Streams of Income

I’ve chosen this life, this freelance life.  And with it the responsibilities, joys, aggravations, anxieties and freedom to express the whole of who I am.  Perhaps you can describe this lifestyle as pieces to a puzzle, designed to baffle or to test ingenuity or resourcefulness.  Last week, though, on an audition (ahem, interview), I likened this more to a mosaic, the disparate parts of colored stone, tile and glass coming together to create this wonderful, beauteous whole.

No matter how I describe this life, I’ve realized—over the last months and years—the following for me to work and play at my optimum:  These puzzle pieces or mosaic bits must overlap. The streams of income and creativity need to flow effortlessly…

I’m finally at a point, after much MUCH effort and focus, back in the black, financially.  While I have yet to be comfortable in this place and still have concerns dropping back into the red, opportunities are now coming to me more often than before.  I feel less anxious, which is a good thing.  For example, this past Friday I was not only paid for my first contracted assessment (test) writing gig (yeah!), I received an email from that organization inviting me to be a part of another educational writing project—which started this past Monday.  And I also booked a twice-a-month rhythm and drumming gig at a local nursing home.  Tributaries…

Of course, I continue to focus on my other “water sources,” both here and back East:  Percussion and rhythm programming for kids, families, teachers, and seniors; Golda Meir performances; and acting in TV and film.  

And I have a new project I’m researching and hope to have as a viable current flowing soon: homecare health aid consultant.  I am now developing the model and business plan to help families find long-term home care for their elderly relatives, so they can remain in their homes rather than transfer to a facility. I’ve been successful finding home care for my own parents, and the Internet, Skype, and Craigslist is a beautiful thing.  I begin the writing of my plan this week…

It’s Never Too Late…

…to realize that you might be good in a number of areas but need help with others.    I’ve been a freelancer—whether or not I would have admitted to this in the past—since June 1997 when I chucked the corporate life and went out on my own.  Creatively, I’ve done quite well for myself:  I’m rhythmically gifted and discovered the joy of hand drumming and performing;  I love to sing and tell stories; I continue to teach via drumming classes and workshops for educators; I perform a one-woman show that I authored; and I’ve pursued acting in television and film—a dream I have held onto since I was ten.

However, it’s been a rocky ride, financially.  Yes, I will admit to this.  As my husband now realizes, I am just not cut for the life of a 9 to 5er.  Nope.  And while the life of a freelance creative educator comes with freedom and vision, it does not provide a regularity of income.  I know I can attract abundance—I’ve  done it in the past.  But how to manage this abundance when I’m in a temporary lean period so that I’m not looking to eat my arm for sustenance (figuratively speaking!)?  

Perhaps I need to learn how to treat what I do more as a business?  Would that help organize those aspects of personal financial management I seem to lack?  It’s like I don’t know what I don’t know, and this not knowing is getting in the way of my enjoying more the time I have here in this life experience.

Maybe it is not too late to learn how to better manage the business facets of my acting career and Trencher Educational Consulting (dba “The Percussion Lady” and “Golda Meir: Choices & Chances”).  Maybe I can learn enough to know that I need to hire a professional to cover some of these aspects.  

Suggestions?

Hello, World!

As I sit in my office on a sunny yet nippy Monday morning in Denver, CO, I am about to embark into my second foray into blogging.*  This time, though, this blog will serve as a regular, ongoing soliloquy (and hopefully dialogue) into the meaning of freedom:  What is freedom?  Can I, as a freelance creative educator and performing artist, truly have the freedom to prodigiously produce in ways that create both meaning and abundance?  

This blog will serve as a tool wherein I will regularly journal about the successes, joys, trials and tribulations of choosing a highly nontraditional life path in terms of my life’s work.   Some days will be upbeat; others, down and out.  But the thought of returning to a regular “9 to 5” gig turns my stomach; yet I’ve also come to realize that living life financially on the edge is so very tiring.  

So, I want it all.  I do, I do, I do (with emphasis added!):  The freedom to create in ways that the creator has endowed upon me when I came into this life experience, and to live a life financially free of the burdens of debt and obligation.

Perhaps 2013 will be the year I finally get out of my own way to allow the abundance and the full creativity I seek.  I certainly hope so.  I believe this blog will help me attain this goal.  And I hope, too, that it will be of value to those who are also seeking the freedom a meaning-filled life.

I welcome you all, and I hope to hear from many of you as I post along the way.

 

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* My first is an occasional blog—which I plan to turn into an eBook and beyond in 2013—Life Lessons from Lumps of Love: The lessons about life and living I've gleaned from my cats; http://lifelessonsfromlumpsoflove.wordpress.com/

p.s.  I am still in the throes of leaning this Google blogging tool, Blogger.  So I might be asking for suggestions and advice in terms of gadgets, look, design and so on!