I have an overwhelming desire to go “off the grid.” To leave the life of corporate America and make my living off freelance things until I (god-willing) make it as a full-time writer. It’s a desire I’ve been toying with for oohhh six plus years.
And yet for the past six plus years I have moved from job to job without so much as a one week break. One time I actually stopped one job and started a new one on the same day (1/2 day morning at one, 1/2 day afternoon at the other). This is in part because I’m one of those Millennial grads with negative life savings, a healthy pile of student loans and a degree for the industry that pays its entry-level work force in experiences. I haven’t technically had the luxury of going boho.
But that’s mostly an excuse. Plenty of people get by without corporate jobs, and some of them even make more money than I have over the past six years. Plenty of people are waitresses, bartenders, tutors, or nannies. Some people work part time as a receptionist and cover the rest of their living costs by writing articles for blogs or magazines. I used to know a guy in Brooklyn who was a personal trainer so he could afford to be an actor. Those people pay their rent, contribute to their student loans, and manage all the other life expenses that have had me tied to a 9-7 since I graduated from college. That’s because those people can handle the life of a bohemian (a word I’m falsely using as a catch-all to describe people who do not make a living inside a traditional corporate or business structure. Please just go with it).
I’m not entirely sure that I can.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of leading an alternative lifestyle as I struggle to find enough time to pursue my writing projects. Every non-desk-job prospect seems like the smarter path to finding more time for creative pursuits. Plus, I’ve worked many a make-money job in my time – the hostess/waitress/Banana Republic employee type. It’s nothing I can’t handle, and I’d go so far as to say I was a better waitress than I’ve ever been Microsoft Office Suite user.
And yet no matter how much I long for the bounce-around lifestyle so many Angeleno slashies (i.e. actress/waitress/shopgirl) have successfully mastered, I’m terrified to take that leap. I think there’s a chance I’d make a crappy bohemian. Insane, I know!! My Pinterest Boards are super eclectic, and I can make no fewer than five other accessories out of a vintage scarf (including a handbag!!). I’ve never had a ton of money, don’t need much to be happy and actually think Ramen noddles are delicious. Plus I’m really excellent at structuring my extra-curricular time (barring re-runs of So You Think You Can Dance popping up).
So then what’s my hang up? Why am I so sure I’ll fail if I attempt to make it without a real business card? Here’s what I can come up with, fully un-aided by a self help book!
- I’m uncomfortable in a world without titles. My mother is a Director of Curriculum. My father is a Creative Director. My friends are accountants, doctors, lawyers, teachers, directors of development, urban planners. Right now I’m a something too – I’m a director of branded entertainment – something that has cultural capital in a world where people “get” what you do by the title of your job. If I become a writer-who-hasn’t-sold-anything-and-gets-by-on-several-odd-jobs, where does that leave me in the eyes of the world? I have an expensive education. Shouldn’t I have a job title to match?
- I don’t think I’d feel stable without salaried income. This one’s somewhat legit, somewhat neurotic. I’ve never not known exactly where my next paycheck is coming from and how much money it will contain. The thought of getting by on a series of jobs – waitress?, script reader?, freelance writer? – is scary because I have real bills to pay and don’t have the luxury of a benefactor on speed dial. My friend Erica owns her own publicity firm – a move she bravely made after years working for other PR companies. “You can’t fathom how motivated you’ll be to make money once you’re fully responsible for the money coming in,” she told me the last time I went through this same freak out. Maybe she’s right. Maybe she’s wrong. I may or may not ever know.
- I wonder if it will actually be as glorious as it is in my head. What if the bohemian life is actually more frustrating than corporate life? What if you think you’ll have more time to write, but you actually work far more hours trying to pay the bills? What if being disconnected from colleagues at a company is actually really lonely? What if you never wear another blazer again because bohemians don’t have a need to wear blazers??
Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I selfish? Am I naive?
