self employment philosophy

SELF EMPLOYMENT PHILOSOPHY

Let's take a day or two break from the series posted yesterday. I want to talk about self-employment. Not because it is THE answer for everyone. It isn't. It is a hard row to hoe. Not everyone feels comfortable growing their own food. Not everyone wants to be a close quarter combat super ninja. Not everyone wants the vast unpopulated but scary dry West as a home. No prepper strategy is for everyone. So, no, a prepper team isn't for everyone. Some will actually prefer hermitage, even though “everyone knows” you need an A Team.

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I always thought the survival advice of being self employed was too generalized. Just because you can be self employed NOW, does certainly not mean you will remain as such NEXT. Look, if you're self employed now it is because you save people money. Yes, a few will hire you because you are the best. Only a few. Most folks do NOT have the disposable income to hire/buy the best. Right now, by eliminating the corporate cost structure, you can work for less. That gets you business. But in the future, you have a lot more competition.

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Not only do the freshly unemployed compete with you, putting pressure on your wages, at the very time you need to be self employed, all your customers are also suffering from the economic collapse and cannot afford you regardless of how good you are. Do you REALLY have a recession proof job? I would stipulate that almost nobody is THAT good that you'll get paid when everyone needs to cut costs to the bone. Unless you are feeding people something they cannot grow/raise themselves, what could you possibly offer?

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Which is the entire reason I do NOT agree with self-employment being unemployment insurance. To think your wood beer steins will sell in a Greatest Depression is rather retarded. To think that if anything you do is on YouTube you'll still have enough paying customers, not the greatest strategy. Okay, I've belabored this enough. Self-employment is a lifestyle choice, it is NOT an answer to survive hard economic times. Oh, it will work for some people, I have no doubt. But it will not work for most. Just look at the Hindu slave labor in Silicon Valley and tell me how well being The Best at computer programming is helping out too many people.

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However, if you want to enjoy working, today, being self-employed is great. It may or may not pay wonderfully, which is actually besides the point. The point of being self employed is that you actually enjoy your job. Now, a lot of people cannot be self-employed and it does not have anything to do with discipline or fear. It has to do with the fact that you picked the wrong job. You can never enjoy it. So working for someone else doing what you hate is actually BETTER than doing what you hate, then adding in job insecurity and lower wages and longer hours.

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If that is you, you can still actually become self employed. It will just take longer and not be in your current field. You find what you love doing. It doesn't matter what it pays or what the prospects are for the future. Marketability is not important at this point. Hey, people make a living out of loving movies, books or sports. You just have to love it so much you become better at it than anyone else. Then, you devote every waking hour to becoming the best at what you love. Don't take detours that promise riches, not unless you are the best. On The Job Training, is what you are doing.

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If you are just in it for the money, likely you won't succeed. Too much competition. But there is a lot LESS competition in Labors Of Love, and Relentless Perfection. Anyone can be greedy, and slightly motivated. Far fewer can spit on Mammon and be completely devoted to the art. Love equals unmatched motivation. Once you are one of the best, or preferably The Best, if only because you have more time invested, then you'll find a way to monetize.

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Just know that Love alone isn't much, without dedication and intense work. Then, you'll need to accept the life on a monk, more than likely. Plenty can get rich, but again, this isn't the point. The point is to love what you are doing. As soon as you compromise that for money, you peaked and crested, and are on the way down to failure. Maybe next week, maybe in ten years. But money always gets in the way, eventually. If you aren't willing and able to say No to outside pressure, using money as a lever, you just bit the forbidden apple.

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Now, again, there is nothing wrong with NOT being self-employed. You might just want to take life easy, work eight hours a day and then come home to an hour of doing your hobby, which you love, but never taking it to Master Status. So what? Everyone is different. You might value family time more than Craftsman Time. No shame in that. Different strokes. You might want to enjoy your hobby with ZERO money interference. Which means you have no desire to become a Jedi in that field.

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After all, devoting every waking hour to your passion, there is SOME monetary expectation. You will put in as many hours as needed, for however many years, but in the end your goal is to be self employed in doing what you love. Money means nothing to that point, but it still factors into the equation. But then, once you become self employed, money has to once again drop in important least it effect your work. And again, the best way to manage money is to need LESS, not try to earn more. Hence the “living like a monk”. It's all rather convoluted, isn't it?

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But Jim, you ask in befuddlement, confused that I would act contrary to my nature in part formed by perfect hair, why bring this up on your survivalist publication? Well, you shouldn't pick a hobby because it “fits” with survivalism. Don't learn blacksmithing just because it will be a kick-ass survival skill ( with a focus on working with salvage ). Only if you love doing it for its own sake. THEN, once trained, you can find some way to cash in on the trade. HOWEVER!

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I think a lot of hobbies can be somewhat carried over to prepping. Even if you never take it to the level of self-employment, you can always just enjoy the activity for its own sake, and more than likely SOME amount of coin might follow. Even if not enough for a job, enough to buy extra prepping supplies. So you might just take it to Professional Hobbyist level. A lot less work than self-employed but more than a casual hobby.

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For instance, amateur gunsmithing in exchange for some ammo, or similar. Just doing enough leather work for gifts, or at least to pay for supplies. No one is going to need your sword fighting skills for years after the apocalypse, but some folks still make money off that skill, such as teachers. One wonders if a karate instructor would sponsor a class with you training with bamboo blades, perhaps. No matter your hobby, it will find money if you are good enough. Even if it is very little money.

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Look at it this way. You are returning to a pre-money style marketplace. I had a minion, hopefully still reading, that showed up in a famous Hollywood movie as an extra, just from being part of a US Calvary reenactment group. Obviously this didn't pay enough to compensate for the hours, feed and tack, transport and etcetera. But it shows how the money will follow the talent. If westerns would still made on a more widespread basis, that COULD have been a paying gig eventually. And Jesus Weeps, how I've love for the super hero graze to die off and have more westerns in the theater.

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Anyway, that should cover it for today. Spicy Times are here. You can still live your life as you wish, at least for a bit longer. Make it count, embrace your passion.

( .Y. )

( today's related Amazon link click HERE )

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note: MD Creekmore's latest video, on civil war threats HERE 
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