by Dallas Jennifer Cobb
Have you ever worked at a job that you hated and spent tons of time watching the clock, seeing the minutes grind slowly by? Suspended in time—in a vacuum void of satisfaction, accomplishment, and affirmation—it may have felt like your soul was being sucked out of you. Do you remember how “hard” that job was?
Now look around. How many people do you know of who are miserable, trapped in a job they dread going to each day? Who talks about their hatred for their job or coworkers or has no feeling of accomplishment? Can you see on their faces the burden that performing unsatisfying work places on them?
Statistics show that many people in our society spend the majority of their waking hours doing something they hate and spend their best years in drudgery, working toward the elusive freedom of retirement. A 2013 Gallup Poll surveyed 150,000 working Americans and discovered that only 30 percent actively enjoyed their job or boss, 52 percent described themselves as “disengaged,” and 18 percent were “actively disengaged” and openly expressed their discontent. The statistics suggest that a combined total of 70 percent of working Americans don’t like their jobs.
There are many reasons cited for dissatisfaction: workplace harassment, abuse, unsafe working conditions, poor pay, little opportunity for advancement, and a lack of growth, learning, or positive engagement. And surely there are many more.
For a moment, imagine what all that hating, drudgery, clock watching, and dread is doing to the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health of all those people. Now consider the havoc that it wreaks on their relationships with family and friends. And what are the spin-off effects—how is work dissatisfaction impacting our larger society?
New World Economy
With a failing economy, the disappearance of manufacturing jobs, and the rise of Internet-based enterprises, the ability to make money magically will help you to stay flexible and financially manageable through the coming tough times.
I see these as the important factors: shaping your work around your life, creating multiple sources of income, getting paid to do what you would be doing anyway (and might be paying for right now), making money from the tools or things you already own, and learning how to maximize your income by writing off all appropriate expenses. If you can write off some of your “hard” costs of living (like food, clothing, shelter, and transportation), then you will actually save more of your hard-earned money.
Make Magic
We all need to make money to pay our bills and provide for ourselves and our loved ones, but does work really have to be so hard? What if it were possible to live and enjoy life while working at things we love to do? What if work was something enjoyable, engaging, and rewarding? What if we could seek pleasure, and make money magically?
If the old quote from Dion Fortune is true, then “magic is the art of changing consciousness at will.” Popularized by Starhawk, who added that sometimes it is called “the art of evoking power-from-within,” magic is our ability to change our own consciousness at will by engaging our personal power of choice and then acting upon that.
Think about using magic to change your relationship to work. Imagine the real and lasting changes it could bring to you, your health, and your life. And pause and think about the ripple effect it could bring to your relationships and all arenas of life and society.
We can transform money making from work to pleasure.
Endings and Beginnings
I used to overwork. I had a job that I liked and made good money. But it was all that I did. Work dominated my life. I worked long hours, banked lots of money, and did little else. I was single, alone, childless, and lonely. I came home each evening after work and prepared so I could return to work the next day. Work consumed all of my vital energy.
Sometimes great beginnings come disguised as dramatic endings. It can be forced job loss through firing, downsizing, or company closure; it can be ill health or an injury that renders us unable to perform the job; it can even be emotional or mental health that demands we make a change.
For me, the change came in the form of a car accident in which I sustained a brain injury. My memory was affected, my energy level was grossly diminished, and my filtering mechanisms and emotional control were totally skewed.
I was a mess. I could no longer work in the way I had previously, but I wasn’t fully disabled and did not qualify for disability benefits. I still had to work to provide for myself, but I had to learn how to work differently.
Just to keep myself on an even keel, I had to place my well-being ahead of everything else. When it came to work, I needed to shape money-making opportunities around my personal health needs by working far fewer hours in quiet and calm environments. I needed work that supported all parts of me and was shaped around sustaining my health.
At first it looked like a tragedy, but now, many years later, I can look back and see that having a serious injury was the best thing that ever happened in my life. As recovery from injuries takes a long time and happens slowly over months and years, the recovery of my money-making ability also took years, and it happened slowly, one layer at a time.
Shape Work Around Your Life
I realized I needed to change how I worked and to learn to “put myself at the center” so that my basic needs were the primary consideration. With a brain injury, I needed to be able to sleep and rest at regular intervals; eat nutritious, regular meals that nourished me; and create quiet, low-stimulation environments at the center of my work life. I wasn’t capable of eight-hour days or five-day weeks. I couldn’t cope with noise, interruptions, or high demands.
I initially looked for a part-time job. Short shifts, occasionally. I had little stamina or long-term attention. I saw an ad for a job that entailed two three-and-a-half-hour shifts a week and would be done alone. It wasn’t taxing emotionally, psychologically, or mentally. I applied for and got the job and discovered that it was relatively stress-free and that it allowed me tons of self-control at work. Twice a week, I drive a delivery route for the local library system. I move boxes of books from branch to branch between six rural library branches.
