When I was growing up in tiny Janesville, Minnesota, I developed an enormous fondness for the mail. To me, it seemed the most compelling evidence of life outside my village came through our family mailbox at the post office.

I did everything I could think of to increase the amount of mail that arrived bearing my name. I sent away for things advertised in comic books by taping dimes and quarters on little bits of cardboard. I acquired penpals. The quality of the mail I received was far less important than the quantity.

When I began my self-employment journey it was natural to include some sort of mail order component. As a result, daily trips to the post office have been the only regular activity of my business life.

Because the post office has been my partner in business, I’ve always cultivated relationships with the postal workers that I see on a regular basis. I know their names,I know about their families and they know about me.

Even before I moved to Las Vegas, I acquired a post office box with the help of my friend Cheri who was living there. The gang behind the counter is an eclectic bunch and, with one stunning exception, all friendly and fun.

Then there’s Judy. She seldom smiles and frequently scowls when her co-workers are sharing a joke with a customer. I did my best to avoid going to her window, but it’s not always possible to circumvent her.

One day, I made a purchase from Judy and when she handed me my receipt she slipped something else in my hand. I didn’t look at it until I got to my car and discovered she had given me a religious tract. Apparently, she had  decided I needed to  be saved.

I promptly sent a complaint to the postal service via e-mail. The next day, Judy’s manager called me and expressed his horror that she had done such a thing. He promised to discuss the matter with her.

I assume that Judy knew that I was the source of her reprimand (although she may have spread her proselytizing around for all I know) and any time I landed at her window, transactions were conducted in silence. Sometimes I’d let the folks behind me in line go ahead just to avoid an encounter with her.

On the Saturday morning when I went to the post office carrying dozens of copies of Making a Living Without a Job to be mailed, I was slightly dismayed to see that only Judy and one other employee were minding the store.

When my turn came, I was paired with Judy. Several of the books were going to other countries so needed special attention. When she realized what was in the packages, she asked me what kind of books I wrote.

I mumbled something about self-employment and Judy surprised me again by saying, “I want to be self-employed.” I said nothing. She kept processing orders and asked, “How much is your book?”

I told her the price and then (to my further astonishment) said, “I’d like to give you a copy. Maybe it will help.”

“Would you autograph it?” she asked. She was smiling for the first time ever. I assured her I would do that.

I walked out of the post office shaking my head at the unexpected shift in my relationship with her.

Later that day, I returned with more packages to mail and a copy of my book concealed in a gift bag. “You may not want to read this in the employee lunchroom,” I suggested.

Based on my experience with Judy, I would not think she’d make an especially good entrepreneur since she doesn’t seem to like people very much. I could be totally wrong about that, of course.

Perhaps her misery in her current job is simply too great for her to keep it to herself.

Judy reminds me why it’s so important that we make the commitment to discover the work we love and then do it with all our heart.

When we don’t, we inflict our unhappiness on others. We never become masterful. It’s like going through life with a low grade fever that’s not bad enough to keep us in bed, but we don’t feel good enough to operate from our best self.

George Bernard Shaw, who showed us he knew a thing or two about personal transformation in his play Pygmalion, observed,“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

For most of us, that purpose is expressed through our work and if we fail to connect with the work that ignites our imagination and makes us wildly eager to share, we spread a virus of a different kind, one that infects everyone who comes in contact with us.

Yes, it’s that important and the Judys of this world that keep reminding me of that. I only wish that there were fewer of them.

Steven Kalas is a family counselor with a lively practice. He also plays in a band that’s been busy promoting their new CD, but I know Kalas for a different reason: he writes Human Matters, my favorite column in the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Like many people with multiple interests, he’s found ways to incorporate his diverse interests into satisfying ways of making a living.

Of all the ideas in Making a Living Without a Job, none has ever gotten a stronger response than the notion of incorporating eclectic interests into a unique livelihood.

Many people have felt stifled trying to fit themselves into the Single Occupation mold. There’s often a visible sense of relief when I suggest that it’s possible to create a business from diverse passions.

There’s a practical side to the MPC notion, as well: multiple income sources can level out cash flow. No business, no matter how large or small, is immune from the ups and downs of income.

To everything there is a season, including cash flow.

Here are a few more things to keep in mind when planning your potfolio of profit centers.

