I have a good problem. I'm not complaining, just looking for a "What would you do".

A bunch of people are pining me for small, odd jobs, and I am between companies. I am currently interviewing for a few survey manager positions. But I live in an area where the big work prices out the small guys, and one-lot surveys are super expensive because the crew work alone costs a ton. (Unions, you either love them or hate them)

Currently these odd jobs will probably get me like 10K worth of work, maybe 7 to 8k. Haven't really negotiated it yet, but thats what I would charge.

Should I spend 20 to 30K and start up a small shop to cover these costs? Money is tight for me, but not super tight that I couldn’t do this. But this work is not nearly enough to even cover those costs.

When I finally take a "real" job, I am pretty sure it’s all wasted. There is one government job I am interviewing for where I would still do all this on the side. But it’s not like I wouldn’t funnel all this work into a survey manager job once I got one and settled with a company. (and if I am doing it cheap, I don't really know if I want to work overtime once I get one of those jobs to finish them out at lower prices when I have a whole department again) So all the money for insurance, startup expenses, my own equipment (I need a Gun in my area, a cheapo Sparkfun GNSS will not do by itself) will all be wasted the second I went to one of these firms and the interviews go through.

Do I do it? Or ideas?