Got Lemons? (Gas Prices) Make Lemonade (Work at Home)
Sometimes my timing is not good. Case in Point. In 2004 I had a good job. I loved the work, but was increasingly unhappy with the hostile corporate environment. In the world we are in today, you just do not quit a good job even if you are miserable, unless you have the promise of another at least equally good job.
For quite a while the bright point of my day was lunch. Hey is this a re-run? My mother used to say I went to school to eat my lunch, now my career is turning out the same?
I was addicted to going to a certain discount store across the street almost everyday at lunch and it really made me feel good to buy nice clothes and other things to compensate for my feeling of dread.
When they moved the store out of the neighborhood there were months of sales on the already reduced prices. I was really lost and bewildered when they finally shut the doors. Cold turkey, baby.
What do I do at lunch now? So I ventured out and walked a few blocks and decided to look at cars just for fun. There was a super-charged beauty, the same make as the older car I had, but newer and an even soupier upgraded version with many more ‘bells and whistles (satellite radio and Onstar to name a few). … Omigod, and it was on sale!
Since the one I had used regular gas, I didn’t even think to ask, just assuming the new version would be the same. Not so. Premium only. You think that is dumb? I was too embarassed to take it back when I found out. Couldn’t deal with another hostile environment even for the day or two it would take to wiggle out.
Besides the interest was really good and the car is a dream. I fell in love with it the first time I drove it on the freeway, and it was just what I needed to feel good, especially when the super-charger kicks in and feels like it is flying.
… but now the fun starts on two fronts. About a month later, my company announces it is downsizing in yet another merger, and horror and ecstacy at the same moment, I am getting laid off! But I have a car payment now! How can this happen NOW?
Just about that same time, gas prices started climbing (and you know they have not stopped climbing for 4 years now). Of course premium is way more expensive than anything but diesel. OK so I got lemons.
Now for the lemonade: I didn’t need to panic exactly, because I had months of severence pay and then unemployment insurance would kick in. I needed time to recover from the post traumatic stress of 6 years in a place that was nearly always hostile from day one and went steadily downhill.
Then I planned to work contract jobs while I looked for another job. I registered with every conceivable online agency and spent endless, fruitless hours trolling the job boards. I got a few interviews that were nightmares, and a few contracts, but I noticed that well, the thrill is gone. I really love to work, but I began to realize I just don’t like the whole dynamic and being vulnerable.
Somewhere along the line, I discovered the concepts of ‘internet home based business’ and ‘work from home on the internet’ opportunities and started to check them out. I tried a few, and spent hours and hours online, and spent even more money trying to find a way to earn an income from home. I was swirling in information to the point of delerium sometimes. Strange new territory…
It got pretty scary after a year when the money was running out and the debt was mounting. Nothing was really working. I would make not-very-funny jokes about maybe I would end up living in my car with a laptop.
…BUT all the while my car was parked (which brings to mind another not-funny joke of mine that you can literally watch the gas gauge plummet). Now it is four years later and Praise the Lord, the car is STILL PARKED 99% of the time, and no I am not living in the car! I eventually found a couple of different sources of income on the internet and I have already matched the income I was making after 15 years experience in corporate.
In learning to write ads and copy for internet marketing, I often mentioned not having to commute to work when you work from home. I was thinking of the stress of traffic and road rage, parking and the nightmare freeway looking like an endless parking lot at most hours.
I even wrote one about ‘you can’t go home from the office when you work from home’. I still struggle with that one, but the main thing is, everytime I see the price of gas, (now around $4.50 for premium here), I realize that the $500 a month I calculated that I saved back in 2004 by not going to work outside my home, has increased exponentially and would probably be $1000 by now!
Bottom line – bet you thought I would never get here ->> is STAY HOME and make lemonade. Keep the money you earn in your pocket and don’t let the gas pump have it! Find a way! If I can do it, so can you!
By the way the ideal way to do this is while you still have a job, starting part time – so that if something happens to your job, you already have a foundation to start with; not to mention a way to survive while you figure it all out. Even if you have to sacrifice some entertainment – make a list of those type of ‘expendable’ expenditures and see how much money you can come up with to create an operating budget.
Make a list of all the skills and talents you have that you made your living with and see how you can do it online, and learn what the various services people working on the internet use.
Get some free online training, find some products to sell, get involved in some organizations, join business forums and community sites and network, network, network.
Hey, isn’t it everybody’s dream to work around the clock? No? Well how about when you can take a nap whenever you want or take a time out to relax or get some exercise? Even a day off whenever you want, my pretty?
Let’s all hoist a nice tall glass of lemonade and make a toast to working from home on the internet with our vehicles PARKED! Cheers!
Patricia Brucoli
Working From Home and Loving It
http://www.the3rdpartynetx.com