° They don’t have to all be the same size in order to be valid. Some profit centers will be occasional, some will peak and then decline, some will be major income sources.

° Under one umbrella or separate identities? If your profit centers are completely unrelated (eclectic rather than clustered), you will probably need to have individual identities for them.

You don’t want to confuse your market by clustering things that don’t go together.

 ° If it matters to you, it belongs in your portfolio. If your interests are diverse, you may decide that some ideas aren’t serious enough to turn into a profit center.

More likely, your apprehension comes from the old belief that if it’s fun and pleasurable, it  should remain a hobby.

Nobody tackles this issue better than Steven Pressfield who writes in The War of Art about turning pro. He says, “The conventional interpretation is that the amateur pursues his calling out of love, while the pro does it for money. Not the way I see it. In my view, the amateur does not love the game enough. If he did, he would not pursue it as a sideline, distinct from his ‘real’ vocation.”

° Differing  activities can boost creativity. In the name of efficiency, we’ve turned many of the workers of this world into robot-like machines who show up in the same place at the same time to do the same things day in and day out.

The capacity to think creatively is the first casualty of that system.

Creativity thrives on variety and setting up your profit centers to give you a wide range of experiences is ultimately as good for your imagination as it is for your bank account.

° Take inventory on a regular basis. Many profit centers require a lot of time and attention at their launch, but  become somewhat self-sufficient after that.

It makes sense to review the various projects you’re working on and align your attention with what each one needs.

Sometimes a profit center becomes a noisy child and takes you away from the others.

At other times, you’ll find you’ve grown bored with an idea and it’s time to consider a different future for it.

Every 90 days or so, do a review and make changes where necessary.

° Be wary of multitasking. One way to stay focused, is to assign different days of the week to different projects. When you’re throwing pots, you aren’t writing your pottery seminar, for instance.

° It’s evolution, not instant creation. Profit centers evolve over a long period of time. Ideas morph, new ones show up, old ones have served their time.

The important thing is to create a business that engages your talents and imagination, and pays you to do what you love doing most. As Paul Hawken reminds us, “The business you can succeed with is distinctly and utterly you and yours. It is unlike any other business in the world.”

You have your MPCs to thank for that!

When I woke up on my first day in London, I was happy to have spent the night in a lovely hotel room, not on a park bench. The eleven-hour flight had not included much sleep so my day didn’t begin until mid-morning when the hotel maid knocked on my door.

My plan for the day included two of my Top Ten Favorite Activities. Fortunately, both of these pleasures were happening nearly next door to one another in Piccadilly.

I jumped on the Tube and headed to Waterstones Piccadilly,  a former department store that now is home to over six floors of books. This booklover’s emporium stocks more than 150,000 titles and claims to have eight and a half miles of bookshelves.

After browsing through several favorite sections, I decided to check out the business area. I was delighted, but not surprised, to see that interest in self-employment is alive and well and living in the UK.

Then I noticed a single copy of a book I didn’t know existed called a book about innocent. Since I adore companies that are run with large infusions of whimsy, I have been a fan of the innocent folks since I first encountered them.

For the next hour, I sat in a comfy chair and acquainted myself with the innocent story and things they have learned in building their business which includes all natural smoothies, juices and veg pots.

Their story is one worth studying since the business has grown by repeatedly starting small and trying lots of things. It’s also obvious that fun is a high priority along with bringing healthy products to the marketplace.

I decided to pay for all that pleasure and reluctantly left Waterstones when it was time for my next adventure.

As soon as I got to the street, I noticed the presence of butterflies…not the insects, the kind that accompany stage fright. I was scheduled to speak at 7 PM at St. James’s Church, Piccadilly at the weekly Monday evening event hosted by Alternatives, a lively program entering its thirtieth year of bringing mind, body, spirit speakers to the community.

In the past, I had been in the audience for several of these events listening to speakers that included Mike Dooley, Doreen Virtue and Philip Pullman. Mathew Fox had been there the week before me and Marianne Williams was coming the week after.

I did my best to appear calm as I arrived at the lovely church designed by Christopher Wren and built in 1684.  I was greeted by Tom Cook, an American expat I had met several years ago, who filled me in on how the evening would proceed.

My talk, Self-employment as Your Next Career, would take place in front of the altar which was festooned with enormous bouquets of flowers left over from Easter festivities.

