So this begs the question, what are my options? I've noticed lately a lot of young "bloggers" who have managed to turn their blogging habits into a full-time gig. Obviously this is partly due to allowing advertising on their blogs, linking to other sites, etc. But I don't really understand how a hobby like blogging can morph into an income that can support a person or even a family. This completely elludes me. Of the millions of people out there with a blog (myself included), there are probably several thousand who have managed to turn theirs into an income. I found one blog yesterday where a young woman earns her entire living by writing funny posts and selling novelty items with screenprints of her silly drawings. There's also a young couple who support themselves and their new baby by blogging and making TV and press appearances on the topic of fixing up their new house. More power to them, but how the heck does that work?! If anyone has any ideas as to how this comes about, please do let me in.
Aside from travel writing, which I love but seem to have no talent for, I can't imagine being able to entice others to read my ramblings enough to make a living, but I do like that technology can open employment doors. Leigh and I often talk about how nice it will be when we can sneak off to our Merida House for weeks at a time and work from a distance. In fact, Leigh's company has an office in Merida, of all places, so options really do abound thanks to technology and companies putting employee quality of life at a new premium these days (ex: the ROWE movement). What's more, flexibility for education is on the rise these days with various alternatives that bridge the gap between traditional public school and homeschooling.
Something that always seems attractive to Leigh and I is starting a business together so we can have the same schedule and flexibility and make it our special project. We've talked about opening a hostel someplace with a low cost of living, providing joint services in our related professions, doing contract work in our professions (for flexibility and mobility) or maybe starting a vacation rental/real estate business. I like all of these ideas. They combine my favorite things: travel, time with family, interesting destinations, being my own boss and making my own schedule.
Here's the problem: I'm 25. I have student debt in the 6 figures and I need to get some work experience. Leigh is just now getting into her true calling (accounting) and needs time to get her license and develop. So, for now, we're resigned to working for The Man. Yeah, getting to work at 8:30 every morning sucks. Working 5 days a week in the same environment sucks. Getting designated vacation time really sucks. But the pay is steady, benefits are included, and we are young. So we're using this time to build our careers and our savings. When we're ready we can make our move.
That doesn't mean we have to put our adventurous spirit on hold. In fact, we've brainstormed a series of amazing experiences for the next 5-10 years alone. First up is a tentatively scheduled trip to Southeast Asia. After that we'll be thinking about starting a family, which will slow things down for a few years but not entirely, because I'm hoping to attend business school in France for 2 years. Then, and I think I've successfully convinced Leigh of this, I'd like us to occasionally pull the little one(s) out of school for sabbatical types of experiences. A few ideas close to my heart include long stays in Burgundy, France to experience Taize , driving the Pan American Higway through North, Central and South America, and my most hair-brained idea yet to travel the Silk Road from China through Egypt to Turkey and Greece.
I firmly believe that we will find a way to take leave/work from a distance during these times and arrange flexible schooling for the [prospective] kids. I also firmly believe that there's more to be gained from these experiences than from attending a school filled with distractions and likely sub-par instruction... but I digress.
With all this talk of the future I often lose sight of the immediate road ahead of me, but knowing where I'd like us to end up helps us to best choose the path we take today. So for today we focus on doing well at work, finding me a permanent job after my clerkship, starting a serious savings account, and planning the SE Asia trip. The rest will come with time and, as I've come to learn already, in life things rarely turn out exactly as you planned but the result is usually wonderful in its own right.
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