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Wed 5 Oct, 2005 10:49 am
My wife got an interesting offer when she got to work today. She had a conversation with her boss yesterday about her job responsibilities. She works for a very successful chiropractor who also owns a gym (next door to the Chiro office). She is his right hand woman and handles everything from payroll to hiring/firing and other officy/righthand womany stuff. She also oversees the gym management and some of the day to day stuff over there. She was originally hired to do all of the marketing for both of the businesses but has made herself invaluable by picking up these other responsibilities in addition to the marketing.
Well long story short, she told him yesterday that she just has to much work to do and can't focus on the marketing like he wants her to do and get everything else done as well. His solution to the problem, when she got to work today, was to hire me for the marketing which frees her to handle all the rest of her duties. He told her to tell me that if I wanted to walk out of the office today I could start for him tomorrow.
There would be a decent increase in pay but what makes it most tempting is actually doing design/marketing for a cause in which I believe in. Helping people stay healthy in a natural, unmedicated, non-surgical way instead of helping sell stuff that I really don't believe in.
The interesting thing is this, we (my wife and I) have recently decided to send me back to school to become a chiropractor myself. With my marketing background plus becoming a Chiropractor the plan was to work for this man eventually, anyway and make us both invaluable to his practice.
He is a very hardworking/demanding person and is very good at what he does. What concerns me is that this switch right now might derail my plans to become a Chiro myself. One of the reasons for becoming a Chiro is the ability to earn enough income to start having kids while allowing my wife to stay home with them. We will never make enough to do this just doing marketing for him even though he would pay us rather well.
I guess I don't really have any direct questions right now, but wanted to throw all of this out there to get some 3rd party perspective. So... what do you think?
Were you planning to quit your job to go back to school to become a Chiropractor?
If not, seems like this would work even better than the original plan. You work, you make more money, you go to school, and your work ties in directly with school. Win-win.
If so -- if you were planning to quit your current job -- and if this is a brand-new position, it seems like another possible win-win is to negotiate for a part-time position. That way you are making some money as opposed to zero, and still get the benefits of having a job that is directly tied into your education.
This might actually be a relief to him -- he might have assumed that in order for it to be an offer you'd seriously consider it would have to be a full-time position, while if the duties are split off from what your wife is already doing, a part-time position might be more reasonable (and, bottom line, less of an expense for him).
Big decisions, indeed! Were you intending to study chiropractic on a part-time basis while working full-time, or were you thinking of being a full-time student?
I go to a chiropractor who told me his training was incredibly intense. Within his class, half of those who were married didn't finish the program or their relationship failed during their studies. He commented how it took his total dedication and how he greatly admired those who successfully completed the program and maintained a committed relationship.
He also told me he wants to train his own chiropractic assistant, someone who can do trigger-point massage and stretching, freeing him up to do adjustments and other skilled techniques. In fact, he offered me the job but I have too much on my plate already. Maybe there are patient care techniques your Chiro can train you to do while working for him in the marketing capacity. This would give you a feel for patient care as you decide whether to pursue the complete program. It would delay your timeline somewhat but you'd have a better feel for what you were getting yourself in to before you jump into the pool.
The thing about this guy is that he is really intense. He goes full steam ahead always, so I am not sure if PT would be an option. Although, it may offer more flexibility to do work at home and at night rather than having to be in the office all the time.
I am not sure exactly what my work/school balance will be. I do need to take some pre-reqs first so I intend to work as much as possible during that time (probably a year). Once I actually get to chiro school I will probably have to quit my job, or, at the very most cut way way back. J_B is right about it being very intensive and that is not the first time I have heard about the marriage failure thing. One guy I taked to said if you didn't hate the people in school with you you were screwing them. (What is it about Chiros???)
I am a bit concerned about this. Not that I would actually cheat on my wife, but just the stress of it all might be a bit to handle. We have a very strong relationship but you never know how this would affect it.
One other thing that I thought of was proposing that he help finance my education. In return, I would do as much marketing that I could and work for him for x amout of years after I graduate. That way he would be able to keep SB (my wife) which I know he is concerned about losing, gain a doctor who would be able to do marketing as well and have me locked in for whatever amout of time we agreed upon. If it worked out it could really be a win-win for everyone.
I'm going to talk to him Monday over lunch and see if we can work things out. I'm getting pretty excited about the whole deal.
It does sound like there are a lot of attractive options.
sozobe wrote:It does sound like there are a lot of attractive options.
Oh to have a 401(k) again....
Remember, you won't be entering a condition of perpetual slavery.
If this set-up doesn't work you can try something else.
Well, what he might sign re agreement might constrain him if he finds mr. intense too intense.
Sounds good to me, jp. Going back to school and becoming a chiropractor sounds very good, if you are interested in it.
Ticomaya wrote:Sounds good to me, jp. Going back to school and becoming a chiropractor sounds very good, if you are interested in it.
Very interested in it. I like what I do (design) but it just leaves me so unfullfilled. To much sitting around selling crap that I don't believe in.
Chriropractic would keep me active plus it is something that I truely believe helps make peoples lives better. That is worth going to work for everyday.
Noddy24 wrote:Remember, you won't be entering a condition of perpetual slavery.
If this set-up doesn't work you can try something else.
I was thinking more along the lines of burning bridges. I know for sure I want to work for him as a doctor so I don't want to do anything now that would prevent that from happening in the future. Like taking a job then quitting in a year to go to school. I'm just not sure how he would react to that and is one of the things I am going to bring up at lunch on Monday.
jpinMilwaukee wrote:Ticomaya wrote:Sounds good to me, jp. Going back to school and becoming a chiropractor sounds very good, if you are interested in it.
Very interested in it. I like what I do (design) but it just leaves me so unfullfilled. To much sitting around selling crap that I don't believe in.
Chriropractic would keep me active plus it is something that I truely believe helps make peoples lives better. That is worth going to work for everyday.
Plus you get paid a lot of jack. :wink:
Yeah... there is that too.
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