Is it possible to start your own business as an EE Power PE?

[kona311]

I work in a utility and find the work sometimes repetitive, sometimes pointless, often unfulfilling. I would love nothing more than to be able to start my own firm at some point in time, as my uncle who is an Environmental Engineer and LEP did. He openly admits he didn't make nearly the money he would have had he stayed employed by a corporation, but that his quality of life wouldn't have been nearly what it was had he stayed. I have considered leaving the utility to join a consulting firm, but most of the big consulting firms would result in less work-life balance for no increase in pay (although some have interesting retirement or stock options but take a long time to really pay off). Maybe I'm a bad engineer for caring more about work-life balance than pay, but as a father of a young child, being able to ejoy him growing up is very important to me.

Just wondering if any other EE's have found avenues to work for themselves. Considering going back for a civil degree because there seems to be tons of small, non-corporate civil consulting firms compared to EE options, at least in my area.

Thanks

 

[knight1fox3]

Well I'm sure some who may have started their own business/firm can respond accordingly, but in short, it is quite difficult. Why not instead try finding a small (rather than large as you indicated) consulting firm that you could join and see what it's like first hand? That may give you some ideas before taking the proverbial leap on your own. This will also depend on your area and what is available.

Speaking from personal experience, I worked in the automation/controls/manufacturing industry basically since I had gotten my undergrad. in EE (approx. 7-8 years). I discovered an opportunity with a small power engineering consulting firm (around 20 or so employees) that seemed quite intriguing. I interviewed with them and demonstrated what I could bring to the table. And I wasn't necessarily looking for a new job so that gave me some negotiating power. I was able to secure a decent amount of vacation and about a 20% increase in salary with an average benefits package. The hours are primarily 40/wk unless traveling to a customer's location. If you ask me, that sounds much better than worrying about all the various business aspects of going alone and making your own revenue. And the work is very diversified not to mention having the ability to collaborate among other professionals in the firm. Again, I don't know much about starting an engineering firm, but from what I've read, it's quite the endeavor.

Good luck in your decision.

 

[Peele1]

I agree. I haven't started my own PE firm, simply because it seems like a major uphill battle. I don't really do marketing and sales well.

However, it is called a job. It isn't fun. We get paid for a job, and we pay for fun. A lot of work for a job is unfulfilling or seemingly pointless. Sometimes you can see the big picture, sometimes they hide it from you (intentionally or not), and sometimes, there is no big picture.

I work at a university, and that has a fairly good work-life balance for a 40hr job and better than average benefits. The best benefit is the near-lack of a non-complete clause. I have started to do some outside, independent consulting, and have started teaching part-time. My next goal is to get a doctorate degree with my tuition benefits.

Finding a good work-life balance for family can mean lots of things, though the main one is the total amount of time you spend away from family. This can mean travel, commute time, overtime, take-home work, or stress.

The other balancing issue is flexibility in hours/days. Can you begin work earlier or later? Can you work 4/10's rather than 5/8's? Can you telework some? Maybe once per month, or once per week? Is there another work location closer to home that they would let you transfer to?

 

[solomonb]

Kona-- the answer is YES, you can start a company with an Electrical PE. However, that is NOT the question that you are trying to answer. The real question that you are trying to answer is this--"Are you going to be happier working for yourself?" That is the real question. From what you have stated, the answer is NO, absolutely not.

You concede that you don't like sales and marketing. That is crux of working for yourself, having to sell yourself to potential clients. You are out ALL THE TIME trying to get clients. Now, if you have a special skill or special, unique ability, you are golden. However, for 99.4% of the rest of us, that is NOT the case. When you are working, you are ALWAYS worried about the pipeline-- is there something else in the pipeline that will be next up when you are done with the current engagement? Sometimes, YES, most times, NO. Then you are out working your butt off trying to find the next gig-- that pays.

If family life balance is important and raising kids is a priority, then DO NOT go into business for yourself. You will be miserable, frustrated, broke and have no family time--none. When you are in business for yourself, everyone that pays you is your boss-- everyone. You are the man-- the bookkeeper, the IT dude, the marketing/advertising guy, the janitor, the "fix it" guy when anything breaks.