The logistics were fairly simple, but I wondered if anyone would come. Although the marvelous Alternatives program had sponsored several of my seminars in the past, this was my first excursion giving a Monday night talk.

Shortly after 6, people began to saunter in. I sat “off stage” chatting with Richard Dunkerley and Steve Nobel who keep Alternatives running. When I turned around I saw that nearly 200 people had arrived.

Richard introduced me and I was off and running. When my talk ended, Richard brought out a chair, instructed me to sit down, and a long line of people wanting to talk to me formed.

Richard Branson, who knows a thing or two about starting a business, once said, “The world is a massively more hospitable place for entrepreneurs than it was twenty years ago.”

On this lovely London Monday, I had seen evidence of that everywhere.

Forty-five minutes later I was headed back to the Tube, thinking I had just auditioned for my Saturday Making a Living Without a Job seminar. My week was off to a wonderful start.

 

 

While I don’t have any hard evidence, I suspect that many authors have a box like the one in my office labeled Fan Mail. I truly appreciate my readers who have taken the time to let me know that they liked/learned/appreciated something I wrote.

Some fan letters are so unique that I memorize them. One of my favorites came from a reader in Houston who said, “I went to the bookstore to purchase a book on resume writing, but your book made such a commotion on the shelf that it wouldn’t let me leave without buying it.”

I’ve amused my self from time to time imagining Making a Living Without a Job dancing around in a bookstore singing, “Buy me, buy me.”

And, of course, I’ve had my own experiences being snapped to attention by a book that refused to be ignored.

One such encounter happened several years ago when I was browsing in a small bookstore in Minneapolis that specialized in spirituality and personal growth titles. I went into the store with nothing in particular in mind.

A few minutes later, I spied a book by Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer called Creating Money. I picked it up and read the cover notes and scanned the chapter titles. I put it back on the shelf with the reminder that I already owned several metaphysical books on prosperity thinking.

A day or two later, I was in a larger chain bookstore still browsing for a new book to purchase. As I looked over the selection in the personal growth section, I noticed that Borders was also selling Creating Money.

I continued to resist.

A quiet weekend was coming and I still had no book to share it with. I decided to check out the offerings at my neighborhood Barnes & Noble. I don’t recall the section that I was visiting, but as I looked across the shelf in front of me, there sat Creating Money at eye level.

It was misplaced, as if someone had changed their mind and plunked it down as they were leaving the store. I recall thinking, “All right, all right, I’ll buy you.”

Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much from the book. I’d read plenty of others on the subject and was quite happy with the changes I’d made in my relationship with money.

On Saturday afternoon, I sat down and began reading Creating Money. I couldn’t stop. I read it in one long sitting interrupted only by my need to sleep. I resumed reading on Sunday morning and finished the entire book in the early afternoon.

Surprisingly, it was not just a rehash of all the other books I’d read on building a prosperity consciousness. I felt my mind expanding in some new, healthier ways.

What happened next may have been coincidental—or a powerful demonstration about paying attention when good things come our way. At any rate, on Monday morning I had a large, unexpected windfall.

Of course, I was excited. I called a friend to tell her the good news and then promptly ran out and bought a copy of Creating Money and sent it to her.

Almost immediately, another windfall arrived. I gave another copy away and the same thing happened. Opportunities were coming from places I didn’t even know existed.

Maybe this is my new occupation, I mused. Perhaps I could just sit on a street corner handing out copies of the book and keep collecting windfalls.

I stopped myself from testing that idea, but I’ve never ignored another book that catches my attention.

“Wealth is not a matter of intelligence; it’s a matter of inspiration,” said Jim Rohn.

Frequently, that necessary trigger to inspiration is residing in a book that’s trying to get our attention. How do you answer?

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Here’s a terrific article for all of you bibliophiles. Will the home library survive the surge of the e-book?

 

 

 

 

 

My  friend Chris and I loved an old cartoon in which Ziggy declared, “My idea of prosperity is a checking account with commas.” We promptly adopted that as our prosperity symbol.

Feeling prosperous is a highly individual thing and each of us has a different notion of what constitutes prosperity. For many people, alas, prosperity means having more than whatever they currently have.

It’s much healthier to find small reminders that we are creating abundance in our own lives. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

* You use up your deposit slips faster than you use your check blanks. (This may not count if you bank online.)

* You don’t have any bills because you pay them as soon as they arrive and don’t let them accumulate.

