Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'contracts'.
-
Here's the story I've been a FDR watcher/listener/reader for a long time now although I don't post here much. This doesn't really pertain to typical FDR content, but this is the only place I feel comfortable airing this out because I feel like I have, at least, something in common with you all and I value your feedback. At this point I just need some fresh perspective besides mine because this problem just makes my head spin and spin and I never seem to get anywhere. After I finished professional school 4 years ago I moved myself and my family overseas (from the US to Australia). We took our 2 kids away from their grandparents for the sake of an opportunity that was, at first, very good for us. The first two years the company I work for had to sponsor me for my immigration work visa (as an employee). All was well. I was learning business from the best, making decent money, starting to pay down my monster student loan in the states....things were good. This is where the good stops. I had a very specific plan of progress when I came here, and that plan has been absolutely trounced. The general summary of what happened is that, after my first two years, my company sponsored me on a new type of VISA which gave me permanent residency. In the past, permanent residency meant that you could become an independent contractor for the company and thus get a sizeable increase in pay and the ability to write off far more than you could as an employee as well as freely direct your own retirement account. However, my company had a meeting with a lawyer and found out that being a contractor wasn't as easy as they thought it was as a permanent resident, but assured me with certainty that I could still be classified as a contractor IF I applied for a specific type of VISA. The thing is that once I applied for this VISA my company forgot that this conversation ever happened. I am now stuck as an employee because my company misled me (either maliciously or ignorantly) and they refuse to take any responsibility or compensate me in any way. The reason it's such a big deal is because one of the conditions on the VISA I am on is that I am REQUIRED to stay with the company for two years as an employee before I can become a contractor or leave the company and start my own. So, because of this mistake, I'm basically a slave to this company. If I quit or get fired for any reason during this two year period, I stand to lose my permanent residency visa and thus my ability to work in the country. This would essentially bankrupt my family and destroy my career. Since I got this visa the company has changed a great deal (new owners) and the company is just shit to work for. I don't know what to do any more. The real problem here is my head space. I'm paid on performance (I get a percentage of office collections) and my head space is, for lack of a better word, fucked. My family is so beautiful and understanding, but inside I'm consistently teetering on the threshold of depression. I have no joy at work, and my clients can sense it. I've got no enthusiasm or optimism about anything any more. The whole experience has just drained me of positivity. I feel like 60% of every dollar I collect goes to the people who manipulated me, so I just don't try. It's not good for my finances or my head, but I can't seem to get out of this rut. I've gotten to the point where I actually feel bad for people I work with who didn't know me before all of this went down. All they know is this gruff guy who doesn't want to be there. I used to be a different person and I'm afraid he's just not there. Guys, I just don't know how to recover. I've got just over a year left of this indentured servitude, my performance is dropping rapidly, and I'm really scared I won't be able to support my family soon...yet there doesn't seem to be anything I can do or think that brings me out of this mess emotionally. I need something to focus on or some perspective to get me thinking differently and I was hoping you guys could help.