5 Responses for "Money and excuses"

1. Abigail December 14th, 2009 at 10:31 pm

   When I first stopped working and had applied for disability, I hated the inevitable question of what I did. I felt like I had to justify it all the time. That was my own psychological stuff talking, but I always felt defensive. And yes, I know this is a bit of a tangent, but the first couple sentences in this post made me remember it.

   As for the “but” I think you’re absolutely right. If people want to freelance, that’s fine. Take a calculated risk (that is, don’t jump without some preparations) and if you fail, well you’ll know you tried. It’s also fine not to take the risk. Plenty of people prefer the steady income and benefits from corporate culture. That’s perfectly understandable/respectable. Just don’t make excuses either way.

   Personally, I do contract work and would *love* the stability of a normal job. But health problems make it difficult to know how I’ll feel any given morning. Even after years of practice meting out my energy, sometimes I still just don’t have the verve when the time comes to attend a party or go out for a movie with my husband. So I may never have the comfort zone that so many people think of as the only benefit to a job that has them in a stranglehold.

   I think the Internet bubble left us with this belief that you’re a patsy if you don’t work for yourself or have a sideline of some sort. It was only heightened by the advent of social networking sites and, of course, the prevalence of blogging.

   So now we feel like we should want certain things, and that we have to apologize if we don’t. Much in the same that people living a minimalist lifestyle find that their lack of material desires bewilders people. I guess, overall, we’re just not so great at accepting that people want different things out of life.

2. paranoidasteroid December 15th, 2009 at 4:15 am

   I don’t know, there are a million reasons why people might not want to strike out on their own. Money for stuff is a reason, of course, but there’s also a sense of security, or genuinely liking one’s job, or having skills that are best put to use in a large corporation. You are a fantastic writer, so freelancing is worthwhile. I’m an orbital dynamics engineer, I’ve loved it since the first class I ever took, and I could never work on all the cool stuff I get to do if I struck out on my own. No one else would be able to afford it!

3. Tracy December 15th, 2009 at 8:08 am

   We have been full of excuses in the past at times, but now that we are well on our way to becoming debt free and financially secure we dream about one day starting our own business and working for ourselves instead of someone else. We do want to be debt free with a fully funded emergency fund before we embark on that journey…oh how sweet it will be!

4. Shtinkykat December 15th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

   You’re right. I’m not going to be ashamed of the fact that I love the comfort and benefits of the corporate gig. I have no intention of leaving it anytime soon, but I do want to leave it earlier rather than later. So all of my energy now is trying to maximize the corporate bennies into a plan to escape the Man.

5. Ken December 19th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

   Good point. We are all responsible for our choices with money..the good and the bad. If we want a different career choice or try self-employment..we need to mae the sacrifices to make it happen. You’re right about the excessive ’stuff’ making us reliant on predictable income.