* You’re always looking for ways to maximize and utilize what you’ve already got rather than noticing what you don’t have.

* You notice and acknowledge your surplus. As Sondra Ray points out if you have even a few coins in your purse, you have a surplus, yet almost nobody gives themselves credit for that.

As Ray also reminds us, whatever you focus on expands. Focus on scarcity and guess what you get more of.

* You say thank you a lot. Gratitude is not only a sign of prosperity—it’s the way to attract even more.

* You refine your taste by noticing the things you find beautiful and by uncluttering your life to get rid of things that are taking up space but don’t bring you joy. You’re not afraid to create a vacuum.

* You can appreciate the prosperity of others without being envious.

* You keep creating  projects that are both fun and profitable. Here are a few suggestions to add to your portfolio of Money for Fun Ideas.

Start a new collection. Whether it’s Mickey Mouse, antique advertising art or memorabilia from the Nineties, putting together a collection makes everyday life a treasure hunt. And, of course, there’s the possibility that you’re creating a new profit center.

One collector of old books on coins and paper money picked up a stack of books for 50¢ apiece in a bookshop. He later sold one of them for $300 and another for $400. This is the kind of  hobby that pays.

When you collect, you also start building expertise which can lead to other opportunities.

Create a project for which you’ll need a passport. Thinking globally can stretch your imagination and help you discard limiting ideas. If you don’t have a current passport, apply for one now so you are ready to go.

Involve your friends. Invite your entrepreneurial friends to help you with a boring job such as putting out a large mailing. Offer to cook dinner in exchange for an evening’s help. Look how much work got done at quilting bees. Same idea here.

Master the $100 Hour. Begin by making a pact with yourself that you will set aside time daily, if possible, for the purpose of finding an idea that will bring you $100. You’ll find  numerous suggestions for doing just that in the chapter on Getting Ideas in Making a Living Without a Job.

 

While I’ve made no secret about the fact that I spent several years of my life as a genuine self-help junkie, I haven’t talked much about how that led me to quit working for others.

Even though I’m still not certain about all the rewards of that exploratory journey, the biggest gift was discovering things about myself that had been buried, hidden, or ignored. I began trusting my own instincts and came to realize I needed to act on those things I’d uncovered.

Most obvious of all was that I had no business having a job. Not only would I be cheating myself if I continued to be employed, I’d be cheating my employer since I couldn’t ever bring all of myself to the job.

Although my bosses were all happy with my work, they were also clueless about how much more I could have contributed.

At some point, I realized I could continue unhappily working at jobs that bored me or I could turn what might appear to be shortcomings into advantages.

Here are a few of the reasons I’m totally, completely, permanently unemployable.

There are many things I love to do—but almost nothing I want to do day in and day out. This was most apparent with teaching, a top love of my life. When I was expected to teach for seven hours a day, five days a week, nine months of the year, what I loved suddenly wasn’t so lovable anymore.

As a teenager, I’d changed my mind weekly about what I wanted my career to be. Of course, this drove my guidance counselors crazy. “Pick one and stick with it!” was the message.

That struck me as impossible, but I relented and gave it a try. It wasn’t until I began to think about self-employment that I realized I could create a business that incorporated multiple passions.

Commuting makes me crazy. Every job I had involved at least one hour a day of driving. I’ve never calculated how many hours of my life would have been spent that way had I held a job for forty years, but it never seemed a wise use of time to me.

Today, my idea of commuting involves airplanes, preferably with my passport tucked in my purse, headed to a new place I want to explore.

Financial goals mean nothing when someone else determines my income. As I began learning about goal-setting, financial goals were always discussed, but almost meaningless if I was trying to fit my goal into a salary slot.

As I became more entrepreneurial, my ideas about goal-setting changed also. Instead of trying to squeeze my goals into my budget, I discovered it was far more effective to set honest goals first and figure out ways to finance them second–not the other way around.

Crowds make me crazy. I don’t like shopping on Saturday, standing in long lines at the bank or movies. I do like traveling off-season and look for all the ways to avoid busy times when running errands.

It’s far less stressful and, I assume, that adds to my productivity.

Curiosity demands a change of scenery. In Making a Living Without a Job, I say, “I became an entrepreneur because I was curious about what I could become. It was a curiosity not shared by any employer I had.”

