I heard a man just recently say something very similar to this and it really struck me. I had never really thought about how working for others is building their dreams. When this person talked about it, they said they’d rather work 80+ hours a week building their own dreams rather than just 40 hours a week when it’s building someone else’s. My husband has always felt the same way, and I feel quite similar as well. I don’t think it’s bad to work for someone else. It all depends on what your dream is. Maybe you like the flexibility of only working 4o hours and then having the rest of the time off to go do other things. I know a lot of teachers, and one of the reasons a lot of them teach is so that they have the summers off with job stability through the rest of the year. I think it really depends on what you are looking for in life. But I don’t mind working the extra hours for myself or my husband so that we can take time off any time we want to go help, watch kids, whatever the case may be, we don’t answer to a boss so to speak.
I was also reading through the prompts on my blog site just to see what they had in there and I found several very interesting ones. This particular prompt was asking what kind of jobs you had held in your life. That is also an interesting thought to ponder as I have had many jobs where I worked for other people and myself. So I thought I would tell you about some of the various jobs I’ve had over the years.
The first paying job I had I got at the age of 15. It was at a little frozen yogurt shop called Yogurt Junction. It is no longer in business, but I had fun working there for the most part. Originally there were many teenagers working and it was a fun place to be. The original owners then sold it to a new family and it was still fun, but they had less and less people working there, until we had to work our shifts alone. This always made me a little nervous as we were open until 10 pm and it was not a well traveled area in the evenings. My mom would often come and sit in the back booth and read while I finished my shift and closed the shop. I was always grateful she was there. They eventually went out of business.
After that I applied for a number of jobs that didn’t pan out and finally got hired at a Long John Silver’s that was just being built not far from my parents home. I worked there a total of 2 shifts, and had to talk with the manager to even get that much time. They had hired way too many people in the beginning and a number of people besides myself didn’t stay past the first couple of weeks. Interesting enough, they weren’t there very long either, I guess not a big enough town, or not as many people interested in their menu. Now they might have a shot at making it there as the population has increase quite a bit.
About that time I also met my husband and about 1 year later we got married and moved to Alaska. I spent 5 years working on and off for him and learned quite a bit about the construction industry. Intermixed in that was subbing at our local elementary school as well as volunteering there. I enjoyed the elementary school in the winter as it was warmer than where my husband was working! But in warmer weather I really did enjoy being outside quite a bit more.
About 5 years after we were married I became an EMT with the local ambulance and simultaneously got my phlebotomy and EEG certification. Working for the ambulance was one of my favorite jobs of all time, and if I ever went back to work for someone else, I would seriously consider doing that again. I also enjoy poking people with needles, so phlebotomy was fun as well. About the time I finished my phlebotomy class I found out I was pregnant. Consequently I never got a job as a phlebotomist, but that’s one I would consider doing again as well.
While I was pregnant with my first child I worked at a pharmacy. I had a pharmacy tech I certificate, which is basically a cashier but with the ability to handle some medications. I worked with some really awesome people at the pharmacy and really enjoyed my time there. When I gave birth to my oldest however, I decided to quit and stay home with her. Because more than any other job in the world, I wanted to be a mom first and foremost, and I have never regretted that choice.
I had 4 kids in 5 years and stayed at home until my youngest was about 4 years old. A job opening for a recess monitor at the elementary school opened up and I decided to apply for it. I was able to get the job and worked there doing recess as well as subbing, because once you’re there, they usually need people last minute. I quite that job the next year to work with my husband again for season when our last child went to kindergarten. But after that job and over the course of the next 10 years I subbed or volunteered at the school almost every day. The money was nice to help pay bills over the winter when my husband doesn’t have as many jobs. I had a number of people tell me I should go back to school and get my teaching degree, and I believe that had I done that I would probably have easily gotten a job there. But after subbing for years, I knew that really wasn’t where my heart was once my kids left and I decided to pursue other things.
About that time is when I started to learn to paint. After a couple of years I decided to try selling my paintings and had some success. I have been trying to be self-employed ever since. It’s been harder than any other job I have ever had (except mom). There have been many success, many failures, many tears and much joy in the process. I have learned how to create a website, learned so much about how search engines work, learned a lot about marketing (although I’ve only scratched the surface on that). I have developed new products over the years like note cards, stickers, guitar picks, puzzles, shirts and fabric panels for quilts. Some I still sell, others have gone by the wayside. Some I still want to sell, I just need to figure out how to get them made cheaper or how to make them myself. I have also written a couple of books that I’ve self published.
Over the years I have learned that I am not the type of person that can do one job, one career that does the same thing over and over again, for the rest of my life. I would probably go insane. I love variety, and I love that working for myself, or at least trying to do so, gives me a chance to try new things, everyday if I so choose. All the jobs I have had over the years has had an impact on who I am, and I am grateful for what I learned from each one. I am especially grateful for the people I met along the way. I debate all the time if I am doing the right thing, going the right direction, but I really do enjoy working for myself, and the variety. Making money with it all, that’s a different story, but I’m working on that too, every single day.
Stephanie Richey Art 
You must be logged in to post a comment.