I've decided to attempt a theory here, or at least a semi-formed-thoughty-thing..
Ok, so what if you have no job and are not in college? Well then you're unemployed. But what if you work for yourself? Well then you're self employed. What if you don't get paid? And thus self unemployment is born!
Basically I'm using this word to refer to anyone who does payable work but is temporarily unpaid for it; writers who are not yet recognised, artists of the same ilk, pre-entrepreneurs, etc.
As frustrating as it sounds, I am happy to announce that I have very recently joined the ranks of the self unemployed. I have decided to start up a Super Secret Business-y Thing. Needless to say, the Super Secret nature of the Super Secret Business-y Thing won't be super secret when the business is actually started, but for now I'm keeping it reasonably quiet so as not to build up expectations.
As a self unemployed person (or untrapreneur, if you will) I have a lot of work to do and not much immediate reward for it. It's a bit like running a marathon and being given a lottery ticket as your prize with no guarantee it'll win. Now in theory, the further you run the more likely you'll be given the winning ticket, but you have to prepared for your prize to be 'experience' or 'the warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you got this far'. Needless to say, these things sort of suck.. but they do give you more motivation to run as far as you can for that damn ticket.
I'm in a bit of a bind here though.. between doing my leaving cert on a 10-hour week and not really doing much after that point, I haven't had a rigid 9-5 style day since I was about 15. Even though I don't really have a deadline to meet for the moment, I'm all too aware of the fact that I won't be able to shut down the business for few weeks "because I'm sleepy" once it's up and running. For this reason, as of next week, I'm forcing myself to work as if I have a boss to look busy for. I'm not looking forward to it, but at least I get to write more. And the King's stinking son can't fire me if I don't stick to it.Here's the plan so far:
7.00am:
- Wake up.
- Wake Will up (sorry Will).
- Normal morning-y things.
8.30am:
- Walk to Super Secret Location (probably a library or something).
- Do Super Secret Prep and research and contact Super Secret People.
10:30am:
- Practice writing (in theory to improve my correspondence skillage, actually to write self-pitying blog posts)
12:00pm:
- Lunch break!
- Go home, eat.
- Rest
2:00pm:
- Get to work practising necessary Super Secret Skills, probably whilst watching NCIS.
5:30pm:
- Start cleaning, prepping dinner, baking, and all in all being the good little housewife I am (come on Siobhán, you wrote a whole post on feminism like 5 minutes ago..)
So, think it'll work?
It would take a miracle.
And Billy Crystal isn't here to save the day..
Until he gets here though, I need sleep. So for now, bu-bye!
