This is maybe kind of opposite to many of the other questions.

I've always had my own companies in different branches (IT, fashion, music and various distributorships in Sweden, Norway, Spain), and never been employed (the closest thing is like consultant). But now at 35 I'm feeling fed up with "being lonely", since I usually have worked for and with myself, and it's time for a career change. I also think it would be nice to work together with other people and let my creativity come to use in some bigger picture.

But how do I go from having my own company to being employed?!

-- Nils Bergman (bergman@beer.com), October 09, 2000

Answers

Nils, take a pen, shut your eyes and woomp, where it lands is a potential job interview. But a word of warning, as an employee don't ever tell them your story or you may learn your first lesson in office politics and in the frustrations that the majority have an expression for called "working in the real world".

As for creativity, by the time your intelligence is insulted for umpteenth time and then you get put in front of a consultant who asks you questions that your manager does not want to hear from you and once the people above realize that you are potential threat for the next CEO promotion so much so that you spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what an employee review really is, trust me, being an employee isn't anything to get too excited about.

Of course, there is one place where you can be an extremely effective employee and serve a great purpose. Its called NON-PROFIT and they are dying to hear from anyone with a bit of talent.

But coming back to the question of creativity, what better creativity is there than to be someone who can create companies, so people can have jobs and the life and any associated experiences that comes with having a job.

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), October 09, 2000.

I am one person who also got "tired of being alone" and gave up the personal business (consulting) and went to work full-time for an employer.

The one thing I had to do was realize that in my new job, I had to take a heck of a pay-cut. As long as I was willing to take this on, the decision became easier.

The next thing I had to do was look for a company who's culture was something I could live with (I didn't want to get involved in death marches).

I found working in the banking industry was just the thing for me. It is quite creative (more than I thought, at first) and there are very few death marches. Everything is structured and generally predictable.

I brought to my job a lot of experience as CEO of my own company and I approach my projects with the eys of experience as an owner, not a worker. It allows me to be more creative in my approach and to look at the long-term picture (which few people seem to do lately).

Anyway, it worked for me and I'm enjoying it. I now have my weekends off and only work 40-45 hours a week. I have a life, go bicycling with my wife 4-5 times a week.

Good luck to you!

Tony

-- Tony Severa (tsevera@calfed.com), October 10, 2000.