It has been years since I have written in this blog. I've decided that I should return to this process, maybe not on a daily basis - but on a very regular one. I've recently lost a job that I thought I'd have for a long time - but adversity brings on creativity, right? I've started at a new company, in a position I thought I'd enjoy and immediately got thrown into a better position due to the fact that another employee was leaving. You might think that this is wonderful. The real problem is that the boss is not a very ethical business person.
This new boss is reactionary and doesn't consider the laws and the actual cost of making quick decisions in the heat of the moment, or on some kind of whim. I am of the mind that a great business-minded person will take a situation and look at the options and weigh every aspect before coming to a well educated conclusion as to what the best action might be. Whims are something that children have - and occasionally, something that interesting adults have - not something that a boss should be operating a company on. For example: When hourly employees do not want to attend company functions unpaid and on their own time, the employer decides to make those employees salaried and telling them that they no longer need to punch in - telling them to "just make a note of the extra hours you work - that will work in your favor when reviews come around". This is WRONG. Especially when those employees are considered "non-exempt" according to the FLSA rules and regulations. Those overtime hours need to be paid as time and a half in real dollars - not as "extra credit" on your next performance review. When this was brought to the attention of my boss, they told me that I had misunderstood what was said - which is completely inaccurate. When someone says, "You will now be salaried and no longer need to use the time clock. You will be putting in between 40 and 45 hours a week" - that is pretty clear - they don't want real documented accounts of your time and they will only be paying you for 40 hours of your time even if you work 45. The real problem is their ignorance of the employment law and what constitutes as "exempt" and "non-exempt" positions. I'd rather punch a clock and get paid time and a half for overtime. Being "salaried" is not always an advantage.
Therefore, (sorry for the long rant - just a bit peeved), I've decided to continue working at that craptastic place until I can find something better while in the meantime working on creating my own business. I need a creative outlet again - and I need something that can make me some extra cash. This is where my art and design work comes in. Fine art photography, sewing, knitting, gardening, anything that I can make some money doing while reaping some personal enjoyment would suit me. Having a full-time job seems to suck the life out of me and makes me waste my "free-time" watching old BBC shows on Netflix while I feverishly knit some new project. I should be spending this time planning and working out new creative ideas for products that I can produce and sell. It's not rocket science/brain surgery/any other profession or task that the general public seems to find complicated. It is actually pretty simple - and lots of entrepreneurs have fulfilled their dreams by learning how to find a niche, design a product line and then find the best way to produce, market and sell it.
It's time for me to find ways to support myself spiritually, creatively, emotionally, all while making ends meet. It's possible. I've seen hundreds of people do it - and I know there are thousands of people out there that are capable of doing this for themselves if they just had the faith in themselves to give it a shot. It is about time that I found the faith to do it myself.
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