Apologies for the lengthy-ness of this post, but appreciative to those that read and advise.
I am about to turn 32. I currently work for a small commercial general contractor as a project manager/estimator. I am probably more what would be considered the general manager though as I actually run all of the day-to-day operations, manage our crew, do all the estimating/bids, meetings, project management, etc. as well as have my hand in portions of AR, AP, sales, and so on. The owners are husband and wife and I generally have 5 employees working under me depending on how busy we are. I have worked here for about 8 years now and started out working part time in the field as a laborer and part time in the office as a "project manager's assistant". Over the years I have worked my way up to my current position. The owners are not easy to deal with to put it nicely and there have been many times I thought about leaving over the years. However, they know they have to do very little by having me run things so they do pay me well as I now make a base salary of $78,000 (up from $62k in '13 and '14) with profit sharing bonuses, 3 weeks paid vacation, SIMPLE IRA, etc. My profit sharing has been as low as $10,000 and as high as $30,000 over the past 5 years. For 2015 I made about $93,500.
I have a few concerns with my future whether at this company or moving on in the same career field. First, I only obtained an Associate's Degree in Construction Management back in 2009. I did not pursue the Bachelor's Degree at the time because I already had a job in the industry and getting the Associate's Degree awarded me a salary increase and I thought that was great at the time.
Second, this company I work for does not do ground up construction. We specialize in remodel, tenant finish, industrial warehouse work, etc. This was my first job outside of some misc odd jobs and working for my dad's company framing houses for several years while taking college classes in various degree fields, before landing the entry level position here at age 24. So with this in mind, I feel that I have cornered myself into a specific market and don't have the degree nor experience to apply for the jobs at larger construction firms that require experience in large ground up jobs plus a Bachelor's Degree.
Lastly, my boss, the owner of the company, is very unmotivated. His main purpose in coming in to work every day is supposed to be chasing work, finding new clients, and marketing. He does basically none of this. Occasionally he micromanages me and causes jobs to go sideways because he is completely aloof and clueless. He also regularly manages to piss off our current client portfolio that I maintain because of his arrogant "little man syndrome". Our total revenue has gone down each year over the past 4 years or so and while it's still been good enough previously to maintain a healthy profit margin, it concerns me that I'm on a sinking ship. He just waits for me to bring in work from the clients I've maintained for years instead of going out looking for more work and these clients only have so many properties and work to be done each year...I've brought this up to him a few times and it's always been met with him telling me that they're looking at some things and he's going to really get serious about finding new clients, we're going to sell more work, blah blah blah and never does a bit of it.
So now to where I'm at...he sat me down at the end of last month and told me that I need to be prepared to not get any profit sharing bonuses this year and just be able to get by on my base salary. My profit sharing bonuses generally make up about 20% of my income so this is a big hit! This is also after he just purchased a $70k SUV at the last week of 2015 and follows that conversation up with telling me he's going to be gone the next couple days as he and the wife are going down to their lake house for a few days. I'm also particularly frustrated with this because we did just slightly less in revenue for 2015 as we did for 2014. My overall income was about the same both years (although in '14 my salary was $62k + $30k profit sharing vs this year I was supposed to get a big raise to $78k salary yet only got about $15k profit sharing, so essentially same money even w/ the big raise??)...I know we made money in 2015 because I keep track of the bids, AP, AR, and profit on each job.
In looking at entry level type positions I could apply for at other companies, where I don't have the experience to apply for a similar job title, I would have to take a MAJOR pay cut. I would probably drop down to about $45k-$50k. While we don't live way beyond our means, we do not live quite as mustachian as many of you, so that would hurt us significantly. I've also considered starting my own company as I do feel confident I have the basic knowledge, contacts, and motivation to do so, but I do not have the lump sum of cash sitting around to take on starting a company as a commercial general contractor doing similar work to my current employer.
So what would be your advice? Should I ride it out on this ship while I have a decent paycheck as long as possible and maybe try to work towards a Bachelor's Degree in this field? Should I try to figure out how to take the drastic pay cut and jump ship now? Should I look at an entirely different career path at this point (thought about accounting as I do enjoy numbers and the estimating side of my job)...Or should I look into investors and/or options to try to start my own company? I've always wanted to start my own company, but I can't help but feel like the construction industry is a little questionable here in Oklahoma due to the oil and gas issues and overall market so I'm not sure if it's the greatest time or not.
Ugh...sorry again for the book, but I'm just feeling a little nervous as my wife and I also found out we were FINALLY chosen by a birth mother so our adoption plans are finally moving forward after over 2 years of waiting...and I have such insecurities about my job/career and want to feel confident about a path with this little guy coming very soon!