Every Wednesday my suburban newspaper shows up in my mailbox. I always look forward to reading it since the editorial staff seems to think that the most fascinating folks in our community also happen to be joyfully jobless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This week there\u2019s a story about a woman who decided to turn her parents\u2019 home into an art and music center, rather than renting or selling the house. There\u2019s another about a man who became an artist at the age of 68. His creations are built out of pieces of wood attached together to tell a story. One is called Out of the Box<\/em> and represents his lifelong desire to work out of the box as an artist. His works, which sell for $250-$1000, are currently being exhibited at a local gallery.<\/p>\n The front page of the Summerlin View<\/em> is dominated by a story about Jordan Kelley, 22, and Lawrence Vaughan, 24, who started a free Internet job search Web site called Jobbi.com. Under the large color photograph of the smiling pair is a story of how they saw a need and set about filling it. But it\u2019s the sidebar quote that got my attention.\u201dWe like to innovate and create. We didn\u2019t want to be in a cubicle,\u201d said cofounder Kelley.<\/p>\n In the introduction to Making a Living Without a Job<\/em><\/strong>, I said, \u201cI became an entrepreneur because I was curious about what I could become. It was a curiosity not shared by any employer I ever had.\u201d Not surprisingly, I\u2019m also curious about why others have chosen this lifestyle. Here are a few reasons that others have given.<\/p>\n I really love to go places and see new things. Even opening the door to a new hotel room has a feeling of anticipation. I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city. ~ Bill Bryson, travel writer<\/p>\n To me the desire to create and have control over your own life was very much part of the human spirit. What I did not fully realize was that work could open the doors to my heart. ~ Anita Roddick, Body Shop founder<\/p>\n See,my trick in life is to get away from having a job. That\u2019s been my guiding light. ~ Paul McCartney, musician<\/p>\n I get excited about small businesses that are run with passion so that\u2019s what \u00a0I recommend in my guidebooks. ~ Rick Steves, travel teacher<\/p>\n I wanted to make my store something a corporate mind would never dream up and that a large company could never sustain. ~ Collette Morgan, Wild Rumpus Book<\/a>s<\/p>\n I became an entrepreneur when I discovered there was not barbed wire surrounding my cubicle! ~ Pat Blocker, Peaceful Paws<\/a> dog training<\/p>\n But for those who think that an eternal escape from work would be paradise, don\u2019t forget that we all need a playground, and your own company is one of the best playgrounds of all. ~ Derek Sivers, musician and serial entrepreneur<\/p>\n I come from a long line of people who run little businesses to support their art.~ Sophia Coppola, entrepreneur and film director<\/p>\n I became an entrepreneur because I didn’t want to be beige. ~ Maureen Thomson, Memorable Ceremonies<\/a><\/p>\n Seems to me that many folks choose the Joyfully Jobless Journey because of a vision of a more congenial life. Along the way, they discover rewards they hadn’t even anticipated. What about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every Wednesday my suburban newspaper shows up in my mailbox. I always look forward to reading it since the editorial staff seems to think that the most fascinating folks in our community also happen to be joyfully jobless.\u00a0 This week there\u2019s a story about a woman who decided to turn her parents\u2019 home into an…<\/p>\n