Free Yourself from Workplace Slavery: 33 Ways to Earn a Living Without a Traditional JobBy Daisy Luther When people of my generation were growing up, many of our parents worked at the same job for decades, providing stability for us and our siblings. Times have changed, though. A regular, long-term job doesnt always offer stability, a living wage, or fair treatment. In fact, many jobs these days look an awful lot like slavery, and a lot of indebted Americans end up spending most of their waking hours with people they dont even like, doing something they hate, and barely making enough money to survive. Is that really how you want to spend 70% of your time? What if I told you that you that it was possible to be entirely free of the employee rat race and that you could be in charge of how you spend your life? Maybe its time to step off of the hamster wheel. Maybe its time to stop answering to the middle-management dictator. Maybe its time to quit punching a clock, asking permission to go to the restroom, or begging to leave early to watch your childs piano recital. Maybe its time to be free. With unemployment rates skyrocketing, going out and finding a new job can be nearly impossible these days. This is only going to get trickier as the government continues to force businesses to increase the minimum wage and businesses respond by hiring fewer employees or reducing hours. Workloads that used to provide employment to two people are now forced onto one. The work performed gets shoddier as the one employed person struggles to keep up, and the number of people who are employed gets lower. If you dont have a job, consider making one up. Actually, you might be better to make up several, considering the current economy and how difficult it can be to start a business these days. If you are in the midst of a personal economic collapse, you just might be able to change your course by creating your own streams of income instead of relying on an employer to pay you a living wage. Let me explain what I mean. There are a lot of little jobs a person can do that individually would not pay the bills. However, an organized and industrious person can group a bunch of small jobs into a full-time income if they schedule carefully, work hard, and stay organized. I know, because Ive done it. Once upon a time, I did home daycare on the weekends, tended bar on Monday and Tuesday nights, did dog-walking and pet sitting during the week, cleaned house for a person one afternoon per week, and did the shopping and cooking for an elderly neighbor. At the time, I didnt have a car, so all of this was done on foot. Twenty years ago, the $400-500 a week I made from doing all of these little odd jobs paid the bills and left me with time for other things. After that, I got a real job and spent years in the workforce. After the novelty of a regular paycheck wore off, I realized how much I hated it. It wasnt that I minded working. I hated missing important moments in my childrens lives. I hated answering toarrogant middle managers who were consumed with their own importance. I hated having to get up when I was sleepy, drive somewhere that was an unpleasant temperature, andwait to eat lunch until it was convenient for everyone else instead of when I was hungry. I eventually got downsized and it was the very best thing that ever happened to me.I was set free from a prison that most of us enter voluntarily and repeatedly and I never wanted to go back inside those gates again. I began to revisit this type of money-making system. In my older-and-wiser version of make up your job, I ran my own website, was a staff writer for another site, did some freelance editing and writing, and I did other web-based projects and virtual assisting as well. Again, I made enough to pay for all of our needs and some of our wants. I can tell you for a fact that this method of earning yourliving works. Ive done it for more years than Ive spent in traditional jobs, and it can be wonderful if youre willing to take the leap. The key to success with this is to have multiple streams of income. Dont put all of your financial eggs in one basket, because if that should dry up, youll be left unemployed yet again. As well, it really helps with budgeting if you are able to say, This task pays my rent, this task pays my utilities, this task pays for groceries. Obviously, we all know that living frugally is like making money, but that is a topic for another article. Also, read this book. Back in the 70s, Dolly Freed lived so frugally that she had very little need for money. While the economy is very different now, there is still a lot you can learn from her example. However, these days, frugality alone is not enough for most people. The fact remains there are some things we need money for, so this article is focused on acquiring that cash. Some of us have specialized skills that make this easier for example, I am a writer and editor, so I focus my money-earning on those two skills. Others might be particularly handy, so they might focus their skills on doing home repairs. But it isnt necessary to have a skill set to bring in multiple streams of income. You simply have to be willing to do small jobs that may or may not be short term. Here are some ideas to get you started. This list, of course, is by no means comprehensive. Its important to make a good impression on your customers. Handle these small jobs just like you would a corporate job and follow these key steps. Keep these principles in mind and you will never lack the opportunity for work. Word of mouth is the very best form of advertising. Dont limit yourself to only doing jobs for money. Is there a good or service that you want? Sometimes you can approach people and offer them a barter, particularly if they are in business for themselves. For example, I used to clean house for the person who cut my familys hair. Once I was hired to clean up a persons yard and I politely asked if we could keep the walnuts that had fallen from their tree. They didnt mind at all, as they had just asked me to rake everything up and bag it, and it gave us a nice little bonus of a winters worth of delicious black walnuts for a weekends work. More recently, Ive traded my home-raised goods for someone elses. Ive swapped chicken pound-for-pound with pork, traded my excess tomatoes for someone elses excess squash, and traded homemade blackberry jam for homemade plum jam. This provided us all with variety at no additional cost. Dont be afraid to approach people about the potential of bartering the worst thing that can happen is that they say no. Do be aware that the government would like you to pay tax on barters.They like to be involved in all transactions. Sometimes you can find work through people you know maybe they expressed a need to have someone walk Fido partway through the day. Other times, you will need to search a little harder to find customers for your services. Creatively funding your life without regular employment can give you a whole new kind of freedom. While losing your job in this economy can seem like the most horrible, stressful thing in the world, sometimes it can be the best thing that ever happened to you. It can be like a reluctant baby bird getting shoved out of the nest. You can fly or you can fail. If you choose to fly, youll discover a whole new world of freedom. Resources: Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor. Her website, wherethis article first appeared, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy onFacebookandTwitter, and you can email her atdaisy@theorganicprepper.ca Income producing activities that actually show love for ones community instead of criminal sabotage that drains community resources and ignores the real needs and desires of the people. Criminal sabotage thats just effin perfect. Well, I am glad to be out of the idiocy. Not having to report to anyone is fine by me. 