Oh, what a great thread!

I went full-time about a year and a half ago... the BEST thing I've ever done.

I move to Dallas from Minnesota for a new job and a new start after a divorce 6 1/2 years ago... yes, I was married to a woman. Lol. Hence the name "xstr8guy". I loved my new job for the first 2 years and I started messing around with AVS sites soon after moving to Dallas. The few extra dollars came in handy as I had bought a house to put down some roots.

After I started to learn the AVS game and grew, so did my checks. At about the same time, my daytime job added commissions to my salary which essentially doubled my income. Financially, I was doing very well for myself and I had met my life-partner. Things were great! We travelled a lot and my partner quit his job and started remodelling our home.

Then I got lucky with my web business. I stumbled into some very lucrative projects and my webmaster income was doubling almost monthly so I started to take it more serious. I was also becoming increasingly bored and unhappy with my day job... face-to-face sales was not my cup-of-tea. I fretted constantly that my sudden poor performance at my job would cause me to be fired. I worried about health insurance coverage. I worried about horrible laws that would force me to quit my web business. I worried about retirement (I am 42, after all). Etc., etc. etc. I started leaving work early and working on my web business during work hours. I was working 16 hours a day... most of it at home.

I started to put some money away for a soon-to-come rainy day. My old boss took a new job, who also happened to be my best friend who originally hired me. And my new boss was very unhappy with my performance. I started to take my exit very serious and layed my final plans.

A few long depressing months past as my job evaluation loomed. Finally the day came. I sat calmly as my boss said I had 3 months to turn it around or they would have to let me go. He said, "Well Jim, do you think you can do it?" and I said "No, I think I'm done here. I'm burnt. I'll stick around for 30 days to turn my accounts over to the other salesman." We both smiled in relief. I was FREE!

Sorry for the long boring story. Lol.

I guess I'm just trying to let you know... it's not an easy decision to make. The money I had saved disappeared pretty quickly. My main sponsor used Ibill as their primary processor and I didn't get paid for a couple months after Ibill failed. Then came taxes, which I was NOT prepared to pay. I had always been employed by someone else and taxes just never really concerned me. And I had NO idea just how much a self-employed person had to pay.

It was pretty stressfull for the first 6 months but things started to even out. I slowly started to spread myself around so all of my eggs weren't in one basket. And my GWW pals, especially Michael, offered tons of support and advice which helped astronomically. I saved for my taxes, travelled less, halted our remodelling and put my partner to work with me.

And despite all of the drama, stress and lifestyle change, I wouldn't go back to a regular job for anything barring a massive disaster. I work at home and LOVE IT! I make my own hours... long hours, sure... but I don't mind one bit. I don't put on shoes or a shirt for days-on-end. My partner likes to say that we are retired, . I don't miss being around other people especially in a work enviroment. I always felt sorry for people who's only friends were coworkers.

The drawbacks
We still don't have health insurance. I smoke way too much. My ass, hips and wrist hurt and my eyes are going bad. But most of that can be expained by old age and physical laziness, . And I never have enough time and money to do all of the web projects I have in mind.