Work That We Enjoy

Yesterday, I addressed my comments to the self employed. I fully realize that most people do not want to be self employed. Many people just want to clock in, make 40 hours pay for 40 hours work and then go home. They don't like their job, but just like the steady paycheck.

There are also other people who really like their job, but their relationship with it is simply trading time for a paycheck.

I have also had times in my life where I worked for companies that offered a really valuable product or service to the customers, and when I was doing those jobs, I was totally committed to doing it well and was not searching for anything else.

For a brief period of my life, I worked as a picture framer for an art gallery, and that interlude was one that was really sweet. I came to work every day, simply prepared to do whatever jobs were put in front of me. Someone else handled all the sales. All I had to do was to stay in the shop with one other person, and we took care of getting all the orders out and he taught me what I know about framing. We would talk while we worked and sometimes listen to music, and there was satisfaction in putting each piece together and then seeing the finished product ready to go. Who knows how long I could have done that. I only quit because my then wife wanted to move, and that led me to moving here, and I got my life started fresh, so that was a good thing.

The world needs people who just want to do one job, do it reliably and be happy about it. And some of us, like myself, have managed to work in both parts of the working world at times in our life.

At an earlier time in my life, I worked as a freelance copywriter, and did that for several years until someone offered me a full time job editing a magazine that I was writing for. It has been interesting having done many different types of work.

Some people have spent their whole career working for others, and others have always found a way to be self employed. Some of us have done both. We all have an important part to play.

To me, there is only one factor that applies equally in both realms. I have to enjoy the work in order to keep doing it.