REFLECTOR: sabbatical

[Douglas Holub]

I bought my third-hand, 50% completed Velocity kit 7 years ago. I became self-employed 6 years ago, partly so that I could have more time to work on the airplane. It turns out that I had been getting more done while working an 8 to 5 job than I was getting done while being self-employed. Years went by with nothing getting done. Then we had that Velocity symposium in Sherman last year and that got me motivated again. I've been working at least a half day on the airplane every week since last March.

And now it occurs to me that I am due a sabbatical. I've worked hard as a self-employed electronics engineer for 6 years, and I'm not getting any younger. (I'm 51.) So starting next month, I'm taking a year off from work to try to finish building this airplane. Wish me luck!

You know, you can always make more money, but how much do you really need? It seems like no matter how much money you have, you don't feel very secure unless you're always making more. But I'm not falling into that trap. I want to build this airplane, and I'm going to build it. And if my net worth when I die is $50,000 less because I took a year off to build an airplane, so be it. Who cares? Not me. 

How does my wife feel about this? (We have 3 kids: two in college and one a junior in high school.) She is actually very supportive. She enjoyed traveling around the country when we owned a Tri-Pacer 15 years ago, and is looking forward to being able to do that faster and in more comfort. And I've convinced her that the Velocity will be worth about $50,000 more when it is certified than it is as a collection of parts. So that, even though there is no cash flow benefit, I will still be doing productive, profitable work this year. Plus we have some residual income from the work I've been doing so that we shouldn't need to dip into our savings too much as long as we keep our expenditures down. 

Carpe diem!

Doug Holub
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