It’s time for a change.

When I started this site, I wanted to write about politics and current events. I wanted to branch off and talk a little about my checkered past and maybe write the occasional short-story, just for variety.

My priorities have changed a bit in the last two years.

I have never been terribly satisfied working the standard 8-5 work schedule. I’ve tried working different jobs which had different schedules. I left the corporate world for a couple of years and tended bar. I had a gig with IBM which consisted of project work so that my schedule was constantly changing.

That job was probably the most satisfying job I’ve ever had. It was a contract position. Twelve months, with a possibility of getting it extended another six months. After the extension, the contract terminated and I couldn’t get into another one with them for six months, but I was able top collect unemployment for those months so it was like getting six months of vacation every two years.

I’ll talk more about this job later on. For now, I want to keep it general and get onto what my mission is from this point forward.

No matter what job I was working, I’ve always thought about starting a small business – or several small businesses. I’ve considered pursuing more ideas than I can easily enumerate. On a few occasions, I’ve gone as far as setting up the business entity and developing products (some of which are collecting dust in a storage building). In spite of all this activity,  I never quite got anything lasting established.

I’m sure there have been elements of fear involved. No one likes to fail, especially if they’ve invested time and/or money into a venture and I’m certainly not immune to that. Sometimes I’ve lost interest and the project died of neglect. Sometimes I’ve gotten distracted with something else. I have a wide range of interests and often find it hard to make myself focus on one thing when there are so many other interesting things I could do.

It’s time to change this pattern of not getting it done.

I’m adding a category for my posts on this topic, called “Side Hustle” because whatever I start working on will start as a side hustle. Hopefully, one or more of these things will grow into something more.

This is where I will talk about the ideas I’m considering, pursuing, abandoning, or might want to pursue if I can figure out some details. I’m also going to be working jobs through a temp agency, as well as taking on odd jobs from places like Craig’s List and doing mystery shopping through an agency called The Source (their website seems to be down at the moment). All of these things will allow me to earn money while also getting to explore working in areas I might not have otherwise experienced.

I’ll also be talking about jobs I’ve worked in the past. What I liked about them, and what I didn’t like.

I think there will be value to me in talking about all of these things as a way to organize my thoughts. Having to articulate about an experience can help me understand my feelings about it – which could be useful. With things that I have to do, or that I do as daily, I often slip into auto-pilot mode and don’t really think about what I’m doing or consider any related feelings I might have.

I also would like to make this an outlet where people could offer input and suggestions, people who maybe share with me the desire to cultivate a side hustle or a small business but have just never gotten around to doing it. And maybe input from people who have started small businesses which turned into something more.

And, ultimately, I enjoy writing and this gives me a reason to make time to do it.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thank you for reading. I hope you’ll come back and share this experience with me.