Making a Living Without a Job, revised edition: Winning Ways for Creating Work That You Love [Paperback]

She sprinkled exercises designed to seek out my passions and to brainstorm "profit centers" throughout the book. I didn't take the time to go through them this time around; I wanted to finish the book first and then go back and do them. Still, during my reading I did realize that I definitely want to write and philosophize, and I've come up with several ideas for Profit Centers. In that regard, the book stimulated me to think critically about my financial future.
Moreover, the author doesn't focus entirely on the theory of self-employment. With suggestions such as the $100 Hour (where you promise yourself to spend an hour per day brainstorming ways to make another $100, visualizations and affirmations, and advice on business cards and marketing, she provides a good "jumping-in" point for people (such as myself) considering the idea of becoming "joyfully jobless."

She paints making the plunge as an act of faith and describes her own life as one of "Roots and Wings". She attempts to balance putting down roots (living a stable, secure life) and growing wings (seeking her dreams, living with passion and excitement). I found myself thinking that the people who can successfully do both often lift up on the ground in which they've taken root. They try to pull their loves up with them.

Buckminster Fuller, contemplating suicide at 32, stood on the edge of Lake Michigan asking himself: "Do I know best, or does God know best whether I may be of value to the universe?" The answer that presented itself to him, the mere fact of his existence, proved to him that he had some purpose of being. As a result, he spent the next fifty-six years living a daVincean life. Winters asks us to find our own passions and make them our jobs. How, then, can we go wrong?

I'd definitely recommend anyone serious about starting their own business purchase other books in addition to this one (conveniently, she provides a recommended reading list in the back), because I know that I need more information than Winters provides here, about running a business, keeping books, and dealing with all the details. I need to know how to get started. Winter's book can help you define your ideas, get excited for the change, and know in general what's in store, as well as how to deal with the new life.

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Winter says people can be "joyfully jobless" by developing "multiple profit centers." Rather than depending upon a single source of income, Winters says people should diversify their sources of income. Winter likes the variety of doing different things.

In addition to being an author, Winter publishes a newsletter, gives speeches and seminars, and finds other creative ways to earn a living. Because she has an interest in tea, Winter earned money teaching people how to have afternoon tea parties.

Winter writes that many people find "producing a tea a mysterious process." (Don't you just put the little bags in a cup of water?). In addition to enjoying teaching tea, it gave Winter the opportunity to travel to England and deduct travel costs as tea research. One of Winter's goals was to travel to England. She emphasizes that we should merge our personal goals with our business ideas, if possible.

In addition to discussing her own profit centers, Winters discusses many other entrepreneurs who earn money in creative ways. For example, one entrepreneur earns money by running a cattery, which is a cat boarding service. Of course, the cattery owner finds other ways to supplement income, such as founding Critter Communication Consulting, which helps people relate to their pets.

Winters writes: "Landlording is, of course, one of the oldest ways to make a living without a job. In earlier days, widows frequently took their only asset [a house] and turned it into a profit center." Another entrepreneur merges fighting seasonal forest fires with writing and odd handyman jobs to earn a living.

So, why don't people quit their jobs and become joyfully jobless? Fear of not having a regular income is one reason. Winters writes: "Too often we confuse fear with bad ideas! It's far healthier to accept that you are feeling fearful about a new plan-and determine that you'll act anyway... . stop and give yourself positive reasons for doing what's scary. Write out a list, if necessary... . Life shrinks or expands in proportion to your courage"

Winters says many people are afraid of looking foolish for not holding a job. We tend to draw a sense of identity from a conventional job. Quoting movie reviewer Roger Ebert, Winter writes, "'Set up your life so that your personal goals are their own reward... . What you do instead of your real work is your real work.'"

Winters says Ebert is a good example of someone who merged his early passion (for watching movies) with a career. Others only later discover their true calling and choose to pursue it. Winters tells the story of a cardiologist turned country western singer.

To me, it seems that being a cardiologist would destroy the country western perspective. What sort of lyrics does the guy write? "You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille. With four kids in Harvard and stocks of low yield... ." I'm waiting for his hit single, "You Broke My Left Ventricle."

Winters says we tend to be work snobs and feel that the work we really want to do is beneath us. If it's fun, it can't be real work.

Without steady income, we might need to come up with something quick to earn money. Winter offers a list of suggestions for generating emergency cash. For example, she says we could offer to clean something, possibly an airplane. An airplane? I picture a guy standing in front of a 747 with a squeegee. I guess she means Cessnas and Pipers. Either way, this joyfully jobless sounds like it could become real work. Don't forget to wash under the wings.

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