Summertime…and the Living is Busy….

As a freelancer, there is always this fine balance between doing the work and finding more of it…  I spent a good part of June working on two contract jobs—making decent coin—for A Pass Education, an online entity that contracts with educational publishers and school districts.  I accomplished this while maintaining a civilized performing schedule, auditioning, prepping and leading a workshop at the Intendence Film Festival (held in Arvada, CO, the last weekend of June).  

The work, the busyness, was great.  Yet, at the beginning of July I looked at the tsunami that was my office knowing that I needed to balance the checkbook, wade through the piles of files and begin the work of looking for more gigs!  Arrggg!  So I’ve taken nearly a week to do all this while thinking about the future—which is always in flux and never guaranteed.  Now what?  Do I resume research on a homecare business (finding live-in aids for the elderly)?  Do I complete that WIX website dedicated to all things writing related?  Work on my next kitty blog post?  Prep for my next visit back East in August (two weeks this time!)?  And what about that short story I began at the turn of the year—oh, the ending still  escapes me!

And while I crave creative pursuits (I have, among other things, resumed my taiko drumming classes in Boulder [CO] at least twice a month), I also require regular chunks of income to maintain my oh so elaborate lifestyle.  All kidding aside, knowing that I have chunks of income coming in the pipeline provides some sense of relief.  And just this past Monday I began to think about additional writing contract gigs.

Ask and ye shall receive:  On Tuesday I received an email asking if I’d like to extend, for another week and a half, one of the two contracts I just concluded for A Pass Education.  More good coin!  Of course I said yes…I need this income now to help pay for my monthly health plan costs, which I’ve recently reinstated—another to-do item that had been on my list for several years…

I love keeping busy and enjoy exercising both my right and left brains.  Now I need to relax, ask—and receive!—a recurring role on the new Hallmark series that will hopefully soon begin production somewhere in Colorado …

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?

Juggling

I’ve been back from PA for over a week now, and it’s been a constant, ongoing, intense juggling act—taking care of all the nonhumans while my husband was away, house maintenance, Helen maintenance.  This is in addition to keeping up with my freelance work (percussion and acting gigs), marketing of same, prepping for new gigs (I love exercising the old noggin!), and paperwork.  Constant paperwork—confirmations, invoicing, collections. 

On the horizon for next week and beyond:  resuming the creation of a website specific to my commercial and educational writing endeavors; submitting for commercial/educational writing gigs; submitting for acting gigs; resuming taiko drumming classes; and researching how to use email marketing and my Facebook performer/educator page (shameless plug:  https://www.facebook.com/HelenTrencherCreativeEducator; “like” it if you wish) to grow my client/fan base.

…And, I wouldn’t have it any other way!

The Week Between

Yep, it’s that time of year.  The piles of filing, organizing and shredding have gotten a bit much.  And my file drawers are busting.  I must prune and purge my office!  For a creative with left brained organizing tendencies, this does not necessarily funnel down to filing.  So, during the relatively quiet week between Christmas and New Years, I do my own version of “spring” cleaning.  

Not only do I get to root out the unnecessary form or file, I have this wonderful opportunity to reflect and to plan.  Despite the monetary shortfall (which I am most heartily efforting to remedy), 2012 has been a busy year with performance and creativity!  The stats:  in 2012, I —

• presented Golda Meir: Choices & Chances 11 times;
• lead rhythm/drumming events at nursing homes and memory care units an average of 10 times per month;
• facilitated 10 rhythm-based educator workshops;
• presented 16 specialty percussion lady performances; and
• landed three paid acting gigs—one of which was the role of Corey Alden on the feature length docudrama, CREEP!, coming out sometime in 2013. 

It’s been a blessed year, and now I need to create the space—both physically and mentally—for an even more focused and abundant 2013!