The last post about revenue generating focused mainly on
things I do to generate revenue to support my living free lifestyle. Those
ideas only represented a very small spectrum of the opportunities that are
available. Since each of us has our own unique and individual definition of
what living free is all about, there is no single revenue generating method
that fits all. Additionally, there are a number of variables that each of us
has to consider.
Allow me to list some of the variables we must each
consider:
How do I define living free for my life?
How old am I?
What is my gender?
What talents was I born with?
What specialized training and education do I have?
What jobs have I had and what skills have I developed?
What hobbies and avocational interests do I have?
What do I love and enjoy doing?
Do I have some other form of income (Social Security,
pension, trust fund, inheritance, etc.)
Where do I live?
Will I be in a fixed, permanent location or will I be a nomad
of some kind?
Do I want to work with my hands, my mind, both?
Do I have any physical limitations - wheelchair bound,
blind, deaf, require a cane or crutches?
Will you require and are you willing to obtain more
education or special technical training?
Do you prefer to be self-employed, work for someone else or
be a contractor?
You may have some other questions that are more personal to
yourself and your own unique situation. Add them to the list and answer them.
Each of these questions and your honest answers to them will help define and
focus your interests and reveal the right opportunities for you. If you're like
most people you've only worked in as few as one field to as many as several,
but none of these may have been something that would have been you first (or
second, third or more) choice that your passionate about and that you want or
wanted to do for the rest of your life.
Of course, there are all kinds of individual circumstances
that have held priorities in your decision to accept whatever you've done in
the past and may currently be doing. If you can be honest with yourself, the
chances are that most of your decisions were determined by economic pressures.
To be more specific, you needed a revenue source to pay your rent or mortgage,
car payments, put food on the table, clothes on your back, cover medical
expenses, insurance and other necessities. If you had/have a family, those
pressures are even more defined and restrictive.
But, if you're reading this blog, you have some definitive
interest in changing your life in some significant manner. I believe the bottom
line is that we all want to be personally free. I believe it's a basic human
instinct and drive. Unfortunately, we live in a society and at a time in the
continuum of human development where we have changed from free-ranging
"hunter-gatherers" to very much, niche defined
"hunter-gatherers."
We no longer have to take our bows and arrows, spears and
sling shots out on the hunt to procure our meat. We simply go to the
supermarket and pick it out of the meat case already slaughtered, cut up and
packaged. The same holds true for our vegetables, fruits and berries. We don't
have to go out to find and pick them or till the soil, plant and harvest them.
That's all done for us. We each have some form of defined niche that we call a
job (or a business) where we do something productive for the good of the
collective and that allows us to generate revenue to acquire the necessities of
life including food, clothing, shelter, transportation, etc.
There is certainly much positive to say about our modern
society and the myriad methods of providing the large variety of meat, poultry,
fish, vegetables, fruits and berries. It goes without saying that everything we
once had to do individually to sustain our lives is now done by efficient,
effective methods and industries. You fill one of those highly defined niches
as your part of the collective. Of course, this has redefined the definition of
personal freedom and what it means to live free.
Unless you live in a very isolated location with little or
no contact or access to the advanced, contemporary society that has spread
around the planet, your personal freedom is greatly diminished. One of the many
expectations of modern society is that everyone will, in one manner or another,
be a productive, contributing member of the society and that is how it should
be and must be for everyone to survive and hopefully thrive. It requires that
we have at least one means of generating revenue to function in the society to
purchase the meat, vegetables, clothes, shelter and so on. We become very
judgmental and view anyone who chooses not to be productive, as we have come to
define it, as anti-social, a non-conformist and a thorn in the side of society.
The question is, at this point in time, if you're doing one
or more things you've chosen to do in this niche defined society that you don't
enjoy doing, why are you doing it? Would you not feel freer and happier if you
were able to do something that you'd love doing? It would have to be something
that you'd even consider doing for free, but are able to generate some revenue
from it. Yes, there actually are millions of people around the world doing
exactly that. There are, of course, other questions and considerations that may
enter your picture, but life is all about choices anyway, so why not choose to
be freer and happier.
Here is another list of opportunities (as opposed to calling
them jobs) to consider:
Writer Teacher
Trainer Dancer
Music Composer Music
Performer
Carver Sculptor
Painter (art) Inventor
Architect Construction Worker
Sales Person Consultant
Speaker Voice Actor
Actor Theatrical Director
PowerPoint Specialist Graphic
Designer
Web Designer Book Designer
Handy Man/Woman Home
Care Giver
Nurse (Travel or Fixed Location) Food Server
Cook/Chef Interpreter
Travel Consultant Tour
Guide
Tutor Ebay/Amazon Marketplace Sales
Tour Bus Driver RV Ferry Driver
Truck Driver Taxi Driver
Child Care Pet Care
Pet Groomer Pet Photographer
Photographer Nature Photographer
Industrial Photographer Videographer
Documentary Maker Computer Technician
Mobile RV Repair Technician Vehicle
Detailer
Oversize Load Pilot Car Driver Conference Recording Tech
Paralegal Court Reporter
Nature Hike Leader Editor
Delivery Driver Mechanic
Inventory Taker Shelf Stocker
Financial Planner/Consultant Treasure Hunter/Salvage Diver
This is a diverse list of avocational opportunities, for
sure. They are off the cuff. I put them on the list as I thought of them. Most
all of them can be done at a fixed location for those individuals who don't
have nomadic tendencies. However, most of these opportunities can be employed
by nomadic travelers to find opportunities as you travel from place to place.
Obviously, some require special training or education. Others require certain
skill sets and some require specialized tools or equipment. Some may require
special licenses.
This is only the first of a number of lists of ways to
generate revenue. Some of these ideas may not be very appealing at first
glance, but there are many facets to most of them. You may also look at them
and say, "Hey, I'm a lawyer or a doctor or a college professor, do you
know how much money I make and how much I'd have to give up to do any of these
things?" Of course I do. As noted previously, I have both a bachelors and
masters degree. Both degrees allow me to work in careers that are considered
professional and could earn me a nice income.
Once again, the choice you have to make is whether you're
happy and free being a lawyer, doctor, professor or whatever it may be that
you're currently doing. If you are, then you don't need to read any more of my
posts on revenue generating for a living free lifestyle. If you're not happy
and you're reading these posts, then you're searching. I'm simply providing
ideas.
I knew an attorney in New York. He was not happy providing
legal services. He lived well and had most of the trappings of success, but he
wasn't happy and he didn't feel free. One day a small greasy spoon style diner
became available. He bought it, closed his law practice and became the short
order cook in his own diner. He was happier and felt freer then he ever did as
a lawyer. He had found his passion. And, no, he didn't make as much money nor
did he have the status he had when he was a lawyer, but happiness trumped money
and status for him.
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