How to Avoid the Grind

Where to start?

The first thing I always tell people is that talent turns a profit. The problem with this is that most people are so enshrined in the normalized reality of the 9-5 work week that they don't have TIME to figure out their passion. This is, from my current understanding, one of the chief reasons that the 9-5 work week is so prominent in the Western culture. If we were all in tune with our passions, we wouldn't be slaving away. Period.

Also unfortunately, this usually isn't what people want to hear because it involves actually taking a tremendous amount of time getting to know yourself and figuring out what YOU like to do. To do that, you still need to survive, and to survive you still need to have food and shelter.

So how did I work around that? I sourced my food differently. I went to foodbanks. I found out which grocery stores threw out their fresh produce in the evenings. Within a year or so I was filling my fridge to the brim with hundreds of dollars of fresh produce on a weekly basis. To save on rent money I lived in a communal house with at least 6 other people and even collectively we could never finish our food.

As for paying rent, well, the first few years weren't easy. I picked up an instrument and started playing it on the street to earn money for food and beer. (Yeah, I was basically a hobo. I always consoled myself with the fact that I was "finding my true purpose," but in the back of my head was starting to believe I was just a bum. Turned out I was finding my purpose!")

If you have any talent doing anything, you can make money on the street. Even if you DON'T have talent, people will appreciate your effort. I largely learned to play music on the street, while getting paid for it. If you have a good attitude and you're genuine, people won't mind throwing a bit of cash your way to help you further your passions.

One thing that makes this particular route difficult is the amount of humility it takes. Taking money from others is never comfortable. However, it led to me being self-sustained and never having to work a 9-5 again. I'd say a few years of bumming around were worth it.

A lot of the time people hear that and write me off as a bum and stop listening. But there are other ways to make money. I didn't just busk. All of them just require a bit of creativity.

Check your local classifieds. There are always ads asking for a day or two of labor. These jobs usually start at about $15/hr. It might make your back sore for a day or two, but if you do that 3-4 times a month for 10 hours a day then you have 600 bucks. Spend half of that on a room in a communal house and you have $300 to blow. If you're not paying for food and your shelter is paid for, $300 suddenly becomes a lot of money.

There are websites you can do paid surveys on. They don't pay a lot but they can help you begin to believe that it's possible to get money from home.

If you have a vehicle, you can drive people around for money. Set up a post on a local rideshare page and start carrying people around. Post ads on Craigslist or whatever classified sites you have and see who needs money.

Post ads all over your local billboards. If you like dogs, you can get a gig walking dogs for like $30 an hour or something insane. Find 3 dogs who get along and walk them all at once at suddenly you're making $90 an hour hanging out with dogs.

I think the ultimate thing I'm trying to convey here is that it's not so much the specific THING that you need to focus on to make money. It's more of being able to focus on the BELIEF that you can make money without having to subscribe to 9-5 bullshit.

The more weird opportunities I accepted, the more seemed to pop up. The more I believed, the more that world provided. That tends to be the way things work, eh?

Now I make $40 an hour writing articles from the comfort of my home. I'm actually doing that right now in between typing up this post.

Sorry I pretty much rambled my life story there. I know that's not what you asked for :P But here's a summary:

1. Put your beliefs where they are useful. Instead of believing that you need to work 9-5, believe that money can be found and WILL be found on YOUR terms
2. Start small. When I was making $40 a month writing stupid online surveys I considered that a major landmark moment in my progress. If I was expecting to be making $40 away I don't know if I ever would have found this opportunity.
3. Persevere. Keep going with it. There will be times when you won't have a lot of money and it might seem easier to get a job. There were certainly times that I needed to jump back into the grind, particularly in winter when it was too cold to pitch a tent. But always keep your mind on being self-sustainable.
4. Be resourceful. Learn how to live comfortably. Over the years I've learned that 90% of the shit that I own is absolutely unnecessary. I live comfortably enough right now, but I'm also aware that there are enough resources available to live relatively comfortable on a budget of like $300 a month (CAD)

I feel like I've gone on too much but hopefully, some of this is helpful!