[Midlife Crisis Career Change] Can this job be saved?

Q. Building my business is taking longer than anticipated, so I recently accepted a part-time telecommute job with X company. X just announced a company meeting at their headquarters, 1200 miles away, next month. I am scheduled to speak at a major networking group – an opportunity that won’t come around again – on the same day. I had made the commitment well before I joined X company. The contract says I am “expected” to attend “periodic” company events at headquarters but has no provisions for notice or penalties. My work involves editing and writing projects with no requirements to put in specific hours. I didn’t realize “expected” meant “you must go or you’ll be fired,” but that’s what management now says. I don’t want to invest more time in this job if I’m going to be fired, but I like X – and it’s money. A. Ouch! I am not a lawyer but I suspect X company went the cheap-o route for drawing up the contracts. (Any lawyers out there?) No one can tell you what to do but I’ll offer some comments. And I invite readers to chime in, because this topic may be quite controversial. I suspect your relationship with X is doomed, no matter what happens. (1) Part time jobs often lead to overtime stress. It’s usually to draw the line and stop work exactly on time. And how do meetings count towards your work requirements? (2) It’s hard to overcome a rocky start. Unless you desperately need the money, you should investigate your options for leaving immediately. If you have to invest time learning the company’s operations, you are taking time from your business – and from exploring more reasonable opportunities. (3) Technology has eliminated the need for face time for most meetings. But many companies haven’t caught on. And some organizations, such as universities, need (or feel they need) face time for licensing and accreditation. (4) When starting your own business, keep your day job as long as possible. As you’ve demonstrated, once you start working for yourself, you lose the ability to roll with corporate punches. Often you truly can’t go home again. (5) When a company acts unreasonably at the beginning of a relationship, you can only expect the situation to get worse. Occasionally organizations show their worst side during the hiring and new-employee phases. More often you get at least a brief honeymoon. Don’t count on this job! Okay, readers – let’s hear your views! Please post a comment. Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., works with corporate executives, business-owners and professionals who want to transform career breakdowns to career breakthroughs. Cathy has created the 21-Day Extreme Career Makeover Click here to start your makeover today. Fr*e Download: Why most career change fails (and how you can write your own success story) Why Most Career Change Fails (and How To Write Your Own Success Story) Get your FREE download here! Email me directly.