I haven’t written much about what led me to quit working for others. The most obvious reason was that I had no business having a job. Not only would I have been cheating myself if I continued to be employed, I’d be cheating my employer since I couldn’t ever bring all of myself to the job.
Although my bosses were all happy with my work, they were also clueless about how much more I could have contributed. At some point, I realized I could continue unhappily working at jobs that bored me or I could turn what might appear to be shortcomings into advantages.
Here are a few of the reasons I’m totally, completely, permanently unemployable:
- There are many things I love to do.
…But almost nothing I want to do day in and day out. This was most apparent with teaching, a top love of my life. When I was expected to teach for seven hours a day, five days a week, nine months of the year, what I loved suddenly wasn’t so lovable anymore.As a teenager, I’d changed my mind weekly about what I wanted my career to be. Of course, this drove my guidance counselors crazy. “Pick one and stick with it!” was the message. That struck me as impossible, but I relented and gave it a try. It wasn’t until I began to think about self-employment that I realized I could create a business that incorporated multiple passions.
- Commuting makes me crazy.
Every job I had involved at least one hour a day of driving. I’ve never calculated how many hours of my life would have been spent that way had I held a job for forty years, but it never seemed a wise use of time to me.Today, my idea of commuting involves airplanes, preferably with my passport tucked in my purse, headed to a new place I want to explore.
- Financial goals mean nothing when someone else determines my income.
As I began learning about goal-setting, financial goals were always discussed, but almost meaningless if I was trying to fit my goal into a salary slot.As I became more entrepreneurial, my ideas about goal-setting changed also. Instead of trying to squeeze my goals into my budget, I discovered it was far more effective to set honest goals first and figure out ways to finance them second–not the other way around.
- Crowds make me crazy.
I don’t like shopping on Saturday, standing in long lines at the bank or movies. I do like traveling off-season and look for all the ways to avoid busy times when running errands. It’s far less stressful and, I assume, that adds to my productivity. - Curiosity demands a change of scenery.
In Making a Living Without a Job, I say, “I became an entrepreneur because I was curious about what I could become. It was a curiosity not shared by any employer I had.” But my curiosity goes much farther than uncovering my own potential. I’m curious about the lives of other people, fascinated by the joyfully jobless, want to see places different from the one I call home. Mobility matters to the gypsy in me.At the beginning of my entrepreneurial life, I had no idea that I had embarked on the best personal growth program ever invented. The discoveries never end, however, if you’re doing it right.
While all these things guarantee I’m never going to be named anyone’s Employee of the Month, they’re not the best reasons for remaining unemployable. My number one reason is a bit grander and voiced by writer Stephen M. Pollan:
“Create your own work path. Those with conventional career patterns age ten spiritual years for every five physical years they spend in the rat race. Those with a unique work path are constantly being reborn.”
Reading your post was like reading my own biography. No one should have to wake up in the morning and get a knot in their stomach when they realize it’s a work day and they have to go out there again. Alas, I am still in that group but pushing nearer and nearer to retirement. It could be alot sooner if I can figure out how to augment my SS (lost my pension when the company I worked for closed and laid us all off). I’ve read other books on this subject (not yours, sorry, at least not yet), but just couldn’t find something that worked for me. Perhaps the time wasn’t right, or else I wasn’t ready. Now I think I would be a greeter at Walmart part-time if it meant I could quit my job and take back control of my life!
Actuall, I think I’ll have to read your book now … as my name is also really Barbara I’m seeing it as a message from the Universe!
Reading my book would be a great start. I also include lots of resources and other books on specific things. Once you grasp the concept of multiple profit centers, you can begin to think of SS as your first profit center. Then you create another one, and another. It’s all about finding things you love and incorporating them into your life. You could end up with three profit centers–or three dozen. And if that sounds as if I’m advocating becoming a workaholic, I promise that’s not the case.
That’s good because my days as a workaholic are long gone … I’d prefer to be a retirement-aholic. Perhaps I could invent a whole new lifestyle? Thanks for your response. I’m feeling a little more hopeful.
Barbara, I located your book in the library but it is an older edition, not the updated one currently offered on Amazon. Is there is a significant difference in the editions? I imagine the rapid changes in technology and the rise of social networking must be having a significant effect on the subject.
Yes, the Internet does not appear at all in the earlier addition. And the new resource section is loaded with things that also are recent. The basic philosophy hasn’t changed, but if you can track down the newer one, it’s worth it.
