Having a job is so 20th century. And yet, at the same time, I’m *totally* putting the “man” back in manual labour. And here’s how I’m doing it.
First off: you need a copious serving of Bruce Springsteen. He was - and still is - the “Boss” after all. Springsteen’s magic is that he captures in poetry and song the life of the workin’ man. Even his nickname, the Boss, is related to work, employment, and labor. It’s all right there. And what you’re going to be doing is mastering your inner Springsteen so you can become your own boss.
Second: get rid of everything you think you know about how jobs work. Jobs might work such and such a way for other people, but you can have your jobs work for you anyway you want them to.
Here’s how I’m doing it: I am trying to gain skills instead of trying to get jobs or earn money. Let’s take a look at why that’s an important difference in this day and age…
When I got back from working at a summer stock theatre this summer, I sent out many enthusiastic cover letters to local theatres expressing my excitement over the experience working in theatre I gained this summer and fishing for job openings. What I didn’t realize at the time was that my phrasing wasn’t quite accurate to how the industry operates on a day-to-day level. Most small theatres don’t have a large regular tech crew - if they have one at all. Technical people in theatres tend to work on a piecemeal freelance basis. A gig here, a gig there - some better than others, some higher paying and longer duration. With scenic carpentry - the discipline I’m currently specializing in - demands vary on a per-show basis depending on what scenery is called for by the action in the script and incorporated into the design by the scenic designer. The technical director then fleshes things out with more elaborate plans and measurements and taps their regular carpenters to do most of the work. At our theatre, regular carpenters tend to only work a couple days a week, and due to show needs or scheduling variations, other people may be called in to fill in here and there. This is what I’m doing. The industry term for it is “overhire”, meaning people who are brought in on a temporary and often contractual basis to meet needs in excess of what can be accomplished by regular full or part time staff.
So that’s currently my main gig I’m pursuing: doing carpentry in a theatre because I’m enjoying it the most. But alongside it, I’m trying to use my new theatrical experience to leverage into other types of positions within theatres around town; I applied for a sound technician gig at another place, whose ad emphasized that enthusiasm and reliability are more important to bring to the job than tons of experience. Haven’t heard back anything yet on that one, but the point is to have a lot of irons in the fire: and each time you gain new experience or access, to try to use that to open up new vistas.
The key is not to think linearly. Jump laterally and diagonally. Look at things related to what you want to do, be or learn. In my case, theatre stuff ties in closely with special events. I recently found an afternoon gig on Craigslist helping a guy set up a booth for a craft festival at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. I got paid a good wage and was bought a good lunch, learned how to adapt my working style to somebody with very specific needs, learned a bunch of interesting things about business which could be applied across many fields, and made a contact which has already promised me at least one more day of work in the future.
Let’s review: don’t look for jobs, seize opportunities to learn, to improve yourself, to gain experience. Work to learn, not to earn. The money will always follow someone with many skills. In this New Depression Era (NDE), everyone must become a juggler. Fewer and fewer companies will be able to pay full-time employees. Everyone will be taking on lodgers and odd-jobs, cost-saving devices, tricks, gags and gimmicks to make ends meet. You might have a cottage industry, you might grow food you sell to neighbors at the cross-roads. People who have many skills and abilities can trade those skills and abilities for hard goods and tangible edible things like food, long after inflationary debt-based economics has gone out the window.
Learn how to make opportunities. Listen closely to those around you. Figure out how you can help them. Offer to work for free in exchange for a chance to learn and help out. If you’re worth anything, you’ll soon learn how you can make money. If not, you’ll move onto something else you’re better at, more interested in. Learn how things work; figure out how to make them work better. Practical skills are where it’s at; add constantly to your skills bank. Give everything you got; stay sharp. Ask and ye shall receive. Wait and you shall go wanting.
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[...] With that formally begins my new shift in approach towards jobs which I began exploring in a recent written piece. My aim is to put myself into learning positions as my job. To learn how to do things from the people who know best, and to let the money figure itself out as needed. I’d like to write a chronicle of my experiences and share it here as both a way of cataloguing and reflecting on what I’ve done and where I’ve been and also hopefully as a means of inspiring other people to have the freedom in their life to do the same. [...]