Image by key lime pie yum yum
Pride is a funny thing. And if you can’t control it, you can lose out – big time.
Let me set the stage for you…in my last post, I detailed how my business imploded because I hitched my wagon to the wrong guy. By making that mistake, I crippled my writing business after living off it for about a year and a half. It was heartbreaking.
And for that entire year, my mother (and others around me) kept repeating the same thing:
“Well, maybe you should look into getting a job for a little while, just to get that steady income.”
Boy, did I hate that idea. To me, getting a job would be like giving up. It was a message to the world that said, “Hey, I failed! I was a businessman and life was awesome – but I screwed it up!”
So being the pigheaded man that I am, I persisted…
I borrowed every last cent that my parents could give me. I started getting behind on rent and student loan bills. I started eating less and less. My fiance was dipping into her savings to pay some of my bills just because she hated seeing me like this. It was awful and it was embarrassing.
Every month came and went, and I kept making less and less money. Finally, I had to swallow my pride but I didn’t do it without fighting for just a little bit longer…
Having experience as a bartender, I started looking around for a bartending gig. I figured I could work for a few nights a week and pull in a little cash to supplement my business income. Thanks to my brother, I snagged a job at a local hotel for 2-3 nights a week including Fridays and Saturdays.
It meant sacrificing a little bit but it was the perfect job – or so I thought. But the thing about bar tending at a hotel is that most people only go to the hotel bar for one drink so the tips aren’t great – I didn’t make a whole lot of extra cash.
On top of that, my business had completely bottomed out. It was like my arm was chopped off and I was bleeding everywhere – but the tactic I chose to try and solve the problem was like sticking a band aid on to stem the bleeding.
I was stuck – working full-time on my business during the day, working part-time at nights and I was still broke. It meant one thing: I needed to find full-time work and I couldn’t be picky.
Here’s the thing about rebuilding a business (or starting from scratch the first time round): you might not make enough money every month but you’ll still need to make an income somehow that will pay your bills first & foremost.
So when you are starting out, you can’t afford to be that selective about your projects. You sometimes need to take what you can get to build up your business. I turned down jobs because I thought, “That’s not paying enough!” and “I can’t make a living with THAT!”.
Pride. It crippled me. Again.
After a few different interviews, I landed a job at a major department store in their customer service department. I answer angry emails for 8 hours a day. It’s a full-time flex position, meaning when they need overtime, you work overtime. In my case, I’ve got a pair of 11-hour days today and tomorrow (as of this writing), and a 10-hour day on Sunday.
I’m starting to learn what the word “sacrifice” really means. When you get a job like this, you get defensive. It feels like a step back.
When people ask what I do, I could just say, “Right now, I’m working in customer service for [insert department store name here].” People would just say, “Okay, that’s cool,” and move on.
Instead, my answer goes like this: “Right now, I’m working in customer service at [department store name], it’s really just a foot in the door, I’m rebuilding my writing business right now, I made some bad decisions and it tanked, so I am just taking the job to get my feet under me again, it’s nothing glamorous, but I’m just doing what I have to do.”
You know what they say? “Okay, that’s cool.” Sometimes, the only person who considers this embarrassing is yourself.
Many people won’t care if you’re working a dead-end job. You don’t have to explain it to them. Heck, in this economy people are just happy for you when you tell them you have a job at all!
Will I be a Location Independent Professional again? You bet!
But I need to make sure that I’m taking care of my responsibilities too. If that means getting an unglamorous, second-shift job opposite my first-shift-working fiance and moving back in with my parents for a few months to cut back on bills, so be it. Having some kind of parachute is imperative to building up your location independent business.
I think financial guru Dave Ramsey puts it best when he says,
“You should live like nobody else now, so that you can live like nobody else in the future.”
Translation: make some sacrifices now. Swallow your pride, and do whatever it takes: deliver pizzas, flip some burgers, or if you enjoy torture – work in customer service.
This whole location independent business thing is a marathon, not a sprint. Take your time, take the good with the bad and build it up right. Then, and only then, will you be able to properly reap the rewards for the long haul. I know I will. Will you?
Pride holds so many people back. You have responsibilities. You have goals. IF these things are serious to you, then you do what it takes. Even if it mean swallowing your pride. Prides doesn’t accomplish anything, perseverance and determination do. You’re already half way there. :)
Absolutely right, Heather! Pride cripples way too many people’s goals today!
There are always to sides of the story. Pride vs Risk – I am trying to leave my full time job and risk my efforts/business having trouble. There is the chance that I don’t take the risk because if I do fail, then all of those co-workers will look and laugh at me. In a sense I am not even putting pride on the line.
I see greatness in Tom for having the balls to take the risk in the first place and put his pride on the line. How many people are willing to do that? Not many…and I am battling with it now.
People will always have their opinions and I wish people would never with respond with “oh thats cool.” I think it should be met with “tell me more.”
I don’t see it as “swallowing pride.” Being a location-independent professional is a business. In business, you have a plan and include contingencies. If such-and-such (does not) happens, we will do this-other-thing a while. These are exit strategies, not pride swallowing or sacrificing or other emotion-laden phrases. Perhaps it is just a twist on the words, but sometimes changing the words changes everything.