Ten years later, I still enjoy the quiet, contemplative practice of driving. I have happy, friendly interactions with library staff as I drop books off to them, and I stay fit, lifting and loading boxes of books. In addition to the hourly wage, I get a mileage amount, plus I’m paid in positive social interaction, physical fitness, and the peace that comes from quiet contemplation. And I am paid well.
We get hung up on the idea of a career and forget that there are lots of satisfying, low-stress, part-time jobs out there. We can find them if we transform our way of thinking about work and how we work. Look around in your community and see if there is something that might be a building block toward sustainability and the first step toward making money magically.
Get Paid to Do What You Love
Once I had been doing the job for a while, I read an article in the Llewellyn’s Herbal Almanac and heard myself thinking, “I could have written that.” I queried the editor and by luck was invited to submit some ideas for an article (as they had just had one author cancel and had an open spot). I had heard that you should “write about what you know,” and with a small baby at home, I knew about making herbal remedies for the baby. I pitched the article and sold it before I even wrote it.
I love to write, and selling this first article opened up the possibility of getting paid to do what I love to do and what I was doing anyway. Now, years later, about one-fifth of my income comes from a wide variety of freelance writing. Not only am I paid to do what I love, but I can write off all kinds of costs associated with writing: books, paper, and pens; computer, printer, and Internet; office space, a portion of my household utilities and expenses, and even travel expenses, when they are related to an article that I can sell. I also have the payment of publication, author’s copies, reader recognition and e-mails, and the joy of getting my name out there in the world.
Create Multiple Streams of Income
I wondered if other aspects of my life could turn into earning opportunities. Because I spent time daily doing the physiotherapy my healing body required, I wondered if I could somehow get paid to work out.
I undertook training that resulted in certification, and now I teach regular classes in the physical modalities that best benefit me: Pilates and functional fitness. The investment of time and money provided the know-how and certification. I qualified for professional insurance and now make about one-third of my income from teaching exercise classes.
Not only do I save all that money I’d been spending to take Pilates classes, now I am paid forty to fifty dollars per class to teach. I also benefit from increased fitness, positive social interaction, and the satisfaction of helping build a caring social community. I write off the cost of my fitness equipment and workout wear; the cost of insurance, advertising, and accounting; and the registration fees to attend conferences and trainings.
Maybe you don’t write or do physical workouts, but perhaps you have hobbies that you love that you can turn into streams of income—generating pottery or paintings to sell, repairing furniture or cars, or growing flowers or vegetables.
And remember, when you do what you love, it’s not just money that you get paid. Look for all the other ways you benefit from your jobs and self-employment. There is so much more than mere dollars.
Earn with What You Already Own
Happy with my part-time job and my exercise classes, I realized from taking write-offs for both of these endeavors that I wanted to find more ways to write off my “hard” costs—the expenses I was going to incur in daily life anyway. The cost of carrying my home wasn’t going away, so I wondered how I could further deduct property and utility costs as expenses come tax time.
My house required minor renovations to separate an apartment from the main house, but with the investment of money (which I was later able to write off against income) I now rent it. The tenant helps with house and yard maintenance in exchange for a moderately reduced rent, so I also benefit from the increased sense of community and collaboration. I have rental income on a monthly basis, and take write-offs against the hard expenses of owning a home. Based on the footage of the apartment, I write off 20 percent of my property and utility expenses against the rental income I earn.
With the rise of the digital economy, many people have started to rent rooms within their homes through AirBnB, and use their personal vehicles as taxis through Uber. With some safety and security systems built in for screening prospective clients, these websites can help you earn from what you already own, a self-sustaining practice.
Making Money Magically
These days, my life is blessed. My body and brain continue to recover, and my entire life is shaped around my deep need to care for myself. By engaging my power of choice and consciously changing my relationship with work, I used my power-from-within to enrich my life.
I work part-time, seven hours a week. I hold an elected office as a school board trustee, and I teach five exercise classes a week, both Pilates and seniors’ functional fitness. I do a variety of freelance writing, model for local art classes, and earn rental income. I have seven different income streams from diversified sources, and enjoy a good economy of both time and money. I am able to determine what my work schedule will look like and have shaped it to support my fundamental human needs. I have lots of breaks between work activities, never work more than a few hours each day, and enjoy a lot of control over my work environments. I have learned to shape my money-making activities around my life.
Since that terrible accident, I’ve moved to the country, bought a house in a magical waterfront village, had a child, planted gardens, and begun to do what I love in many ways. I love my work. I’m rich with relationships, recreation, creativity, self-expression, joy, satisfaction, and health—all factors that were missing previously. And all of these things are made possible because I have learned how to make money magically.