Thanks to the astronomicality of health insurance premiums in my fair state, I periodically browse the school and library job listings. It goes something like this: I write the giant check to Anthem, think to myself, "this is really not going to work, I won't ever have enough clients for this to work," and then I hit the two sites that list jobs the aforementioned fields. There aren't any openings that I can stomach/am qualified for/wouldn't interfere with sessions with current lients I really like, so I go back to working on the new website or answering email or looking for cool tote bags to carry my picture books around in.
Thing is, if I make it through another month of working for myself as a tutor/consultant/coach thing, I will have been at it for longer than I have stayed at anything else yet. It occurred to me a couple of months ago that it might be worth sticking with it just one more year, or even half-year, just to find out what it's like to be doing something for more than two years.
This afternoon I met with a tutor I found on craigslist. I get on there and look around every once in a while because I need people to refer the younger kiddos to. I realized in talking with this woman that it might actually be really cool to have someone to work with, particularly if, as in this case, the person had a lot of skills and training that I don't. It's hard for me to imagine that I might actually dip my toes into the world of employing (even if at first it's actually outsourcing), but I can't help thinking this might have been one of the things I was supposed to see, that couldn't come until I took a few more strides into my third year.
3 comments:
Hurray! You are back.
And I can relate. Two years seems to be my employment/career threshold as well. Good for you for seeing what happens when you push through your threshold.
I can't believe it's already been that long since you started. I hope you keep going, though I understand it must be stressful to have to pay for your own health insurance. Hopefully it will get a bit cheaper for you in a few years when some sort of universal healtcare goes into effect.
In addition to taking on partners, have you considered franchising your business to like-minded individuals (like me) in other locations that want to start a tutoring/coaching/support cooperative but couldn't possibly make the case better that you have made it on your site? Maybe the franchising fee could help pay for your insurance.
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