What everyone is really talking about is being entrepreneurially minded. If you don't want to sell your time to other people, they're calling that unemployable. Which I can kinda see. Not only do some people hate working for others, they're really bad at pretending to not mind.
For an example, there's this post and discussion at Escaping the 9 to 5, or the whole of the Genetically Unemployable blog/ site. And I'm pretty sure it's a common topic over at Ridiculously Extraordinary.
See, I'm not without skills. I've been called "terrifyingly competent" by a friend/ coworker. And for the most part, I have no problem working what, in the art community, is known as the "day job." But I don't like it. I hate knowing that I'm spending my time making gobs of money for some (usually) invisible higher-up. I'd rather make money for *me*. It doesn't help that I can't cover up my disinterest in working for someone else.
So I guess I'm unemployable. Or entrepreneurial. Same diff.
I seem to be lacking some of the most important bits for that to work, though. Disdaining traditional employment is all well and good, after all, but a girl still needs to pay the bills. That's where I seem to fall down. I don't have the follow-through or stick-to-it-iveness that you need to make money for yourself- either through a business or some other way.
But I'm working on it, and it's getting better. I'm still a scared little girl, but I'm forcing myself to jump off higher and higher cliffs with my work. It's getting less scary, but not by much. Actually, the thought of living in a box is getting scarier, so I'm throwing myself off those cliffs to try and pay the bills. Eventually I'll get everything pulled together, hit the right spot and soar instead of falling.
For now, I need to decide if I'm going to really make a go of this whole working for myself thing, or if I'd rather give up and try to re-train myself into a perfect little wage slave. My money's on self-employed success. I don't think anything less than a full lobotomy would make me happy to follow directions. Drat my stubborn hide.
I feel very similarly. Because I am an adjunct faculty (at a small technical school), the role I play there is very hands off... and gawd it is good. Not to mention it plays right into my sweet spot, which is teaching. When I was working "for the man"... I thought everyday about creating my own business - so after I became unemployed - I felt free to try a lot of things (and try I did). However, there was pressure to pay bills to - so the adjunct is a nice happy medium. I still pursue "stuff" on the side, but having the bill pressure gone is nice. I feel super lucky to have a part-time gig, and in the fall I will have full-time, which is nice for many reasons... but I have to admit I am a bit fearful of how it will affect my psyche.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's just my piece, I hope you can find ways to pursue your dreams and pay your bills.
See, that's a kick butt day-job. Even full time faculty at Universities seem to have a lot of unscheduled time (subject dependent, of course). I'm terrible at working part time, though. I get into this mindset, once I have a job, that I've got to keep it, even if I hate it-which leads to crazy things like working full time or more. Plus, even the physically easiest are mentally draining.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I still want to live inside, and I need to eat, so...