About moving closer to what you want and leaving the romantic idea of the ‘starving artist’ behind.
IN THIS BLOG:
- Working towards Bobbinhood
- A little recap
- Things I wanted/needed from a new job
- Leaving the ‘starving artist’ cliché behind
Got my SWOT, now what?
In the last blog post, I talked about envisioning my dream job (or dream company even), that I wanted to have. To envision that you don’t have to have a clue yet what you want to do/make/sell exactly. That will come, don’t worry. At this stage, I didn’t even have the name Bobbinhood yet, all I knew is that I wanted to make my passion into a paid one. I have always known that ‘making things,’ was my passion, so I knew that would be very important. But what exactly? No clue whatsoever (yet!). It did make me a tad nervous of course, but I also knew I was getting somewhere and that at this point I was only investing my time, not money. So all was good. I had my SWOT hanging proudly in the little work corner I made in our living room, and I had a vivid vision of what a day at my own company would look like. What now? As a professional job hopper, I knew exactly what I didn’t want in a job. I also knew what I had been missing; being able to have a gazillion ideas, and the freedom of just trying things. I missed being able to use my skills to the fullest.
Now’s the perfect time for a little recap…
Remember how the whole ‘giving entrepreneuring another shot’ thing came to life? I was fed up with my job again and feeling a bit desperate now. I wished there was a boss that liked all my ideas and a company where my role would be to develop them. To make things that would allow other people to join in and finish them, to make them their own. That’s when my husband suggested that if I couldn’t find that job anywhere else, that maybe I was that job. That maybe I could make that company. Although it freaked me out, I also really liked the idea. It slowly grew on me, and if I was gonna go for it, I wanted it to be on my terms.
I knew there was a couple of things I wanted and needed from my new future job:
- I wanted to be able to do it from home (at first), with a newborn I was breastfeeding. That seemed to fit my life at this moment best.
- I needed it to generate income. I always had a well paid job and we were saving up to buy a house. I wanted to show our two girls that mommy and daddy were buying a house together, not just daddy.
- I needed a job that would last, one that I would like for a long time. I was tired of all the job-hopping.
- I only wanted to invest time, not money.
- I wanted to have it so that I didn’t have to work school holidays and could work full time the rest of the year (which is something I would build up to).
I have to admit, it was reeeeaaaally scary to set those objectives. Especially the income one. But I definitely believe it’s about time we leave the ‘romantic’ idea of the starving artist behind us. Passion alone does not pay the bills, but passion can definitely generate income. Aaand with two girls, I also felt the need to show them I was generating half the income for our family. (For the record, this is no judgement on any choices people make financially, I am just telling you my own personal choices. I think everybody should do what suits their own life and personal/family situation!) For me personally, I wanted to be able to provide for my family solely if needed.
Tip of the week: Set your objectives
So there you go! List away! Don’t hold back on what you truly want for yourself and your job. What is important for you? What did you like about your previous jobs, education or roles in life? What didn’t you like? Name them all and take some time to reflect on your answers! I love to do this every three months or so, so I made a tool for myself that I can fill in and keep track of. I call it the Analyze Away chart, and you can find it in the Confetti Factory if you’d like to print one for yourself! You have access to the Confetti Factory through our newsletter – click here if you aren’t subscribed yet. Whoooop! You can do it!
CONFETTI FACTORY
If you want to make sure you don’t miss a thing, subscribe here for our special Celebrate With Confetti newsletter! This will also give you access to the Confetti Factory where you can find all the free downloads that come with this blog (think calendars, trackers, analyze tools, the whole shebang!).