What do you do?

[IsolatedWisdom]

What do you do?  Now thats a question I loath.  Its always the first question someone asks you when you meet them.  Its so boring and it's as if they ask it to avoid awkward silence.  As a misfit I find working with others exhausting and limiting.  Not to mention the fact that I hate working a "job" in general.  But in this world we have to make money to survive.  So my question to all of you is how do you survive.  Espescially if your self imployed how did you start and how did you know what to do.  Any advise for someone who wants that type of lifestyle. 

Thanks

[Smokebender]

In the forty years that was my working life I did many different jobs. The biggest problem for me was always the same, boredom. I was never able to work at anything for a long time for this reason. In fact so much so that I would be hard pressed to recall all the situations I incurred in the past. Boredom was the main reason, but not the only one.

I had jobs that I hated and others I enjoyed. I almost always enjoyed the people I worked with. Early on I took any position that payed more than the current one. In those days work was easy to come by. Today it's much different.

In general I would say that a Misfit is better off self employed or at least in a position where time management is his own. The most important factor is that the work be something you enjoy doing. Without these two factors all is lost.

[Truthsayer]

Jacqueline of all trades. Yep, that's me. A wealth of knowledge and skills acquired through a diverse number of "go nowhere" jobs. Must be for a purpose! I don't regret anything I did for living in the past. It only prepared me for what's to come in the future.

[Smokebender]

That's just it. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained in being what some call a "job jumper"
My experience was extremely diverse. Then the time came when I told myself that I would only do what I enjoyed.
I stuck to that for most of my working years. Still the longest and best situation was only five years before I left it.

Then I was self emplyed for some years, but at that point I had money, and income was less of a factor.

Getting back to IW's question, I would ask, what do you really enjoy the most? What do you do for fun?
Do you have a family? What general area of the world do you live in? Answer these and I'll be happy to advise you.

[misfitguy]

I'm self-employed by choice.  I had been in corporate management both in marketing and manufacturing from graduating from college in 1972 to leaving my last management job in 1986.  At the time I was a special projects manager and had just experienced my second heart attack.  I decided I wouldn't let them kill me.  I then consulted for about 3 years, formed a roofing company and stayed on my own until I figured I needed a consistent income to get my last two through high school.  I went to work for a food processing company as  an oven operator/technician for five years(my intention had been to stay for 7 until my pension vested, but I vested my pension in 5 because of the amount of overtime I had worked.

As Smoke, I had never worked anywhere longer than 3 1/2 years.  I either left for greener pastures, the company went under or it moved out of town ( a lot of that going on in Michigan in the 70's)  Anyway, I decided when I started working for the food processing company I was going to quit in 7 years and start selling in the open market.  I started part time while working at the company and in 1994, I sang the song, "Take this job and shove it."  walked out, cashed in the pension and started doing what I do today full time.  I have my own line of sunglass and goggles I sell in motorcycle shows across the nation.  One of the keys of being able to be in my 16th year of doing this is I have been willing to make the changes necessary as the economy fluctuated.  In fact, my wife and I are starting to move into food prep for events and next weekend we'll be doing the biggest show yet with 1500 bikers camping.  If we continue to do this we will split our time between motorcycle shows with our glasses and any show looking for good food. 

One of the things I suggest to anybody that is considering vendoring as a pastime or fulltime, is to do something you like, do it well and do it better than anybody else.  If you sell widgets, have the biggest selection of widgets with the most choices of colors.  If you sell food, make it unique and good (We make our biscuits and gravy on site from scratch with our own recipes.  Our sausage is mixed for us by a butcher spiced to our specifications.  We do not use any flavor packets.  Any sauces we use, we make them ourselves.)  By going the extra mile, you will build a customer base that will be loyal to you.

This sort of work suits this misfit fine.  I have had a couple of stores that I closed because they were too confining and I wasn't willing to expend the effort or capital for the long haul.  Both times I pictured myself being in the same spot 20 years from now and it made me shudder.

Remember, being a misfit is OK.  In fact, to most of the proletariat, it is entertaining and they will pay you for being a misfit if you supply them well.

Mick

[Truthsayer]

What I enjoy most I've never made a living at. Writing. I have written callouses into the palm of my hand, but my list of publishers is zilch.  Not because I couldn't get published, but because I never tried. There's still time I know, and I working on it.