But my curiosity goes much farther than uncovering my own potential. I’m curious about the lives of other people, fascinated by the joyfully jobless, want to see places different from the one I call home. Mobility matters to the gypsy in me.

At the beginning of my entrepreneurial life, I had no idea that I had embarked on the best personal growth program ever invented.  The discoveries never end, however, if you’re doing it right.

So while all those things guarantee I’m never going to be named anyone’s Employee of the Month, they’re not the best reasons for remaining unemployable. My number one reason is a bit grander and voiced by writer Stephen M. Pollan.

“Create your own work path,” advises Pollan. ”Those with conventional career patterns age ten spiritual years for every five physical years they spend in the rat race. Those with a unique work path are constantly being reborn.”

All creative folks have their favorite ways of re-lighting their imagination. On those days when I need a little jolt, but don’t have a lot of time to devote to it, a swing through my neighborhood branch library or bookstore usually does the trick.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who has discovered these idea palaces, but a letter I received a while back shared a bookstore experience that made me smile. I’ll keep the writer anonymous. Here’s his story:

“Exactly 24 hours ago, I took my penny pail to the bank and cashed it in for $32.09. Against my better judgment, I decided to visit Border’s bookstore to have a latte and browse through a book that had caught my eye on several previous tours. Before my coffee was cool enough to drink, I decided to spend over half my available cash on Making a Living Without a Job.

 “After brooding for nearly two weeks and accomplishing nothing, I read your entire book in one sitting. 

 “Since then, I have sold books to a used bookstore, sold an expensive golf bag to a secondhand sporting goods store,l, sold a rowing machine to a secondhand exercise machine store, took four large trash bags of good clothing to a consignment shop.

“I dared to try my new Rollerblades, scheduled a meeting with my father-in-law to learn his business secrets, faxed a letter and resume to a local business college about teaching several courses, made a number of phone calls for some consulting work. and listed 37 potential Profit Centers. 

 “Oh, yes, I also made a huge pot of Texas Red chili and did five loads of laundry.” 

He goes on to write, “I have been making a living without a job, though I lacked an understanding of the process and certainly lacked the passion you so eloquently described.

“I knew the time had come to return to the dream. Thank you for giving it back to me.”

According to Wikipedia, singer Josh Groban has sold nearly 20 million albums in his short career. The other evening he told his Twitter followers that he’d just finished a two hour voice lesson and  “think it’s time to turn pro.”

So why would a rich and famous performer keep taking lessons? More to the point, why would a would-be entrerpreneur or freelancer or traveler not be investing in their dreams?

It’s that second question that keeps me awake nights.

Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk had a particularly interesting piece this week called Frugality is a Career Tool. She wrote “I have earned a lot of money in my life. But I have never had an extravagant life. I don’t own a house. I’ve never bought a new car. I’ve never bought a new piece of living room furniture, and I do not own a single piece of real jewelry. What I have spent money on was always intended to help me with my career. That was so I know that I can always earn money doing something I love.” 

If you want good things to happen, you’ve got to take the first step, ask for the date, risk being turned down. Otherwise you’re just practising wishful thinking, which is neither active nor useful. 

How do you notify your dreams that you mean business? Here are a few of my favorite ways.

Get equipped. In Making a Living Without a Job, I tell the story about how things changed for me when I splurged (or so it seemed at the time) on a passport. After years of failing to find a way to bring my travel dreams to life, I got serious and started getting ready for a trip. I bought guidebooks, I thought about my itinerary and wardrobe.

In less than a year, I was headed for the UK. Ever since, my passport has been called into service at least twice a year.

Get dressed. When my granddaugther  showed up at breakfast wearing a fancy dress and rainboots  before heading out to kiindergarten, her father took one look and said “Lose the boots.” 

Zoe was having none of it. “Dad,” she explained, “I’m an artist. I can wear what I want.” 

Costumes are essential to theater and they’re equally essential to building a dream. As they say in some circles, bring the outer into alignment with the inner.

Make space. In Eric Maisel’s The Creativity Book, he advises, “By designating a room as your writing study or rearranging your garage so your band can practice in it, you are setting up a sacred space and honoring your commitment to realize your creative potential.”  

A successful writer observed, “I don’t know where inspiration comes from, but I know that it shows up at my desk every morning when I sit down to write.”

