What to do?

I have never written about this before, but I really like my job. So here’s the story. I run a repair facility, a garage. I am an employee of one of the largest corporations in the world and I am in charge of one small shop. We do maintenance on cars and repair them and sell tires. I enjoy it. I like technicians (a rare sentiment in an industry where they are mostly seen as a necessary evil, the untouchables ... you need them but would never associate with them) I respect what they do, how hard they work, their creativity and their passion for what they are doing. I like the customers (who are routinely thought of just like the techs, as something you need but do not want) I find the personalities and quirks and hangups fascinating and challenging. When I get that phone call, “Ever since you changed my tires my check engine light is on.” I smile to myself ... it’s fun and funny and the different customers and their different expectation of us is what keeps everyday fresh and interesting. I love playing a part in fixing cars, wether I do it my self or come up with an idea or just order the parts...there is nothing in my day that makes my feel more proud of my guys and what were doing that seeing a car come in broken and watching a happy customer drive off in it. Is that corney? It sounds corney when I read it, but it’s true.
So that’s what I like .... and then there’s working for a massive corporation. Most of you can probably relate to this part, the long hours, the insane contradictory messages from the top, the “tps reports” ... most days it feels like there are hundreds of bosses each with their own agenda and everyone the “most important”. Our jobs are to grow the company by taking care of our customers better than the competition, create profit by managing expenses and having sales growth and then they set out to do everything in their power to get in the way and make it impossible. Insert them selves in every decision, slowing down things that need to happen in an instant, centralizing decisions that can only be made locally ... typical corporate nonsense. I’m not perfect, but I’m good at my job and I honestly enjoy it, even on a bad day ... right up until I read my e-mail and find out that having a display is not enough unless photos are taken of it and sent up the ladder, monitoring expenses is not enough and counts for nothing unless the proper form is filled out and faxed off on the right day, creating a schedule for employees and demanding that they work by it is meaningless unless it is on file in an office where it is left in a pile unreviewed except for marking off that it was sent in. Phone calls are monitored, failure to use the right words is punished, regardless of actual results. People are treated with disregard, minor requests are denied because we stand on the marble pillar of “policy”, rules are made and must be obeyed, every new policy needs a signature of agreement and understanding so that every policy violation can result in termination ... only I can’t keep track anymore, there are hundreds of them. Check this box, initial here, sell this thing (but not on these three cars), sign here, this paper goes in this file, and then in this box (but only after you sign off on it), don’t sign in the wrong place, don’t spend money, replace all worn out equipment, satisfy every customer, never give a discount, don’t let the techs take breaks, even when it’s hot out, don’t let them get dehydrated, never let them get hurt, but they need to work faster ... faster ... faster.
What happened to our country, to our companies? What happened to hiring good people and letting them work, it’s still the best way.
So where’s the story? You ask. The story is in the offer I got today to take the good and leave the bad, to keep running a business, to keep fixing cars, to leave all the nonsense behind, to be my own boss. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted and a few dollars stand between me and owning my own business, being independent. So the question is ... why am I thinking about it? Why don’t I jump in with both feet?