Which is why Apple should've withheld dividends for another year and stock piled enough cash for a hostile takeover of Amazon and taken over the world!
> What farmer is concerned about an individual cabbage?
What a great analogy! We don't think twice about the farmer leaving a few cabbages out in the field, but we get all up in arms when we realize that we are that cabbage.
It all depends on the employee contract you signed. At the company I work for the contract states that everything we make and do not disclose is company owned. This is because our work hours are so flexible that it can be hard to say what is "outside office hours".
But as long as I disclose my side projects they are mine and the company fully supports us in our side projects.
My advice: Read your employee contract and then talk to HR - make sure everything is legit before you make your move. That way there will be no surprises.
A great tool that I've come across for helping out with setting your rate is at http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/. It got me thinking of many areas of expenses that I hadn't considered.
It is geared more to those of us doing it full-time.