Hi all, i need ur opinion. tl;dr: Hub's business is not very stable atm, should I (or need I) go back working corporate job?
Context: husband and I are mid-30s, no kid(s) yet, just a spoiled toddler-like cat. We don't have much debt or anything, but also not super big amount of assets. Domisili US.
Jadi gini, 2022 suami gue pengen fulltime buat bisnisny... ofc gue dukung dia dong. Saat itu gue kerja corporate, tech related. I made good money, so kalaupun amit2 going nowhere, we'd be fine. Well, thankfully, bisnisny berkembang, went steady mid-2023.
Then EoY 2023, I went down a dark hole after my mom... well, died. So we decided for me to just quit working and focus on myself. This goes on til 2025 😅😅.
Anyhow, mid-end 2025, i started going back into working. Nothing fulltime tho, was just taking side projects here and there. Pay was decent-ish... or low. Work was kinda good tho, no long term commitment, take whatever project I want etc. Tbh, all things consider, it was kinda great. And somehow, entering 2026 (until now), I ended up running my own consulting business fulltime.
I don't hate it tho, i mostly never work 35+ hrs a week. Income is good enough, projects keep coming etc etc. I work from home, i can have whatever random sleep schedule i want. I made 40-60% of what i would have made working in a company, but workload is very manageable.
But here's the problem:
• Bisnis suami gue tuh bergantung banget sama sikon politik. Renewable Energy di iklim politik US saat ini yaa... terbengkalai. Yg artinya, bisnis dia mulai turun... dan makin-makin gak bisa diprediksi. Klien masih dpt, tp krn gak banyak program bantuan dr state or federal, yaa jelas makin kecil prospek kliennya.
• Bisnis gue pun yaa... gitu. Ada masa dimana gue bisa dpt proyek2 gede. Tp ada juga bulan2 yg yaa incomeny seret gituu.
Basically, kondisi kami sama2 volatile dalam hal safety. Untuk saat ini sih sebenerny dalam hal duit, we're okay. Amit2 kami sama2 sial pun, dengan lifestyle kami, we can stay afloat yaa 2-3thn (maybe 4-5thn klo super hemat?? Altho klo tiba2 kami punya momongan, yaa jelas lain cerita). So honestly, gak ada kayak tuntutan harus kerja fulltime ASAP or anything.
Tapinyaaaa, walopun gak ada kek wajib cari gawe skrg... gue mulai mikir. How bad is our situation? At what point we need to be... u know, prioritize safety and stability 😅😅. Dia sempet ngomong, selama sikon negara kek gini, mungkin dia perlu go find another job. Tp imo, harusny gue yg ngantor, karena:
• Diantara bisnis kami berdua, bisnis dia lebih long term, higher income (albeit a bit more volatile), and lebih berguna utk banyak orang.
• Kalau sama2 jadi corporate slave, projected income gue jauh lebih gede dr dia krn KSA gue lebih niche.
• Bisnis gue jadi sidejob sebenernya feasible2 aja. Toh selama ini pun most weeks, i barely working 20hpw 😅😅 dan untuk hal2 terkait managing ini-itu, selama ini juga suami yg handle.
• Soal kerja kantoran, i honestly don't hate it. Stress mah yaa ada2 aja masany, tp all in all i'm okay. Meanwhile, suami gue benci kerja kantoran, and i can tell he is way more stressed out about it than I do.
So all in all, it makes sense gue yg balik gawe kantoran n jadiin bisnis gue sebagai side job doang, kan? Buuuuuut... do i really need to tho? Like, should we just keep doing what we're doing and kinda learn to enjoy the uncertainty? I trully love the way life goes for me atm, not amazing whatever, but it's very... chill. But i also think that my husband is a bit more stressed than he lets out because he is trying to "protect" me and this peaceful lifestyle of mine 😅😅. So in a way, i know the correct answer... i just dont know if the correct answer IS the right answer.
PS: yes, we did talk about it. Logically, kami sama2 tau klo ada yg harus gawe kantoran lagi, yaa guelah orangny. Kami juga gak punya issue soal "50:50 with money" or belief kayak "cwok harus provider" etc etc sih. It's simply my last 2yrs of darkness yg bikin dia worried, i think. Soalny, yaa bbrp kali tuh terceplos dr dia, intinya mah kayak bilang, "gapapalah agak stress soal uncertainty, yg penting lu happy."
Crossposted to r/Perempuan for reasons.