This is a story of a man who managed to crack the glass ceiling, create a business that provides him the freedom lifestyle he always wanted, and say “so long!” to corporate America – all while working the 9 to 5, raising his daughters, and handling all of life’s liabilities!
Building A Business While Working The 9 to 5 – Episode Highlights
- How to build a business while working the 9-5 and raising a family – even if you don’t have much time or money!
- How to turn service based businesses that charge money per hour into passive income streams.
- How to deal with competition and with people that try to win by underpricing you.
Today’s Guest – Jeff Mendelson
Today’s guest, Jeff Mendelson, shared with us today how he went from the frustrating days of bumping against the glass ceiling in a technical job, seeing all the unqualified people around him getting promoted instead of him, and through creating the exit route and finally – getting off the hamster wheel.
But the most surprising part about Jeff’s story, is that by walking away from the safety of the 9-5, he ended up saving himself:
Over the last 5 years, all of his previous employers went out of business. The last man standing, was Jeff Mendelson, and his business, Las Olas Tech.
Las Olas, meaning “the waves” in Spanish, provides online solutions – from web design, social media management, pay per click campaigns and SEO, to complete web presence strategy.
There are two important lessons that I want you to pay attention to when listening to today’s story:
The first, is How Jeff realized that he just doesn’t have the time required to build a sustainable business while working for the man and being a family man, and the unorthodox solution that he found to make it work.
Second, is the business strategy that allowed Jeff to turn a service business charging money for hours into recurring revenue streams that guaranteed that bills will be paid – even when the market took a downfall.
Scroll to the top of the post and click the “Play” button now. I know you’ll enjoy Jeff’s story just as much as I did.
By the way, it’s his birthday tomorrow, so I’d really appreciate it if you could leave him a quick “happy birthday” comment below! I know it will mean a lot to him! 🙂
Mentioned Resources
- Las Olas Tech
- Jeff’s email – [email protected]
- Jeff on Twitter: @lasolastech
Great podcast! Happy Burthday, Mr. Mendelson. There are some great suggestions here.
Excellent piece & Happy Birthday!!
– a fellow business owner still nine-to-fiving
Thanks Andrea! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 Do some of Jeff’s tips on scaling apply to your situation?
It is not a moral problem to start your own business while working full time, as long as:
A) You’re still doing the job you’re getting paid for
B) You’re not stealing customers or competing with your 9-5 gig
This is not a moral conflict – it’s what needs to be done, pragmatically, to launch!
Hilary, I agree with you 100%. And it’s so important that people like you lay this out loud and clear, because just as you said – as long as those two rules are met, there is no moral conflict.
Many employers treat employees like they own them just because they pay them their salary. For those still working the 9-5 – it’s your responsibility to yourself to remember that they DON’T own you! They are merely exchanging money for you doing your best job for their company during SPECIFIC days and SPECIFIC hours. The only thing not moral is not using the rest of the time to create and launch your next step!
(And man, I wish someone was there to tell me that while I worked the 9-5, or more accurately, the 9am-3.00am. Someone who would tell me that it’s OK to work only the hours that my contract requires, instead of 12-16 hours a day, and to use the rest of my time to create my own life. I could have avoided a lot of stress if I would’ve followed this advice!)
Great podcast! Both practical and uplifting. Totally resonated with the whole being kept in the rat race’s “boxes” for many years – I wish more people would realize they could break on through to freedom (and never look back again)! You are an inspiration. Happy belated birthday, Mr. M!
Thanks for commenting, Jennifer! 🙂 It sounds like you have quite a story yourself! Care to share? 🙂