by Robert L. Gisel
“vital (vit'l) adj.
1.Of or characteristic of life: vital processes.
2. Necessary to the continuance of life; life sustaining: vital functions...”
Having money, a regular and predictable income of, is necessary and even vital to one's life. That goes without saying, until it comes to leaping off a regular job into a new activity.
For the establishing entrepreneur, the self employed, the artist, the innovator, this may seem unfortunate or inopportune. Even the most worthy of non-profit organizations require an an input to its finances and more so to its start-up phase. Whether it begins with one's own stash of funds, pay-as-you-go cash flow funding, OPM (other people's money), a line of credit, venture capital, even charity or good will there will will be money involved.
It has been proposed on several blog sites that working at a “day job” just for money and particularly where this does not fulfill one's dreams and desires for happiness is a dead-end road. Yet without the vital regular income to keep putting food on the table one cannot live at all. Witness the homeless bum with his hand out.
Money is an energy and energy is required for any motion or activity. Whether it comes in Dollars, Pounds, Yen, gold, uranium or a carton of eggs there has to be an exchangeable value. This is what motors the world. That's our universe.
Unlimited excesses and huge abundances of capital supposes far more funds than could be consumed in the next great project. Unless you have already produced such or inherited it you are still left with the searing question: how much money do you have to have in order to acquire a world of freedom and joy where having enough money is no longer even a passing consideration?
The answer to this varies condiderably as each person's desires and circumstances are individual. Once a hypotheses of mine that there could be a set formula for funding requirements for an initial business activity, I was expecting a neat and handy service for business consulting. But the period in the red is different for each business. Not accounting for enough time in the red can be the death toll of a new activity. Just witness this factor in the high rate of new business failures.
So if you don't want to be a slave to an employment only tolerated lest you go homeless or starve, what do you do?
Be a deaf, dumb, blind kid that sure plays a mean pinball.
I joke, but seriously, it has truth to it: you have to be a wizard at something. In some way you have to create a phenomenal proposition.
You don't have to a demi-god but you do have to propose something exceptional. If not, you can learn and learn well enough to set your something apart from other somethings. Short of that you can always piggy-back onto the genius of others and find a unique or overlooked zone to franchise another's already created wealth builder.
Find the uniqueness of what you love to do. What makes it different? What lights your bells and makes you feel alive? What is all-out fun for you? That you should contemplate how to do for a living, and program out the steps to get there. The simpler and more direct the approach the better.
If it is a dream worth having it is a dream worth going for for all it is worth.
Time versus money.
Could you live on $10,000? $10,000 a year? Only if you can live on $833 a month.
It is said that you should have enough in reserves to cover your expenses for 6 months in case you lose your job. Six months might not be enough. Where it takes longer to get a job or the income you are expecting to make takes longer you'll need more reserves. Still, ruthlessly taking a percent off the top of every paycheck and setting aside to build such reserves, well aside where you are not tempted to spend it, is a good plan. Create a cushion for your future.
Bills will come in, rent needs to be paid and you must have money for food and the routine costs of living, weekly or monthly. You can spend less, but only to a point. Nice-to-have expenses can be foregone but not essentials. Sustainable life happens when you have adequately more income than the monies that must go out.
There are ways to establish a side income or residuals that do come in timely enough to keep the monthly expenses covered. Then following ones dreams is not only feasible but lends happiness in the doing. Working for yourself at what you love is very fulfilling. Keep plotting at that until you achieve success.
Do that well and you will win the hundred yards. But don't give up your "day job" until there's sufficient money to sustain yourself while the main game catches up. Living on the street might be adventurous, but it isn't fun.
