A new company, a new website, and a new blog. Two and a half weeks ago, I retired after 25 years of service with a single company. I’m fortunate in that I started back when pensions were standard. I’m extra fortunate that it wasn’t eliminated outright in the intervening years. They did, however, make the decision to freeze the pay so it no longer grew with my salary.

So here I am, retired and drawing my pension but still wanting to work. Lots of people want to be there own boss, but few are actually able to achieve that goal. Even though I founded my own company, I’m not yet ready to count myself as having succeeded, because it can all still go horribly wrong.

I’ve lined up multiple avenues for future work, including becoming an author (more on that in a later post), so I’m hopeful I can avoid the worst. The worst, at this point, would be having to go back to work for a big company. I no longer want to work for large publicly-traded companies as an employee. Their goals and mine differ significantly.

The largest companies have the singular goal of generating profit for their shareholders. More often now than not, they’re doing it with accounting tricks and cost-cutting measures that jeopardize the long-term health of the company itself. They no longer bother with cultivating a reputation for quality work that will generate repeat business.

But enough about them. They’re my past, and it’s time to concentrate on my future.