Liking the work is one thing. Having the tools and equipment to do the work is another. Having the experience to get the jobs done is yet another. You have thought about all of those. The things that you do not yet understand is that each potential customer has a choice of you and everybody else. The three things those customers are looking for are ability to do the project with the skill equal to the task, a competitive price equal to THEIR value of the work, and confidence that you can complete the job in a timely manner. It is not how well you are qualified in each of these areas, but how well you are qualified vs. all the others out there. You will have less experience than most of the others, you will be less financially efficient because you won't have the same sources, same discounts, same credit, same organization, etc,..., you will be less likely to be in and out as fast as a well managed, well manned, well equiped, and well trained crew. Who would you hire? In other words, jobs are not going to be pouring in right away. The next thing that most "corporate dropouts for the great outdoors" people do not look at is what it takes to bring in the same net pay. Right now your employer pays half your social security, all your workmans comp (which is higher in landscaping than mouse clicking), probably all of your health care, some kind of matching to your 401k, pays your days off, vacation, and sick time. Let's use the figure of $50k as your gross income (taken directly from ... well let's say the thin air). I'm sure you hear the prices of $35-$60 per hour as the billing rate for landscapers on a job. That sounds great. You are in the south, so let's say $40 an hour is the billable rate and nine months is the working season. That is 39 weeks. If you billed 40 hours per week for that 39 weeks you will gross $62,400. Then you have to pay you ss, you still want to get $3,000 into your 401k, it rained too hard to work for 20 of those days ($6,400), you were ill for 3 more ($960), your wife wanted the week long family vacation in the mountains($1,600), you have a big gas bill from all the driving around, the city won't let you keep your equipment in your residential neighborhood (rent), Oh, you are new, so you don't have a full on going schedule of work either. So how's that $40 per hour working out? The $4,000 mower can expect three years, so there is another $1,300+ off the salary. Oh, liability insurance. Lettering on the truck (by law in many places). Three pairs of $100 boots for the year. Health insurance is a fun one too - you won't be in a group policy anymore - expect an easy $7,000-$10,000 a year for a family plan. You can usually expect a good 29 day wait after you send the monthly bills for maintenance out, and a few roll overs to the next month. Then in the fall, you'll have to be putting in serious time cleaning up. How's that 100 lawn accounts that take up the week to mow looking now that they each need a half day to clean up? That would take 10 weeks, but they all want it done in the same two week period. That will add up minutes on the cell phone bill - you need to upgrade your minutes. Yup, I hate sitting in an office clicking a mouse 40 hours a week and those lonely evenings without 12 messages on the answering machine. How much do you think you'll like to putter around in the garden when you get home after doing it all day every day? I tore a disc two years ago. If I were self employed and relying on my body for a living, I would have been in big trouble. You can hurt yourself and be out of commission so easily. When I was in my early 20's I sprained my ankle and could not work for two weeks. I was self employed and made no money (luckily I was freeloading at home at the time). You have to know the risks. You just worked your tail off and earned about $30,000 before taxes and you want to buy more equipment so you can do more different stuff next year. But, many people do it and have a great time and make a great living. Just understand that it is not the same as working in your own back yard. I never mentioned customers and all the things that go with them.

I'm full time. The only person in the office. I have a gal that comes in two afternoons a week to help with copying and filing. I'm supposed to get two weeks paid vacation. And for about the first 17 or 18 years the agreement was bonuses on larger settlements in lieu of COLA raises every year. (I've never had a cost of living, or any other, raise) When the economy tanked and people started settling their own cases to get the cash faster, the bonuses stopped. So did my vacations. If I call in sick or if I ask for a day off to maybe get away for a three day weekend, he calls me several times a day. When I'm not here, the office phone is call-forwarded to my cell, so I'm on call 24/7. He's even come to my house if I don't pick up the phone when he calls. I have to do relaxation exercises in my mind every morning before work to settle my stomach from stress. When I see his car pull up, my stomach just lurches. I told him last November I was booking this trip to see my mom. He actually told me "I don't think I can let you go unless your mom is dying or something ..." I booked the trip anyway and started looking around for another position. I knew it was bad, but was sure with my experience and people I know, that something would come up. Slim pickins out there right now. I can't take it any more. But he knows he's got me over a barrel because DH has been scrambling for work for about three years now and I don't have the option of just walking out the door like I did when our construction company was thriving. He treated me like gold ... until DH's company started getting slower and slower. When he realized I was dependent on this job (him) now, he started treating me differently.

homemasons: you're right. these "designers" (for the most part) don't appear to have any interior design or construction training. mine was a mortgage broker who made a mid-life career change. i thought she was nice and patient. and she said she had been at her HD job for two years, which seemed sufficient at the time for the job at hand. (my kitchen cabs were ordered from an out-of-state co. in seattle--so for these, my bar was set much higher. KD was a licensed architect) but this being three small, straight-forward cabinet runs, i thought "what could go wrong?" well, there's this misunderstanding, also a necessary side panel was overlooked, and it turns out i don't qualify for the free sink she told me that i was getting for my silestone purchase. and she didn't even call me to tell me that she had misunderstood the offer. i went into the store two weeks later for something else, happened to see her and ask her when i should expect it. she told me in a "oh, by the way" manner. no apology. BUT, i noticed it on my itemized receipt: one kitchen sink, no charge and will bring this up with a manager. just an overall headache working with this lady.

juddgirl, I'm a mid-life MSW and I'll say that it doesn't lead to many low-stress, low-confrontation jobs and most entry-level jobs for MSWs don't pay enough to warrant the cost of the degree. I'm in a job market similar to the one you'll face in Tennessee and nearly everyone I went to MSW school with five years ago regrets the degree due to low pay and high-stress positions. That said, if you do attend an MSW program you will make valuable community and employment connections while you are in school, and with your law degree in hand as well, you will no doubt have a different pool of jobs open to you than the "average" MSW. My advice to anyone of any age about getting an MSW is to find five people in the area where you might want to practice, who have been working as MSWs for at least five years, and ask them whether they would advise their own child or best friend to pursue an MSW. My experience suggests that 4 out of 5 will advise against it. My DD wants to follow in my footsteps and I am working hard to convince her otherwise. MSW school is a racket if ever there was one.