I have been running my own company since 1989, but in the past, I've had a lot of different ways of bringing home the bacon, which I don't eat anymore:

 American Petrochemical: Lab assistant in a plastics and paint factory

 Chicken Delight: Cole slaw maker, blow torch operator, delivery boy

 Vincent Van Go-Go: 6 night a week bar gig (all day free at the beach)

 various music gigs in Twin Cities

 USAF: Cryptographer (not fun)

 various music gigs and recordings in California

 John Mayall tours to Europe and Asia

 Various blues and jazz gigs with John Lee Hooker, John Klemmer

 Laser Images: Laserist and Laserist manager in Van Nuys, CA.

 Universal Studios: Radio technician

 KMEX: video technician

 Générale des Eaux: programmer for small systems, then mini-computers

 GTIE: CAD/CAM manager

 Intergraph France: Liaison for software developed in France (We were on the Internet in 1987 using things like rpipe and telnet.)

 Independent, then founded the company

 Of all the stuff on the list, only a few things really stand out, things that when learned early in life can serve you well. For example,

 - after working in fast food, I can tell you: you should never eat things made be teenagers unless they live with you. Even then, you probably wouldn't want to.

 - you should be thankful there is no obligatory military service, although you learn a lot from the experience which basically amounts to incarceration. Fortunately, I did not get sent to 'Nam.

 - I learned a lot about computing by taking advantage of the training a DEC for operating systems like RT-11, RSX-11 both running on the PDP-11. I took home each of the 20 volumes of documentation of each system and read them through.

 - earning your money as a musician is "fantastically awesome" during the time of your life when you can say those words with conviction. After about 35, it's not that great. Good money (when you can sleep in a room), lots of chicks and playing is a great expression of emotion. Seeing what the guys become later in life is another story. Several of my musician friends are dead.

 - one of the most memorable moments I had was working as a laserist at Griffith Park Observatory. On a few rare nights, the entire L.A. basin was covered in clouds and the observatory was above them. I looked out over a white, fluffy sea of clouds, covered in the bright moonlight from a small island that was to top of the hill. Unforgettable! Someone must have photographed this?