This month, my life dramatically changed forever. It happened on accident, and it happened nearly overnight.
This is the story of how I accidentally became self employed and just about doubled my income…
“Oh no!” I hear you cry! Don’t worry. This website is not going to become about how “you can to.” I’m gonna stick with rabbits and leave the make-money-online bit to people who are more passionate about it and better at it than me.
The reason I’m telling you this is because I hope my story can inspire you to think about similar changes in your life. [Just think mind you…don’t you dare actually act on any of it.]
Maybe you’ve worked the same job for a few years because you’re afraid you can’t find something better, or maybe you’ve lived in one city all your life because you have friends there and worry about what an adventure might do to your sense of self, or maybe you’ve been stuck in a relationship with someone who’s “good enough,” or maybe you are afraid every time you wash your clothes, or maybe you’re tired of the preface and want to get on with story time?!
Okay. Preface over. Story time!
Up until a week ago, I was working a retail job at a small store. We can call this place Bunnyland, and if you like, you can imagine that I sold bunny toys to rabbits and to the people who love them. [The actual story is more interesting…ask me and I’ll tell.]
Bunnyland is a wonderful place! It may be retail, but it’s the best retail I could ever imagine! Being a rabbit toy store, I brought joy to many, many rabbits working there. The mission and politics of Bunnyland are important and dear to my heart. The customers were 92% awesome, 7% yuppie, and 1% terrible. But those 92% were dear and on top of that, it paid well above minimum wage.
I was excited to leave, but my last day there I wound up in the backroom crying for an hour. After two years, the small team of coworkers had become a family to me, and I was going to miss them.
It was painful and frightening as hell, but in order to grow, I knew I had to leave.
See, I’m a nester. I settle. I find a place that’s safe and comfortable, I make it home, and stay until I have to leave.
Whether it’s an apartment I’m renting, a job I’m working, or a direction I’m heading, it’s difficult for me to trust that I’ll find something “this good” ever again. So I hold on, stay put, and frighten myself with thoughts like:
“How will I ever find another job that pays $13 an hour?!”
“How will I ever find another house this nice for only $450 a month?!”
But every time I move and every time I switch jobs, I wind up happier than before. So why am I afraid to move and grow and take risks?
I’m still not sure what the answer is, but I realized that I needed to teach my heart what my brain already knew. I needed to show myself that I will be taken care of whether I sit safely or whether I venture out and live a less secure [and boring] life.
So a month ago, I put in my three week notice.
I decided that I was going to live off $2,000 of my savings and focus on a few personal goals.
But about three days after I put in my notice, I got an e-mail about designing a website for someone. A day later, another person wrote me, and that same week, I began making plans with another for some long-term design work.
Since then, I’ve had an avalanche of work coming in…half of it from a bloggers group I’m involved with, half of it through people who knew me from my website or in person. I’ve actually had trouble keeping up with all the work I’ve been hit with, but I’m just about hitting stride, and feel like things are evening out.
So how did I get this opportunity to come to me?
I’ve realized that opportunities don’t happen upon you. You happen upon opportunities. [But only if you’re moving and active.]
My whole life, I’ve clung to safety, nested, and wondered why I wasn’t coming across any big opportunities or consistent freelance work. But no sooner do I cut myself free from that safety and take a little bit of a risk, I’m suddenly overwhelmed with opportunities and blessings. I wasn’t even planning on making a penny this summer. I was planning on cutting into my savings. I was planning on going to school this fall.
It’s not even been a month, so we’ll see what happens, but I’m already beginning to wonder if school is the best use of my time. [Which is an incredible thought to me since not only is tuition covered, I am paid to go to school due to grants and scholarships.]
Anyways, the most exciting part of this all is that I’m learning to trust that I’ll be taken care of, and that taking even a tiny risk can destabilize your life enough to cause some great changes!
I can’t promise that if you quit your job, you’ll get a knock on the door the next day with a better opportunity. But this I can promise:
If you are dissatisfied with where you are or what you’re doing in life, you have nothing to lose by mustering up a little courage and moving toward your passion.
In order to do that, you’ll have to give up a little safety and security.
You’ll be challenged by fears and nay-sayers [we’re so often our own worst nay-sayer].
You’ll have to drop some of the little-work, little-patterns, little-relationships, little-apartments you’re busy with and stuck in.
But venturing out and cutting yourself loose even a little bit opens up possibilities you’d never achieve or even expect if you sit rooted to the spot.
Hey!
] chloe [
