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# Spring-ing into a new line of work
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/spring-ing-into-a-new-line-of-work/
- Published: 2008-03-25T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T23:44:47.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

SPRING IS HERE AND A YOUNG MAN’S fancy turns to quitting his job and being his own boss. The same goes for the young ladies, each one searching for more free time and independence.

This time of year breeds an urgency in one to get out of the office, to begin to play in the sand, to find a summer lover and enjoy the warm days ahead with a sandwich from Bay Cities while watching the tides roll in.

The flowering of spring, the turning of the season motivates most of us to renew those January resolutions to lose weight, clean out the storage unit that we’ve been paying on for a year and haven’t visited once since we put that junk in there, and to take a look at our life and re-evaluate where we are professionally.

With this thought of renewal and fresh starts, comes the desire to clean up our personal lives. For some of us that means finally dumping that loser boyfriend, throwing in the towel on the marriage that was dead 2 years ago, or quitting that go nowhere job.

Some people choose to review their professional lives and see if there is room for improvement. This is the time when many are looking at their work and wanting to start a new business to have more time for oneself.

The false impression that being one’s own boss is a life of fishing and playing with the kids is singularly the most damaging lie that Madison Avenue has ever sold to the American public.

I know that the multi-level marketing companies like Amway and Avon paint the scenario to the frustrated worker that they can work from home and make $10,000 a month working part time. I’ve seen the fran-chisors pitches that buying a franchise from “Billy Joe’s Carpet Cleaners” is a “sure-fire” way to retire in 5 years.

The companies are relying on an age old trick of comparing apples to staplers. The pitch starts out like this,“Wouldn’t it be great to retire in 10 years? Can you imagine how rich you’d be if you bought one of the first McDonald’s franchises?” That’s the bait. Dreams of riches and relaxation, as your business operates making you money. The hook is the McDonald’s franchise connection.

For most of those who invested in the beginning, they made millions. They put in large sums of money up front, worked twice as long and hard as they ever did before, and somewhere down the line they were able to retire and relax.

But that’s the problem that a frustrated, spring fever sufferer, wont see. They won’t see the 80 hour work weeks, the waking up in the middle of the night wondering how they are going to make payroll tomorrow.

That’s the downside of being your own boss.The good side,as I was reminded of while speaking with my law partner, is that being your own boss gets in your blood and you find it impossible to work for others.We’ve been in practice for almost 10 years now. Ten years of paying the rent,the phone bill,the postage bills …. It’s years of rubber chicken dinners and getting your hopes up that this next client will be the one that pays off big time.

Being your own boss is incredibly rewarding, I love the flexibility I have to take off for a weekend and go snow skiing or jet skiing, or scuba diving whenever I want. But it also comes with a price. Sleepless nights, constant worry about deadlines and payrolls, and the ever present search for new clients, are the companions of the entrepreneur.

I understand and relate to the desire to be my own boss. I still have the last note my last boss wrote me framed in my office. My assistant and I had just made the company an extra $10 million, so we went out to celebrate, and for her one year anniversary with the company. The note reads, “David, What did you and C\*\*\* have for lunch that cost $151.25 for 2 people? This is a bit excessive and please use better judgment next time. If you do have any questions about what you should spend please ask. For a 1-year anniversary, lunch for 2 you should of \[sic\] spent no more than $60.”

My resignation was on her desk the next week.

It’s hard to be your own boss, and as someone who has other people relying on him so they can make their mortgage payments, pay their baby-sitter, and put food on the table, it never gets easy, but you do avoid demeaning notes from your boss.

DAVID PISARRA is a divorce and child custody lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He or (310) 664-9969.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 25, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032508.pdf?ref=smdp.com)