Sunday, June 17, 2007

Those pesky day jobs and how they can wreck your dreams.

Funny enough, I found myself beseiged in my own castle by this day job I keep. Reason I do a day job is to keep bills paid and finance my other business work. Now, originally I thought I'd be able to either quit for the summer or take an LOA. However, I can only quit twice with this company (rules changed when they were bought out) and minimum term for an LOA is 6 months.

While I can take some excused "emergency" days off (without pay), this is tricky. Best is to just toe the road painted for me. This means my higher-paying (but infrequent) summer caricature jobs get put off for one reason or another. Basic is because I can have a steady paycheck to pay down my bills (last season of caricatures was overall a wash and left me with $18 in the bank).

But at least I found what was behind my malaise on this subject I loved so much last year.

Behind this day job trap is all these accumulated agreements of spending your time for money. Security is always better than risk. (Ri-i-i-i-ight.)

Tracing this back: credit card debt (from earlier business adventures). Lesson: make the business pay for itself quickly - or have the cash to cover everything as you go (another reason for the day job).

Solution is to drop all hot expenses and work within a specific budget - part of which includes paying down debt. Everything left over goes to business investments (after 10% goes to savings - another investment).

That really then keeps me thinking within real, tight limits - and forces some rather interesting inspirations.

But those limits keep me at that day job - the necessary evil.

Sure, if I went full time at such a job for six months, I could pay off all my debts (and drive myself crazy through inability to create along my purpose line. And then he minor money I make with caricatures would pay for everything I need.

My idea instead is to continue with the work I'm doing (shoe-horned into the life-schedule I have) and make my business adventures making money. Light at the end of the tunnel is that my Lulu published books are making enough to pay for turning them into Amazon features and some web work. Idea is to ramp this up. Just have to stay disciplined on my schedule.

So there is hope after day jobs.

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