Get connected. Transplant yourself into a dreambuilding environment as often as possible. Gather with others who are motivated and proactive. Make idea gathering your favorite hobby. Listen to inspiring speakers and read eloquent authors who have taken a higher path.

Refuse to believe that you aren’t a good investment because, quite simply, if you want your dreams to show up, you’ve got to show up first. So show ’em you mean business.

 

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is hearing from people who have been busily making the world a better place. This past week, has been filled with all sorts of reconnections with people I don’t hear from on a regular basis.

 

There was a newsy Christmas card from Marty Marsh sharing his adventures as an RVing entrepreneur. A hand written letter came from a woman I’ve never met thanking me for telling her about Make the Impossible Possible. Besides the cards and letters, there were several fascinating telephone conversations with fellow entrepreneurs. 

 

Although I thought I already had plenty of holiday spirit, these encounters added to my cheerfulness.

 

On Saturday, I had a fun Skype chat with Maureen Thomson. I hadn’t talked to her since she moved from Denver to the Oregon coast. Not only did she fill me in on how much she was loving her new home, but her wedding ceremonies business, Lyssabeth’s, is booming too. 

 

It was thrilling to hear about the growth of Maureen’s business, of course, but since I’ve been tracking her progress for a long time, it wasn’t a huge surprise. 

 

The surprise came a few hours later when I got an e-mail from Mark Anthony, a fellow I’d encountered years ago in Minnesota. Mark and I had met briefly when he invited me to keynote at a home business conference he organized. After that, we’d kept in touch sporadically, but not regularly. I knew that he had moved to Las Vegas, but we hadn’t really been in touch here. 

 

So, of course, I was curious to hear what he had on his mind. He contacted me to tell me that he’d written a blog post called An Open Letter to Barbara Winter. Of course, that got my attention and I promptly checked it out. I urge you to do the same. Mark’s story contains a startling confession…and a reminder that if we’re growing a business the learning never ends.

 

 

In Making a Living Without a Job I tell the story about the day I received a cold call from a stockbroker saying he wanted to discuss my investments. When I told him that my business was my major investment, he sounded shocked. “Isn’t that risky?” he asked.

 

“Not as risky as giving my money to a stranger over the telephone,” I replied.

 

“Investment” is not the only financial term that may take on a different meaning in the land of the Joyfully Jobless. Making peace with money requires that we look at all four uses for money and adopt a personal philosophy about each of those aspects. (We also define “security” in a different way than our jobholder acquaintances do, too, but that’s another blog post altogether.)  

 

Quite simply, there are four things we can do with money: Earn it, Save it, Spend it, Invest it. While we may have some conventional uses for it, there’s also some thinking that sets us apart. Let’s look at some of these differences:

 

Earn It—I still recall the day I received an e-mail from my friend Peter that began, “I just turned down $10,000—and it feels great.” 

 

When you assume an attitude of abundance, you begin to notice that there are an infinite number of ways to earn money. This is in stark contrast to those who clutch at a single income source thinking it’s the only one they can have. Having determined that the possibilities are endless, we vow never to work just for money, but to diligently create work that pays us in numerous ways, in multiple currencies. Doing onerous work just for the money is considered to be borderline immorality. 

 

Save It—The Joyfully Jobless are clear about the difference between saving and hoarding. Some entrepreneurs enjoy creating a profit center that goes right in the bank. Others put aside a percentage. Once you develop confidence in your ability to generate cash flow, you may alter your notions about how big that nest egg really needs to be.

 

Spend It—People who are practicing right livelihood are far less apt to buy unnecessary things in an attempt to feel good about themselves. As Alexandra Stoddard says, “Life is too short to spend it being the caretaker of the wrong things.” While not every Joyfully Jobless person practices voluntary simplicity, many would rather spend their money for experiences instead of stuff. They also have clarity about the difference between being thrifty and being cheap. The Joyfully Jobless aren’t cheap.

 

Invest It—One of the biggest lessons for new entrepreneurs is learning the difference between an expense and an investment. Really smart entrepreneurs consider themselves to be a great investment and spend both time and money learning, growing and expanding their horizons. And, of course, trusting that their investments will prove that they’ve chosen wisely.

 

Most importantly, the Joyfully Jobless know that money isn’t a substitute for self-esteem and it’s not to be used to control others. It may take time to arrive at this happy state of financial ease, but it’s so totally worth it.