Just spent the weekend on the island and ran into a couple of people who reminded me that when you live there full time there are times when you want to make a dish and don't have that essential ingredient and there's no one on the island who carries it. Our island is pretty damn good but there are limits. I'm always thinking of a service that I could turn into a business once I live there so it got me thinking. Shopping in the city for foodies on the island. What a great idea. Wonder if it could work. I already go back and forth regularly, I already haunt the foodie stores as much as I can, I'd love to be able to buy more than I already do. Something to think about.
I've realized that like so many rural places, the island if full of amazing people who either have a pension or some kind of income because employment is sparse...a lot of people find a way through their own brand of creativity. There are many art galleries in homes, cottage industries like coffee roasting, web design, photography and so on that bring in extra income. Islands seem to attract people who choose lifestyle over career ambitions so they use their brains to create their own jobs. I've always admired that. Self-employment at a job that is something you love anyway. A dream for most of us. I have some time to make this happen but the wheels are turning. I'd like to not have to come to the city every week for work if I can help it.
Years ago I read Marsha Sinetar's ' Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow'. It was such a great book and now I think it is considered a classic in career counselling circles along with other similar books. I strongly believe in this concept. When you are working in a job which is sort of out of your element, you don't really do your best work because your heart isn't in it. There are lots of people who do this for job security and a good solid income but they are sacrificing something. If it's a job you really hate, you are risking your physical and emotional health as well as your time. You hear about people having some kind of wakeup call only to discover their life has passed them by while they were busy finding security or what they thought was security. How sad. Hopefully the security is worth it. But often it ends up that you spend money on entertainment and vacations to make up for the misery at work which leads to more need for the steady paycheck and on it goes. Locked in.
Wouldn't it be better to find a job that pays that you love and live within your means. A lot easier said than done in our consumer oriented world. I've been really working on this in my own life. Blogs like Get Rich Slowly are sort of about this balance. JD was in a lot of debt and in a job he hated when he had his wakeup call. Now he manages his money very well, on a budget and blogs for a living. It took a lot of research and hard work for him to get to this very enviable place but you know, once you put your mind to something, it's amazing what you can achieve. His wife on the other hand, always managed her money well, is a natural saver and loves her job. Some people manage to get it right the first time. Noooo, not me, I tend to be a person who learns through trial and error. Nothing wrong with that but I am a bit in awe of those who seem to be born with the knowledge of how to live well. They can teach us a lot. On the other hand, as JD has said in his blog, he can't believe he is actually seen as some kind of expert in financial circles these days (and he certainly is!) since he has made many many financial mistakes. But I think that's exactly why people listen to him, he doesn't preach from a place of knowing it all or righteousness, he writes about his own mistakes and what he learned and we don't feel as ashamed of ourselves for the ways we screwed up. Advise is much easier to take from someone like that.
Anyway, I'm still thinking about my own island entrepreneur ideas.
No comments:
Post a Comment