Doing Odd Jobs To Build What You Want

We have been told very young to pick a career and work towards. With almost lazer-like focus. Go to school or get whatever training you need. Just get the job and make money. But what if what you want doesn’t have an easy path? Or you most do it on your own so its a lot of trial and error? There is no 6 step plan that can be implemented in 2 years. There’s no going back and I sure as hell don’t want to just take an job just because its the easy answer. So sometimes you need to take odd jobs with odd hours just to have the time and space to build what you want.

I am still working on what I want. Partially because it took me a few years to really figure out what I enjoyed, was good at, and had a market. I have been slowly been building up my writing and photography. Then played about with product making. And added podcasting to the mix. They make some money. Some months being better then others. And I had to add a few other steps into the plan, but its still forward progress.

Know your budget needs

Know what every bill and expanse you have for the month. Don’t forget the dog food, odd times you don’t want to cook, and birthday parties that catch you by surprise. Make a budget on what you know you have to pay for, add a little buffer for surprises, and a little extra to save for. Look to see what you can go without, do less of, or go with the cheaper option for a while. Then see what kind of work out there can over those costs. It may only be part-time work.

What is the least amount of hours you can work? This doesn’t work if you still have to work a mind-numbing job for 40+ hours just to survive. Is it a combination of freelance and a part-time to give you what you need? For a while I worked part-time at a bookstore and then did odd temp jobs here and there. Some were for a few weekends, one day, three-day set-ups. It was always interesting, never boring, and paid well. That made it so I could keep building up my businesses (writing, podcasting, and products) to get to freelance full-time from home.

How much time and space do you need to create

Do you need to spend a few hours every day on this to really get going? Or just a few hours a week? How much recovery time do you need between your job, working on your dream, and other obligations? How are you going to handle going out with people? Will you spend more or less time with them? Will they be supportive of what you are doing? Be open to do less expensive or free things?

Build a plan

Once you have all these basics figured out then you can make a tentative plan. Say you want to write a book. You built in 4 days a week 2 hours to write.you give yourself 9 months to write, 1 month to edit, and a month and a half to market. Or you want to create an etsy shop. It takes you an hour to make a drawing. So you take a month creating to have as digital downloads and posters. But you need time to create custom orders, packing, and shipping. I’m not going to go deep into making a plan, there are a lot of great, free resources out there (here are a few of my favs).

But you need to be realistic about how much time things will take in the beginning, before you start making sales,a nd to maintain. You need to plan for emergencies. But also to plan your exit. At what point do you quit your job. Maybe you don’t. For some people they need a little outside structure to keep themselves in line. Part for the planning it adjusting things as you go along. Maybe you can change jobs that is less time but a little more demanding to make more. Maybe you just work a couple days just to keep ahead of taxes. Some people realize they cannot actually go full-time. Or you need to slowly transition so you know you can stay productive. Working on your own, at home, can be very jarring if you are not use to keeping yourself accountable.

But it is a fun, wild ride. Yes, there is anxiety about whether or not you will make it. Whether or not some bills will be paid on time. But it is so rewarding to see those sales happen. People enjoying what you have created. And I wouldn’t have it any other way