I need support

I'll try to make this brief. I'm a marketing consultant and the last year has been quite rocky.  Clientele can be volatile and situations don't always last.  I was a "bad fit" with tempermental biatch and a project ended in April.  Took me until June to land two job offers, had no freelance work in between as the market was dry.  That job started in July and ended 6 weeks later when the company lost a major client and could no longer afford me. I've been unemployed now for two months. I had two great interviews the last 3 weeks.  One is making an offer tonight.  Problem is, it's 60 miles away and in traffic could take 1.5-2 hours to commute each way. But I don't have anything else on tap.  The offer will be decent, the company global powerhouse.  The work--not anything that interests me.  The commuting costs will average $100/week on gas and $300/mo on parking, not to mention wear and tear on my car. I'll commute and consider moving, but this housing market sucks, so a sale can take a year.  But with no other offers, I'm S.O.L. The stress over this is killing me and knowing that I'll have to give up my trainer (who already is a commute as he's by my last job--yeah, I thought what better than to go to the gym next door and going to work would ensure I went to the gym.  And then I found my angel trainer and these other angels.  It's an amazing place. I don't want to lose my trainer or all the work I've put in, but I'll be back to the grind of a work life that makes finding workout time tremendously difficult. HELP.... What I really want is to start a business (designed my logo, stationery, business plan, and website, plu ordered my business cards this week), but with that there's no guarantee of an income and unemployment and savings will run out soon.... THIS SUCKS.

You're in a helluva pinch... This all boils down to what you can afford.  If you can afford to stay unemployed for longer, then pass up the job offer tonight and wait for something closer that will allow you to continue with your trainer and all the other "angels" you've found.   If you can't afford it anymore (which is totally understandable in this day and age), take the job but don't stop looking for better jobs, closer to home.  You'll have to suffer for a short while with no trainer while your lugging your ass back and forth on this hellish commute, but fear not, because something better will be on it's way. You'll be okay.  I have faith in you.

I spoke too soon.  Really thought it was going to be a firm offer.  Surprise twist.  Tomorrow the company is announcing major layoffs for a restructuring so they cannot officially hire me. They've offered consulting 6 hours a day.  Enough to pay my bills, but not commit me to something I'm not sure of! YEAH! Think I'll take the consulting.  Still an awful drive and I'll be putting a ton of miles on my car, but maybe this will work out somehow?

Well, that sounds like a great temporary fix. You may even be able to get your business plan going while things take shape.  i would ask them can this be a 4-day work week?  Ya know...more hours for four days to save on car wear and tear? Have you any commuting clubs or how does that work in your area?  In Cali urban areas, people meet at a predetermined place and carpool. Once you are in the city, you may be better off to use public transportation and even cabs!  Hmmm, I wondered how you had so much time to work out! LOL. I hope your ship comes in soon.

No, no commuter clubs ; /.  I don't live in a suburb of that city, so it makes it difficult. As for time to workout, I was doing an hour regularly before work, and then just upped it to 1-1/2 to 2 when the job stopped. But I hate the perception that this means I had a ton of free time!  I get up at 4am, work on my business until 6am, shower, dress, walk the dog, drive to the gym, workout for 2 hours, then go back to working on the business for another 2-4 hours and then job hunt the rest of the time. Just because you have no official employment, doesn't mean looking/creating work isn't a job in itself....

Hey, trust me , I know about free time on days off even.  While it's been awhile since I have had to job hunt (and my industry would not require too much looking, i have never ever been out of a job for more than like two weeks) - I know that work really gets in the way of my health plans. On my Sundays, i try to get my 2+ hour bike in, not a thing to do but that, yet it's hard to designate that kind of time! My house is a wreck...not like i should not spend a lil more time there or anything! I didn't mean to come off like a pot shot! I am not jealous of your kind of time off.  It must be a dreadful stress, actually, and getting worse as time rolls on. I hope that your business idea can really take off...that seems to be the answer!

I know of alot of commuters in the area that I live in.  My dh drives approx 55 miles one trip every day which takes him about a little over an hour where we live.  But wow, your parking..$300 bucks a month!  That is just unreal!  Can you find cheaper if you end up taking this position?   You mention it is a good company to work for.  Do you think the extra income (if any) will make up for any of this commute?  Or do you think you have the advantage to swing it in your ball park and say you need a little more to cover this expense?  Is the insurance worth the extra baggage of driving every day?  Figure out how much you would make at another job close to you vs there.  Would you still make close to the same amount of money?  These are the things my dh and I thought about when we had to make the decision of him driving out of town every day.  For him, the extra money he is making at this job, and the extra good insurance he has (expect for my surgery..grrrr) is worth the drive and gas cost.  Also do you like to drive?  Are you scared of driving in bad weather if it gets like that in your area?  We live in Alaska so that also came to mind.  I know someone that panics so bad in snowy days she had to quit.  You got a lot of thinking to do.  Make sure you don't pass on the job offer until you thoroughly think it through.  That would suck if you did and then decide it was best for you. Good luck!

Thought about all those things--City driving scares me, that city and my town can have two different pools of weather, I live in an area (mountain) that gets ice and snowy first, etc. THING IS--there don't seem to be any jobs closer.  They would be for the same income if they existed.  Though it's been sporadic searches (last spring, late summer, now), one thing is consistent--the lack of opportunities.  The staffing agencies (temporary and permanent) don't have much coming in.  It's almost the bird in the hand thing.

I was wondering about you since I haven't seen you post in a while.  Is there any way you could telecommute with the company for at least half of the time?    The other thing is would you be able to find clients through the internet?  I've got a similar problem.  My husband and I got married and things went down the toilet about 5 weeks later and it's been that way for the last (almost) 2 years.  I had plans to start a business and just started working on a business plan right before I got laid off but when my husband lost his job a few weeks later we ended up having to sell our home and move in with my parents.  It sounds like you've got a lot of what you need done already to do it on your own so now you just need to market yourself.  I would really try to sell yourself to this company who wants you "part time" but sell them on what you need.  If you can make it worth their while it could be a great start to your portfolio of work. On the trainer front, could you take it down to one day a wee****il you can get to a point where your funds are back up?  I don't know how often you go but there must be some way to keep that in some abbreviated for to extend it. I definitely feel for you.  I know how frustrating it is.  Let me know how it goes.

The good news with this consulting offer is that I'm in the driver's seat--they want me bad.  I knew it--I knew I'd won them over during the interview.  So if I say 4 days a week, they'd go for it.  I might stick with the five to keep up the training. Thing is, it's a field I really don't want to be in, but they will be training me, so I will benefit from that and if need be can immediately sell those same services to other similar companies and see if that gets me in that door. And I can use the time to continue building the business.  My website is halfway done, my direct mail piece is being developed, I will be buying my marketing lists soon--so I think I'll be okay for now.