You pay for all of the insurance-- health, liability, business, fire, automobile-- all of it. Your continuing education and any specialized education/training that you may need is out of your pocket. If you want a vacation, you have to be sure that there are no client engagements pending, or you don't go.

I am in the consulting business. I love what I do--- but I work long, hard hours and lots of them. No, we never had children-- could not, so long hours has never been a real problem. I like to work and travel-- but there are sacrifices that I make.

The advice about the smaller consulting firm is good counsel-- think that will be a better fit for what you have described.

 

[kona311]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I appreciate it.

Solomonb, I think you have my post confused with the another one above. I am a pretty good salesman and I am almost complete with my MBA and have a bit of a toolset most engineers don't have in that regard. I have no issue with marketing or sales - actually I would welcome the tasks as opposed to some of the other tasks I am required to do when you are a regulated business. A lot of CYA efforts to prove to our regulators we are doing the right thing, that a private business would never have to waste their time with. It is hard to explain unless you've been in a utility. It is an entity all to itself.

As it sits now, every 5th week I am on call. Which means if anything happens, I am stuck going in. Last night at 10PM after working a full day we had a drunk driver hit a pole. Left home and didn't return until my wife was leaving for work in the morning. I don't begrudge it - its part of the job, but it comes and goes and I know the days or weeks I am on the hook for ahead of time. These larger consulting firms its every week an expectation of at least 5 or 10 hours of OT depending on who you read. I may get 10 hours of OT in one day currently (and then lather rinse and repeat for every day that week if its a tough week) but then there's four to five weeks of stability to enjoy. Six of one, half dozen of the other maybe.

If I could find a small consulting firm of 20 people, that would be an ideal situation. But I want to be clear here - I'm not a slacker who doesn't enjoy work, if I am coming across that way. Since I've left college over 5 years ago, I've completed a Masters in engineering, gotten my PE, and I'm one year away from completing my MBA. All done part time while working. I've had two different jobs within the same company, and have taught an engineering lab for two years at a local college part time at night for extra spending money. I am even being considered for a first-level supervisor position for field workers that had just opened up. My company seems to like me - I'm just very much a Gen-Y person where I value my personal time and dislike the overly-structual organization and management of utilities. No telecommuting to speak of, and its looking like 4-10s is going to be a thing of the past as well. So much bureaucracy.

I guess my question could be expanded a bit: what specific functions could one do with an EE power PE along the lines of picking up clients for oneself? I don't see large scale load flow studies being something done outside of utilities. Power system planning seems to be something so specialized that it'll be done internally or go to some of the big consulting firms. Maybe protection & controls stuff for industrial firms? Renewable energy designs for homeowners? Anything I can think of is something outside of my experience and I feel I would be reaching a bit, as there would be a learning curve with no mentor. I am a cautious person by nature so the thought of doing that is unnerving, especially when you are playing with other peoples' hard earned money in the process.

 

[solomonb]

Kona-=- You are right, I got confused! OK-- the path forward. Here is where your MBA training coupled with your MS comes in. Do some analysis-- who would be your ideal client? What does he/she look like? What do they need to have fixed? Why would they call a consultant? What value can you bring to the table? I would highlight all of this in tabular form. Don't constrain your mind, however, recognize that there may be some factors that you either don't know, have not done or would need to learn.

You may find that, initially, you will be doing some things that you have no knowledge of. Here, you have to read and study, pro bono, before you can charge a client for your work. I think at this point you need to identify whom your ideal client is and what he/she needs.

With the limited fact pattern presented, my first thought is that you may be ideally suited to work for other regulated power companies doing what you are currently doing. Some power companies hire consultants to do work that you currently do to reduce headcount, overhead and liability. That may be how you get started. You may find that you can partner with other PE's on the parts of the task that you don't have experience in. We partner all the time. Can we do the task? Well, YES, at the 30,000 foot level, however, normally the client needs ground level support. OK, we take our 30.000 foot view and couple that with ground level experience and produce a great product.

Is this more helpful?

 

[kona311]

Solomon, I think you are correct in that I may be best suited working with other power companies but as an independent contractor, at least at the get-go. Unfortunately, here's where the large firms have the advantage, as the utilities that are local to me tend to gravitate towards some of the big name greater-NYC consulting firms, and being the small fish in this case, I may be overlooked.