So for the past eight months, I've had the incredible privilege of being able to take some time off work to develop my writing career and several other entrepreneurial ventures. I've started a website, several blogs, a bunch of Twitter feeds, written a screenplay, learned two programming languages, read more than 15 books, and am about 1/3 of a way through writing a novel (a damned good one, I might add). While this lifestyle is basically a dream come true, at the moment my various endeavors have netted me a grand total of about $220, minus expenses.
Which brings us to the question of... $.
As anyone who's ever tried a non-traditional career route knows, these things often take time, but as many expecting parents know, those babies are a comin' either way. Timing's rarely perfect. So this week, as I saw that ultrasound and that spectacular little heartbeat, shit got, as they say, real.
I've suddenly found myself once again contemplating the less-than-desirable, but deliciously stable world of the 9 to 5. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, calls this situation "Plan Z": the stable, non-risky career path that allows you take the riskier one with the bigger potential payoffs. My Plan Z is to be an English professor (and, yes, I have the qualifications). I've known it was there all along; I've just kind of hoped it wouldn't come back to that. It might, we'll see, but the big thing is that it's suddenly popped onto my radar in a big way.
For the moment, it's just a question mark hanging over everything, but I don't imagine it getting any smaller for about twenty-five years. It's amazing how quickly the focus changes as the baby develops. My dad got stable job the day after I was born, and he kept it for thirty years. Will I follow the same route? Can I, given these shaky economic times? All I know right now is that one way or another, that baby is going to have the best life I can provide. I don't want to have to choose the road more often taken but if that's what needs to happen, so be it.
Which brings us to the question of... $.
As anyone who's ever tried a non-traditional career route knows, these things often take time, but as many expecting parents know, those babies are a comin' either way. Timing's rarely perfect. So this week, as I saw that ultrasound and that spectacular little heartbeat, shit got, as they say, real.
I've suddenly found myself once again contemplating the less-than-desirable, but deliciously stable world of the 9 to 5. Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, calls this situation "Plan Z": the stable, non-risky career path that allows you take the riskier one with the bigger potential payoffs. My Plan Z is to be an English professor (and, yes, I have the qualifications). I've known it was there all along; I've just kind of hoped it wouldn't come back to that. It might, we'll see, but the big thing is that it's suddenly popped onto my radar in a big way.
For the moment, it's just a question mark hanging over everything, but I don't imagine it getting any smaller for about twenty-five years. It's amazing how quickly the focus changes as the baby develops. My dad got stable job the day after I was born, and he kept it for thirty years. Will I follow the same route? Can I, given these shaky economic times? All I know right now is that one way or another, that baby is going to have the best life I can provide. I don't want to have to choose the road more often taken but if that's what needs to happen, so be it.
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