Freedom and security
So, I finally made my decision. (If you're not on the friends list, you might not know I had one to make, but I've been wrestling with this in my head for a while, and recently asked friends for advice.) I'm quitting my insurance job. Thank you to everyone who helped me think it through and decide. I canceled my leads service, and I just got off the phone moments ago from telling my boss, who was very understanding. He said I could use him as a reference if I chose, and if anybody called me back later about health insurance, I could forward those people back to anyone in the office who's licensed in MA. They'd cut me a check for 3 months of the commission if they made the sale, which might enable me to recoup some of my business costs.
That should be a very scary decision to make, quitting my job, and it was scary in the process of making it. Now that it's made, though, I feel more relieved than anything else. I don't have to worry about business costs adding up, and whether I will get a paycheck the next week. I have freedom and security now.
Wait, security? For someone who just quit his job in this economy? Yes, security. I'm not going to be unemployed. I'm moving immediately into a new job. Remember discussion of transcription jobs before I took the insurance position? Well, one of them (WayWithWords, based in the UK), had actually officially offered me a job. They took their time doing it, because they took a long break from business over the holidays (Christmas/New Year's), and by the time they finally offered me the position I had already accepted the insurance job. So I refused them at the time, but I contacted them again as soon as I made my decision about insurance. I don't even have to fill out a new application, or retake their tests. I can just pick up where I left off.
Their starting rates have gone down since I last spoke with them, which may mean I won't stay with them as long, but at least it's money coming in. It's steady and predictable. It provides complete freedom -- I receive sound files through the internet, and I type everything up and send it back. I can type it whenever I want, and wherever I want, from home or from a friend's house or college, or from California if I feel like it. It will never, ever interfere with my erratic musical schedule, nor will it prevent me from taking a gig, even on a day's notice. I can look for musical gigs and offer private lessons without relying on them. I can look for other jobs that might offer a higher pay scale, but it will be a stress-free job search, because I will be in a perfectly good financial position while I do it. There will be no urgency.
While I continue to live with my parents, and now that the costs of the insurance business are out of the picture, my church job approximately covers all my expenses. That means that any money I make from transcribing for WayWithWords is discretionary/disposable income. I can spend or save it as I choose, and won't need it just to maintain my basic living situation. In this economy, that is a very good place to be. Freedom and security. Friends and dancing. A place to live, and good food on the table. A continued search for a job that might improve my finances further, but which can take as long as it needs to. I am a very lucky man.
That should be a very scary decision to make, quitting my job, and it was scary in the process of making it. Now that it's made, though, I feel more relieved than anything else. I don't have to worry about business costs adding up, and whether I will get a paycheck the next week. I have freedom and security now.
Wait, security? For someone who just quit his job in this economy? Yes, security. I'm not going to be unemployed. I'm moving immediately into a new job. Remember discussion of transcription jobs before I took the insurance position? Well, one of them (WayWithWords, based in the UK), had actually officially offered me a job. They took their time doing it, because they took a long break from business over the holidays (Christmas/New Year's), and by the time they finally offered me the position I had already accepted the insurance job. So I refused them at the time, but I contacted them again as soon as I made my decision about insurance. I don't even have to fill out a new application, or retake their tests. I can just pick up where I left off.
Their starting rates have gone down since I last spoke with them, which may mean I won't stay with them as long, but at least it's money coming in. It's steady and predictable. It provides complete freedom -- I receive sound files through the internet, and I type everything up and send it back. I can type it whenever I want, and wherever I want, from home or from a friend's house or college, or from California if I feel like it. It will never, ever interfere with my erratic musical schedule, nor will it prevent me from taking a gig, even on a day's notice. I can look for musical gigs and offer private lessons without relying on them. I can look for other jobs that might offer a higher pay scale, but it will be a stress-free job search, because I will be in a perfectly good financial position while I do it. There will be no urgency.
While I continue to live with my parents, and now that the costs of the insurance business are out of the picture, my church job approximately covers all my expenses. That means that any money I make from transcribing for WayWithWords is discretionary/disposable income. I can spend or save it as I choose, and won't need it just to maintain my basic living situation. In this economy, that is a very good place to be. Freedom and security. Friends and dancing. A place to live, and good food on the table. A continued search for a job that might improve my finances further, but which can take as long as it needs to. I am a very lucky man.