If your life is like the vague catch-all term I’m using to describe non-traditional, please share your feelings on the matter. And if your life is like mine, please contact me so we can hang out and complain about the desire to have a less stable life during this country’s least stable economic period in recent history. I’ll pick the bar.
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So where is this bar you are supposed to be picking? I’m feeling very much in the same boat, and for pretty much the same reasons. Also, I can’t actually make stuff out of vintage scarves, but I can mcguyver random tools when need be.
I’ve never had a 9-5…well I temped for three weeks at a law firm and I felt awesome at the beginning and like a drone by the end, so here’s my perspective, that of an actress/waitress. Some weeks money is fine, but the weeks when it is not are very stressful, if you are a budget-er (and I read that you are, haha) it is very difficult because you just don’t KNOW how much money you’ll make. Time goes by a lot faster than you think it would and less can get done. BUT, if you have a few jobs lined up, and can get a restaurant job (or something else that is regular, but flexible) then maybe it’s the right time to try it. Daytime spent out in the daylight is lovely, and LA is full of people who have these lifestyles, so it’s hardly lonely, and you might fall in love with your new life. I know nothing else.
🙂
As a writer who left the full-time workforce at age 27 and drifted around temping and freelancing for 14 months before returning to the traditonal workforce, I have to advise against ever taking that route unless you have some kind of trust fund situation (especially in this economy). Living paycheck to paycheck gets scary really quickly,and all the pacing around, worrying about finances ended up distracting me from my writing.
My husband sort of falls into this category…he’s a freelance proofreader. Maybe not quite so bohemian, but he doesn’t always know where the money is coming from. His work weeks tend to be full of ups and downs: one minute he thinks he’ll never work again and the next it’s a deluge. I think any career move can be successful with planning and network building, especially if you are a logistics person. When he switched to freelancing full time I was scared we’d have trouble because I work for a nonprofit, but we’ve planned and made it work.
More than anything, I would be worried that I would develop a Hippy Smell. And Jippy Smell doesn’t wash off very easily.
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i’m a big fan of planned bohemia. for instance, if you know you NEED to make X dollars in order to pay for your car, insurance, rent, and student loan payment, then you MUST have a job that accomplishes that, even if you are bohemian. So that may be bartending, waitressing, retailing, personal assisting, etc. And that monthly income must at least slightly excede your bills.
And THEN, in order to buy clothes and drinks and dinners, and fun, you will have to work to sell your writing. At least that is how i run my bohemian life:) it allows you to have a practical job and a passion job.
i’m a big fan of personal assisting bc you can be an independent contractor, make your own hours, AND you can choose to work for someone or several people in your industry. Mon, Wed, Fri for one client. Tues and Thurs for another client. Nights and weekends for writing and selling. Then if you become more successful in writing, you can slowly cut back your client hours.
Sometimes, if you’re good at what you do, and you are, you can parlay your assisting job into a better position for whomever you work for. And sometimes, they become interested and invested in your passion job. Lot of possibilities!
Love, Nellie
I just stumbled upon your blog and I have to say that I think we are the same person! I feel like this every day and I’m constantly thinking about how I want to pursue writing, creative projects, and a more personal line of work (like teaching, disaster relief stuff, working with disadvantaged people,etc.) instead of my current desk job that pays very well. But I owe over 60 thousand in student loans, I have a ton of credit card debt, I live in the expensive city of D.C., and I come from an average to low income family. I have big (but low paying) dreams that I know will bring me personal fulfillment but for all the same reasons you described, I’m scared shitless of pursuing. I HEAR YOU. I think there’s a lot of us out there too.
I freelanced the first year out of college and it was AWFUL. For one, it was 2008 and the start of the recession, but also I was so unprepared it was sad and painful and I may or may not have slight PTSD about it. But here I am, two years of a 9-5 and so much more experience later, trying it again. I’m currently in my third week of part time + freelancing, and it’s a tentative “so far so good.” If you’re interested, I started a blog about it (and let’s be honest I would fangirl so hard if you read my blog).
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