My thanks to Robert Plank for his comment last night to my post called When can you quit your day job?.  At the close of that post I said, “I’m not quite ready to answer these questions yet. I will start thinking about them.” Robert replied, ““Start” thinking about them? Why not just answer them?” He is exactly right.  It was a push when I needed one. How will I ever accomplish anything unless I do something.  You have to be a “doer!”

Robert is a great example.  He is a high-energy “doer.”  Robert has published a great resource called Time Management on Crack.  It’s all about becoming productive and getting the right things done, right now.  This package includes a 22 page report (packed with information), four videos, and some exceptional bonus content.

Everyone is busy.  You can either decide to work more, or decide to get more done in the time you have.  Time Management on Crack gives you the knowledge, techniques, and motivation to do just that.

I don’t know how many times I needed to extract information from a web page and build it into a spreadsheet or document.  Up until now, I usually used copy and paste as my method.  Jonathan Leger has just come out with a new tool called Web Data Parser.  This tool allows you to extract data from almost any web page.  I just installed it and did a quick extract from my Twitter home page.  It was pretty cool!  I look forward to really learning this tool and getting the most out of it.

Web Data Parser is extremely powerful.  Don’t just take my word for it, but click over and view the demonstration video.  The price is right and Jonathan even gives you a 60 day guarantee.  I’m sure that this tool will save both me and you a lot of time.

I have Robert Plank’s blog in Google Reader and read an interesting post about quitting your day job. In it he mentioned Eric Holmlund’s day job quitting questionnaire. I searched for the original source for this questionnaire, but didn’t find it. Since Robert published his answers, I thought I could at least list the questions here.

1. Is your job hurting you?
2. Do you have a vision and a solid plan for your business?
3. Do you already have a written goal for quitting your job?
4. Are you committed to the business? (Required)
5. What do you have to lose? (If you have little or nothing to lose, it’s a good time to quit)
6. How long will your savings last?
7. How much income is your business bringing in?
8. What are you willing to sacrifice?
9. Do you trust your gut? (And is it usually right?)
10. Will you dare to do what others only dream of?

These 10 questions look like they cover the important points for making this decision. I’m not quite ready to answer these questions yet. I will start thinking about them. What about you?

One of my goals for working from home is to have more time with my family. Because of my decision to buy a farm in 2007, I have an 80-mile commute. My employer helped me out by allowing me to work remotely, one day a week. (I must say that they have been very open-minded and supportive!) Recently, I was able to expand that to two days a week. This is a real blessing to me as it eliminates almost 8 hours of drive time each week.

I have always been interested in managing virtual teams, since I went to a ProjectWorld conference in the late ’90s. At that conference I went to a workshop on managing distributed teams. My reason for attending was that I was beginning to manage a team of programmers in India to help with system maintenance and Y2K work. Now, I am the one who is a virtual/distributed (40% of the time) team member!

Two books I read, this past year, gave me encouragement to step out in this way: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss and Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It: No Schedules, No Meetings, No Joke–the Simple Change That Can Make Your Job Terrific by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. The 4-Hour Workweek gave me some strategies for changing my work schedule to allow me to work remotely. Why Work Sucks gave me solid strategies for focusing the evaluation of my work on results (ROWE) and for dealing with negative comments that the authors termed “sludge.”

If you are looking to have more freedom in your work life – the freedom to get results, then I recommend that you read both books. My life now has better margin and control. It is intensely liberating, less stressful, and now has some margin. Most of all, it is already having a positive impact on my family life.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Timothy Ferriss. Crown 2007, Hardcover, 320 pages, $4.98

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It

Cali Ressler. Portfolio Hardcover 2008, Hardcover, 224 pages, $2.99

I have been doing some sort of on-line retailing since 2002. While selling physical products is something I love to do, it has been only marginally profitable. In fact, the last two years I have lost a little money. The biggest cost has been on my time. It never grew large enough to justify having a payroll and as a family business, it didn’t involve the whole family. The time cost is larger than just spending time on the store. Selling physical products always had time pressure to get the orders out. It is the time I am not spending with my wife and children. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my journey to spend more time with my family. This change of direction will help with that.

Beginning immediately, I will be shutting down my physical products operations. I will be selling out my inventory. The stuff that sells well will be sold at regular retail. Everything else will be discounted to move quickly. I plan to have most of my inventory liquidated by the end of January. What’s left will go on eBay. By the end of December, the present incarnation of Ten Foot Table will be gone.

What will I do? I plan to write – both e-books and blogging. I also plan to do affiliate marketing. This kind of work can happen in the fringe hours after God, family, and my regular job. I think I will have a lot to offer by going in this new direction. Mostly for my wife and children.

I am not down about this decision. In fact, I am at peace with it. It is the right thing to do. I will have better focus. It is in God’s will for my life.

There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. – Proverbs 13:7 (KJV)