One of the downers....

Claraviolet

Real hero hidden in the darkness
Staff member
The feeling of having no income and you feel like.... Everything is kinda against you 😭

Seriously ... Unexpected expenses and everything else would occur just when you can't afford them!
 
Yup, that's living in modern society, so called Civilization.

Personally, I believe the era of working for somebody else, a singular person, is dying, if not over. The economy is in shambles for the 99% of us who work for a living. What you should do, what I've been doing is, write down all your skills. Everything you know how to do, whether it's washing dishes, scrubbing floors, cooking, flower arrangement, bookkeeping, writing software, being a leader, drawing, etc. Write them all down, organize them. And start to look for people who need these things done.

Me? I'm writing a book, a TTRPG manual that fills a need in the digital play space. Will this pay the bills now? Absolutely not. Will it ever? Probably not, but it opens a door into the Publishing Industry. I'm learning skills for editing, layout/graphics artistry, and eventually I'll be looking into book-binding techniques.

And keep in mind, I'm 51 learning all this stuff.

As for paying the bills now? You're probably going to be stuck like me, working some sort of low-paying service job, because truly those are the only jobs available right now. Jobs that exploit you. It truly sucks. Figure out what you want to do, and then determine the Skills that you need to learn to do that. Do it before you get old, like me.
 
It is a tough spot to be on. I agree with Senkusha about writing everything you know how to do, everything even things that are not at first glance work-related.

A tip I heard back when I was trying to make it as an artist was to stop going for the zebra and to look at other horses. Most people want a very specific job title and are not even aware that are a lot of other peripheral jobs that match your skills just as good if not better. This ties with Senkusha advice of looking out for people who needs things done covered by your skills.

Like they say, not all heroes wear capes. Just check at the end of a movie how many different positions are filled and needed that we never think double or talk about. Same thing goes with jobs.

I am right now working 15 hours a week so I am considering doing something on the side too to make things meet if my situation doesn't change by December. I am considering something related to my fluency with Spanish. I could help translate documents, give classes, join an organisation for online classes or translation services, etc. This will probably be the most logical step but who knows, maybe I could do something else.

Point being, any of the skills I have can be a door worth exploring. Hopefully you can find things you can do even if you start small.
 
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