Planning For The Future

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It's past one AM and I should be sleeping, but I'm wide awake, and I suddenly have an urge a need to write.

I'm excited and nervous about up-coming changes in my life.

I'm bidding my time at work, because my days are numbered, and it's giving me time to set myself up for a better life; one more suited to my particular - hmm  what should I call them?  For lack of a better word, let's just go with "quirks".

Really, I don't know why I'm bothering to mince words, lets call a spade a spade: a life more suited to my very own brand of crazy.

I will be getting some money from being "surplussed", so I've decided to start that empire I've been dreaming of.

First off, I want to start a small restaurant.  Something that caters to professionals, open Monday to Friday, early morning until mid-afternoon.  My hubby is an amazing chef, and I'm confident that our combined knowledge of the restaurant business, customer service and amazing food will be a recipe for success.

Starting this kind of business is no easy task.  I'd been hoping for some guidance from my old boss and mentor, but sadly, he passed away recently.  He was a great man, and I will remember him fondly forever.

I contacted a local organization that helps women find employment, as they have a mentoring program that teaches you how to launch your business.  I'm going to an information session next week, and then I can register for their program, which seems to be a course offered in three stages, each lasting 7-10 days.
I'll know more after the session, but I'm optimistic that this will be exactly the guidance I need to navigate this unchartered territory.

I just flashed back to a session with the psychologist I saw last year, one where he told me he thought it would be a terrible idea for me to own a business, that the anxiety would eat me alive.

Ha!  I laugh in the face of danger!

No, but seriously, my current meds are doing wonders for me, and while I still have bouts of anxiety and moments of utter despair, it is nothing like the all-consuming fire that used to engulf me.

There's also the fact that I don't think I'm ever going to be happy in a work environment where I'm not the boss.  Also, I feel like we will always be stuck in dead-end jobs due to our lack of education, and this is an opportunity for us to make a better future for ourselves, and our boys.

I've also decided to revive La Fée Licia Face Painting, though I'm still deciding on the best route to take for advertising.  Even if I only got a couple of contracts a month, it pays very well, and I love doing it.  I also like the idea of putting my eggs in more than one basket.

Another venture will be to open an Etsy shop.  If you're not familiar with it, this is a website where you can open your own "shop" within the site to sell your artwork.  It costs pennies to place adds that last for (I think) four months, and they take a (again, I think) three percent commission off your sales.  I think this is a great platform, and the site is well established, so it's sort of like opening a store in a well known shopping mall.  For a beginner, I would say this is a win-win situation.  I don't know if anyone will want to buy my art, but for pennies an ad, it's certainly worth a shot!  Again, even just a few sales a month could help.

Then there's Freelancer.ca, where you can sign up for free.  Employers post various "creative" jobs, and you bid on them.  If you are selected, you start to build a reputation, which in turn helps you win more bids.  It's probably a slow start, but surely worth a try.  I'm always looking for inspiration, and I sometimes do my best work when I'm given a general direction to follow.  Who knows where this path could lead?

Of course, there's always my own writing.  I'm working on writing my first book, an account of my life dealing with bipolar disorder.  I'm still in my first draft, and it's terrible, and choppy, but for now I'm just concentrating on getting stories down on "paper", I'll worry about structure and editing later.

The way I see it, if one of these other ventures takes off, we can hire someone take my place at the restaurant while I'm off on a contract.

My boss used to have this sign by her office that read "A failure to plan is a plan to fail".

It always bothered me when I saw it, because it was a constant reminder that I had failed to plan and was now stuck in a job I absolutely hated.

While the future is uncertain, at least I have a plan, and that's more than I've ever had before.  This is my time.  I will stop taking whatever opportunities I'm offered, and start pursuing (or creating) the opportunities that I desire.

Wish me luck!