I understand what you’re saying, Dwayne. But hey, there are emotional aspects to running a business too, right? ;-)
Interesting story, I’ve met nearly the same situation. Working as entrepreneur for 3 years (and having made lot of mistakes..), and now having to work in a store to bring cash to just survive.
But your story gave me some hope. Good to know that somebody has experienced a similar adventure, and is still motivated to accomplish his dreams. You went through really hard time and I’d say that I’m impressed to see how you want to go forward.
As you said, it’s like a marathon. Keeping energy for a long run is the key, and I think it’s something I miss sometimes.
I hope that things will go better for your business !
Thanks for the kind words, Ivan! It’s also good for me to know that there are other people out there going through this, too. Best of luck to you as well as you try to build your business!
This post just reminded me of something that has helped me out numerous times in my life and I thought I would share:
If you are going to get a job that you know/hope will only be temporary, try and find a job that allows you to work on other things while at work.
For example: I used to work at a mattress store one day a week. I got paid a base salary to just come in and sit there and man the store. On top of that, I earned a commission if I sold anything. And even better, 95% of the time I had nothing else to do but sit there and twiddle my thumbs while I waited for customers to come in the front door. So, instead of just sitting there, I brought in my laptop and did my own business work. Essentially, I was getting paid to sit there and work for myself!
The great thing about a job like this is that 1) you get paid just to sit there. 2) You make even more money when you sell something. And 3) if you can make money with your own business on top of that, you can really have a great day!
While working at that one mattress store I was oftentimes able to pull in over a thousand dollars in just one day when I combined the money I got from the mattress store with the work I was doing on my own business. Now that’s the kind of job I’d look for if I needed a little extra income!
Hope this helps a little. Good luck everyone!
Great tip, Darren! I appreciate the input – and so does everyone else, I’m sure!
This is the best way to do it.
My job right now is at a call center and I am a manager – you know, the type where the customer gets very angry and says to service reps “let me talk to your manager now!”
We used to have short bits of time between the amount of calls we received to do other work, and I would finish that stuff in record time to be able to surf or work on different stuff of my own. Doesn’t happen now – so much has changed with respects to the amount of calls, the agents we help too, and the amount of information thats just changed. It’s call after call, anger and more anger. I have been trying to think about where I could work – security guard is probably the only thing that comes to mind that would be sitting and have the ability to do other things.
I could get on like that and work on my business. Appreciate the reminder of this option.
Thanks for sharing your story! I’m still working to pay off my student loans and am not yet location independent, but my biggest fear for the future is running out of money and not knowing what to do. It’s good to be reminded that even if that happens, it’s not the end of the world and you just have to build yourself back up.
I am going to read the comments after I respond myself.
I am glad I read this right now. I’m honestly dying to get out of my job and live location independent. Meaning, for now, living in my city but working from home and doing what I love full time.
There is the issue of making money though. I am making small amounts, and I believe I could do great when focusing my engery – but there are responsibilites as well. I have saved, and I believe the savings could last me til May….but I am still a bit reluctant to quit.
Back up plans become important too I think. I created a back up plan that would include getting a job at a bank as a Teller because I could easily get a job doing that – I am far more experienced in the top canadian bank I work for now.
I have a hard time because I suffer from depression and high anxiety. I am on the max dosage right now and I am about to ask my doctor for options – I’m back to feeling rough and there are days I feel hopeless and trapped. I deal with angry customers escalating the worst issues and the most pathetic issues at the same time. That if people cared, they would not be so hostile. It rocks my head and it holds me so far back. I work hard on my blogs and photography and then become so drained and depressed that I’ll go days without working on my own work.
I don’t expect anyone to reply to this but I am about to take that risk of leaving the job I have now in pursuit of my dreams and then know that I will have a back up – sacrifice pride – plan if money dips into a red level.
I hope you’re back location independent very soon. I know how draining negativity can be.
Scott, it sounds like you are working in the worst type of job for your personality! It would be so hard to take on board all of that negativity and hostility each day, especially when you already suffer from depression and anxiety.
My sister has bipolar and she worked in a call centre for a while, and she was miserable. Now, she works in retail and loves it – she manages a bag store, and she adores bags, so it’s a perfect match!
Have you thought about trying to find a part-time job in a different industry, perhaps one where you have better interactions with people on a daily basis?? Then you have a small amount of income coming in, but more time to dedicate to your own business. Just a thought.
Tom, I’m a freelance writer too. I was wondering if you’ve joined elance.com? I used to get a lot of work from elance, including some very well-paying jobs. I currently have so much work that I havent needed to go there for work for months, but if you’re looking for writing work, I would definitely recommend it!
cheers :) Sarah
Hey Sarah,
I have thought about a job in a different atmosphere that’s part time. I plan to look into that as I leave the call centre atmosphere.
It’s amazing how miserable everyone is at work these days. The number of people that have openly said to me that they would change positions/job levels just to have less stress and even less money is amazing. People are wanting to gain some control back in their lives and I think some corporations or work environments need to start looking at this or people are going to continually leave and nothings going to improve.
Thanks for the boost and super glad to hear your sister got out and is doing something she loves. It makes a wold of difference when you’re doing something you love. I actually have some interesting thoughts on bipolar depression once you’re doing things you truly love.