Hello Again,
I spent the last few days re-reading your book – the original edition. Then, as I was between paydays (getting paid every other week stinks) I decided to take your advice about being creative and went to Barnes & Nobel, found the new edition and, with pen in hand, read the updates and made notes. I’m sorry, I know that just cost you a book sale, but you did say to be creative. I also signed up for your newsletter and have already read it through twice.
I can’t explain why the first time I read you book several years ago, nothing clicked. Now, for some reason, everything clicked. I saw possibility,I saw hope, I saw freedom. Maybe it’s because I’m that much closer to retirement age, or that I wake up in the morning praying it’s a weekend or a holiday so I don’t have to go there again. Whatever caused the shift, it’s there. Now I have a plan to work from, 4 possible profit centers, and a list of the things I will have to learn/acquire to get started. As I am what you might called technically challenged when it comes to computers and running programs,I have enlisted the aid of my 17 year old granddaughter to tutor Grammy on working programs, learning the language and finding out what upgrades I may need (no really big expenditures as I probably already have what I need and don’t know it). I have a list of resources and references to check out and I truly believe I can get at least one, if not two, profit centers up by Fall.
Thank you, thank you for all of your wisdom. I will stay in touch via your website and keep you posted on my progress.
I want to respond to your sentence, “I can’t explain why the first time I read your book several years ago, nothing clicked.”
I recognized long ago that readiness is everything. We evolve to the place where we can begin to contemplate new ideas and alternatives. Almost from the beginning of my Making a Living Without a Job seminars, I knew there would always be a new audience for whom the time was right to hear the message.
And I’ll be just fine without the royalty for the copy you didn’t buy! But maybe when your profit centers are booming you can pay it forward and gift a copy to someone who has arrived at the threshold of the joyfully jobless life.
You are the best! In fact, I was just thinking that I might recommend it to my oldest daughter. She was laid off in June as a teacher’s aide and the prospects of being re-hired in September are slim. She has the temperment and work ethic that would be well-suited to home-based work. She also is very creative as she suggested, without knowing it, a possible profit center for me. Thank you so, so much for your guidance.
Great minds think alike and I can’t wait till I can enjoy the FREEDOM to “do my own thing”. People often say oh you’re so good at this or so good at that why don’t you do it for a living. NO. Then I wouldn’t enjoy it anymore. Just let me work since I have to right now & be able to make the most I possibly can to get where I want to be – My own boss. Period.
abbycocolacey I’m sure you hear this from a lot of women, but your article sounds like me. In school I could never decide on what to do as a career so I went to work until I decided on nursing. I have worked as an LPN for 29 years. I am currently unemployed, and while I need to start working soon, I don’t really want to go back to nursing. My husband and I are thinking of starting our own internet business but we don’t know the first thing about getting a website/webpage started. Do you have any suggestions on where to go or who to contact. After reading your article I know that I will be making a trip to the bookstore.
RuthAnn, There are so many possibilities…and so much information to help you get started. You could, for instance, start by selling on eBay, which could get you going more quickly without the start-up time. Since so many people have successfully done this, there’s a ton of information on how to get involved included eBay for Dummies books.
Or you could have an internet business as one of your profit centers and perhaps have a service business alongside if you wanted more direct people contact. And, of course, there are many online resources–both good and bad. I suggest you read my book, Making a Living Without a Job, just to get into a more entrepreneurial mindset. Another good new book is Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. Then scout how some of the how-to books and online resources.
All best on your new adventure.
I think I’m going to have to buy your book. After very short notice (6 days! ! ! ) my last day at my current job is tomorrow! ! ! I am being ‘downsized’ – no regrets, none at all. But, with being out of the workforce for the moment, this is the ideal time to sit back and take stock, to figure out what I really want to do with the rest of my life, I’m 56 in a week or so, don’t want to waste the last decades of my life doing something that doesn’t inspire me. Thanks for this post, it is just what I need.
I needed to read this today! Your restlessness must equal, or even surpass, my own! The ONLY time I thrived in the work place was when I was given lots of space to create & move about. I am part counselor, part educator, part science geek, part project coordinator, part program manager. I need my surroundings to be asthetic & energizing. Too often I compromise who I am to sit in a cube, spending 8 hours a day doing specific tasks for an employer. Yes, I know that is what I get paid to do. My evaluations have always been good. But, if I were given the space to create & the room to move about, I could do so much more!
Currently I have four part time jobs as a way to be my own boss. It helps, but I am fearful of losing out on retirement benefits, paid time off, etc. Plus, my wage is fixed for each job. I will read your book for sure!!
Sounds as if you’re already making the transition from employee to entrepreneur. instead of giving in to your fearful thoughts, I’d like to suggest you shift your focus, decide what genuine benefits mean to you, and move in the direction of creating those things for yourself.