Work and Making a Living

First work close to home. Commuting an hour or more each day is a waste of your valuable time. I know that many people choose to live a great distance from their office for the simple fact that they can afford to buy a house in the area that are furthest for their place of employment. If you are faced with this situation you have to ask yourself is buying a house really worth it if I have to spend two hours per day commuting? Another way to look at is asking yourself “can I find a job closer to where I want to live”? If calculate the number of hours you spend commuting plus your commuting costs, you may find that it makes more sense to take a lower paying job closer to your residence.

If at all possible, I advocate living where you can walk or bike to work. Don’t get me wrong, I love my car but I really dislike wasting time sitting in traffic day after day.

First and foremost, if you dislike what you are doing for a living…change careers immediately! Life is too short being miserable…there is more to life than a paycheck. You maybe thinking yeah right… I have bills how am I supposed to quit my job and do something else? I realize that you may not be able to just up and quit right away, but I want you to commit to making a change and then do something about it.

Do you enjoy what you do? Would you do it even if you didn’t get paid? If yes, then fantastic you are way ahead of the game! Bravo! If not, then it is time to think about what you enjoy and how you can make a living doing it. Take a mental health day from work or spend a weekend by yourself thinking about what you want to do. Make a list…write all of your ideas down even if they seem way too outlandish to fly. Next go back over the list and see if you can come up with ways to turn that idea into a way to make money.

I think that everyone should have a business of their own, even if they have a full-time job working for someone else. So, those of you who enjoy the work you are already doing can benefit from this exercise as well… There are many ways to start a part-time business…who know you might be become the next big thing.

There are websites like Entrepreneur.com , sba.gov and score.org that are great resources for ideas and how-to guides.

A few ideas to get you started are:

Turn your passion for organizing into a business helping others to organize their homes and offices.

Sell flowers from your garden at a local market or a roadside stand

Share your knowledge of your hometown to tourists by offering specialized tours. You could offer a walking tour of the downtown area or even a culinary tour or progressive dinner featuring some of your favorite local restaurants.