No More Nine to Five

When I decided to break away from the rat race, I talked to my boss and told him I wanted to leave. He thought I was trying to wiggle him out of more money. I told him I was serious and I would be happy to train my replacement if he hired one.

He didn’t take me seriously. A month later, I gave him a week’s notice. He asked me to stay on part time till he found someone. I agreed to work 60% of the time for 75% of the salary. He reluctantly agreed. Another two months later I was a free bird.

I had been working on another project while I was working part time. Something I always wanted to do. I put together a team, found an investor, and organized a prosperity seminar fro business owners. it wasn’t prosperous. I was left with low funds, very low funds, and no steady income. Ironically I was relieved. It was more satisfying to have failed and lost money at doing something I was passionate about than making money at something I had no desire to do, and felt trapped in.

My wife wanted me to go right back to where I was working and beg for my job back. I knew that wasn’t gong to happen, and I made it clear to her. I was willing to walk away from 20 years of marriage before I would go work for someone else. It wasn’t going to happen. “What would you do, be a bum?” she asked in frustration. I thought that wasn’t a bad idea at all.

I started thinking in terms of what would it take to survive, if I was to live on bare minimum with no place to live. How would I support myself if push came to shove and I ended up leaving home? In the past, I had worked as a pizza delivery driver and as a waiter, and idea of letting the customers decide what to pay always had appeal to me. After all, isn’t that how it ultimately works?

I thought, I could get a bucket and a squeegee and stand at the corner of a busy intersection and clean windshields when the light turned red. I could pretend to be homeless and see how many people would pay me and how much can I make. Then give the money to a charity and write about the experience and sell the piece to a newspaper or magazine. The more I thought, the more I came up with all kinds of “weird” ideas. One of them actually had some appeal to it. So I looked into it. It turned out to be simple, doable and profitable. I had a new career as a Balloon Artist, twisting Balloon Animals and other interesting shapes. I suppose that makes me a Location Independent Professional.

But that thought of being a bum kept coming back to me again and again. I knew that ‘bum’ wasn’t the right word. A Gypsy, a Hobo, a Nomad. As I thought about it more and more, a clear picture emerged. Ever since I was a child, I always dreamed about traveling and living a carefree but adventurous life – ala Tarzan.

When we first got married, my wife and I talked about traveling and living on the road and earning what we need by using my photography and writing skills. She thought that would be so nice if we could do it, but was not willing to go in to the unknown. The dream stayed a dream and we got busy with the business of making a living. Then the kids were born and we had ‘responsibilities’. We would take a vacation every few years and reminisce about traveling and going places, but never did.

With the kids almost grown up, they were both in high school at the time, I didn’t want to tie myself down with a job again. My wife had been running a business of her own for several years and was doing well. It was time for me to commit myself to my dream, and commit I did.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, that no man could have dreamed would come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

~ W. H. Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition

Now, two years later, as I look back, I am amazed that I have found a new career that I had never imagined that I would get into; but I am loving it nonetheless. I work part time in my own business, and only when I want to, yet I am making more money than I was making two years ago. The best part is I can go anywhere in America and do the same thing and make a comparable amount of money, and I love it. I suppose that makes me a Location Independent Professional.

My daughter is headed to Turkey in a couple of months as a Rotary Youth Exchange Ambassador student for a year where she will attending the Marmar University, the second largest University in Istanbul, Turkey. The best part of the program is that she has to learn to speak Turkish and integrate herself into the Turkish culture, living with two or three separate families over a nine month period. She has decided to blog about her experiences here. My son is a junior in high school and he is mature enough to take care of himself should my wife and I decide to take a week or so off and go on a road trip.

I wonder if the blogosphere is ready for the new adventures of Tarzan… and Jane.