750 Words - Day 13

Saturday!  Trying to stick to the schedule even though it's Saturday.  I woke up and took my hemp protein shake, and now i'm sitting down to write.  Last Saturday i didn't do this upon waking but later in the day.  I'm usually pretty good at staying on task when i go through the rigidity of the Monday - Friday workweek, but on the weekends all hell breaks loose when there isn't any structure.

The weekend isn't based on having to be a certain place between certain hours so that you can bring home a paycheck.  It's when i have the most time to do me and also a great opportunity to try and figure out how to make some money on the side.

I don't want my life to be the pursuit of money, but money sure as makes things easier.  More money, more problems?  Shit!  I'd rather have the problem of having too much money than the problem of not having enough.  If whoever said that money can't buy happiness could kindly send me a hundred million dollars, i would love to try and prove them wrong.

I'll speak from personal experience, but i'm sure there are plenty of other people going through the same thing.  How many people would be working in their current position for free?  Because it's something that they really love to do?  I'd argue that less than half the population (probably closer to 90%) would not.  They do it for the money.  

But why?  Is it worth it?  Maybe right now it feels like it is.  The thing is though, we only get one shot at this thing we call life.  This is not a video game with a reset button.  We might as well try to achieve personal greatness.  

Easier said than done.  An office job is "secure" and setting out on your own is scary.  I rely on that measly paycheck.  I'm so obsessed that I actually have the entire first quarter and part of Q2 2013 mapped out and ready to spend.  I'm relying on the same amount of money coming in twice a month.  If, for some reason, that money is no longer coming in, I'm completely fucked.  I don't have any fall-back savings and the bill collectors aren't going to be sympathetic.

So it is really that secure?  Is relying on somebody else to hand you a paycheck the secure way?  When he/she decides your services are no longer needed, there goes your only source of income.  Then you tuck your tail between your legs and start emailing out .pdfs of "why you should hire me" all over again.  

It's a system i'd love to break out of.  I want to own my own business one day.  I want to be in control of earning my own money.  I not only want to feel good about how i am spending my cash, but how i am earning it.  Right now, i don't have much (any) say in where my company spends their money.  If they want to buy work uniforms from sweat shops in Cambodia, they can. 

Would i put my money toward something that was made in a sweat shop in Cambodia?  Probably not.  But i'm in control of that.

Also, the money we get from our employer is nothing compared to the money we make for them.  I made around 35k (pretax) last year.  I must be making my company more than that or else why would i be on the payroll?  That wouldn't be a very good business decision.  I'm not sure on exact figures but let's say it's 2:1.  I make them 70k in profits and they pay me 35k.  As much as i am careful about spending that 35k, i have no say in what is happening with that 70k.  That 70k could be directly funding slicing the throats of baby whales and i can't do anything to stop it.

What i can do, as i said before, is earn money consciously as well.  To do this requires seeing the bigger picture.  It might make me uncomfortable, and i might try to make excuses as to why it isn't true.  In the end, whether i can justify it or not, it's an important thing to be aware of.

It's like advocating for kids' health and working in the McDonalds marketing department.  It's like being for gun control and working for Sturm Ruger.  

If conscious spending is something you care about, conscious earning is the other side of that coin.