fortunate in that I'm also a landlord and the rent pays half my wages so I only need 2-3 days work a week to get by. If I was doing anything for 6 or 7 days a week I'm sure it would get to me.
