I don’t look for jobs anymore. For several reasons. The main one of which is that I’ve found that realising my own projects takes as much time and is much more likely to yield good results than is “looking for a job”; plus it’s just more emotionally and socially rewarding. Even when I have been offered jobs, unless they are focused on a specific projects in which I have a lot of say in defining what we are to do and how we are to go about getting it done, I tend to lose interest quite quickly. The roadblocks standing in my way is that I want to realise ideas and approaches, experiment and be able to make mistakes and having a “job” often means getting paid to do what someone else has decided needs to be done in the way that they want it done. Plus a job often = lots of weird politics and rules that feel like " a infrastructure built by an alien civilisation that left a long time ago, and took the operating manuals with them".
how do you experiment?
Hey Nadia!
I understand where you’re coming from. But for most people not having a proper job is too risky. What else does it take to afford not going in the system, apart from great ideas and willingness to do things? you yourself say it “I have been offered jobs”, emphasis on offered so it may be a lot easier for you to make this choice, you do realize this right?
What does it mean working on your own projects? You mean project-based jobs (short term and probably more power to do what you think has to be done) or entrepreneurial activities?
thx!
Well, this is an important
Well, this is an important discussion. My strategy is to be adaptive and entrepreneurial and idiosynchratic.
In terms of money: I do consultancy work as a User Experience Designer and it’s relatively well paid. I didn’t know it existed when I was putting myself through a six year degree I hated. I spent the bare minimum on campus making sure I passed the exams but not investing more, and took the opportunity given by the student grant and loan you get as a Swedish citizen when you go to uni, to do things like collaborate with the Royal College of Opera to put together a beautiful interactive show for the graduating class at the Royal Opera, do an internship at the studio of a renowned film director Roy Andersson to understand how he builds his films, build a strong pr mechanism for the degree program etc. And to study neuroscience! I got completely obsessed with cognitive neuroscience while studying media technology, then visual perception, then visual communication. I then joined a full time vocational program on interactive art direction at a school with no curriculum, no equipment, no tuition, no books…just live briefs from clients, and people from various design backgrounds…
I didn’t have a visual design background like the others, and had a very different approach towards design, I thought it would be a disadvantage but that did not turn out to be the case- clients and my classmates really liked my approach. And something clicked for me when I realised that we were building really cool projects with no exchange of money. Money is the equivalent of time and skills and equipment. If you access to skills and time and equipment, money is not an issue. And you can get that access in many many ways. The bigger your network, the more generous you are with your own time and skills and equipment to help out others, the more generous others are towards you. If you keep your costs low ( I lived on an icebreaker with an extremely low rent and a strong community) and learn to teach yourself things quickly, you can build your own projects without money. If the project is good he money will come. If it doesn’t, you have something to showcase your skills and competences with. And having an inner drive to realise things is highly appreciated and rewarded.
Sometimes I will start with a set idea about what I want to achieve, and then try to find money for it. This approach generally fails more often than it works, or has done in the past- it takes too long. Being able to communicate what you want and how someone can help you is very important, and I’m still learning how to do it well. Figuring out which people who would see a value in helping me realise my projects is something I get better at with time and with a bigger network if I listen carefully and ask for feedback continuously.
Sometimes I will be asked to do something like organise an event, and I will take the opportunity to push my clients to do something better and more interesting than they had originally set out to do- something which includes a project I was planning on realising anyway. Sometimes I just start making a project happen, by starting to build it and work on it as though I was being paid for it assuming that the money part will work itself out. And then a dynamic picks up, that people find it and get excited about it because it’s different or strange and then they try to make space for me to work on their projects or within their organisation.
With hindsight I have had: 1. A bit of stubborn stupidity or naivite. 2. A strong creative drive and big ego. 3. A big social network and quite a lot of social capital 4. Low cost of living 5. Free education and access to student grants and loans 6. Emotional support from friends and or family.
Finding the right people, be in right place at right time
Whoa. I like your last paraghaph…
Ha ha! Stupidity, I have in abondance. Naive: I’ve always been an expert at it. The queen of naive.
Strong drive. Strong strong drive!
No ego. It has been destroyed when I reached a physical state of consciousness.
Social network growing.
Relatively low cost of living.
Emotional support from friends.
But I cannot afford going back to school. I have a son to feed and raise.
I think the key is ‘figuring out which people who would see a value in helping me realise the projects’. They must exist somewhere, out there. My soul calls for them. Heeeeellooo? (euh, phone not working.)
School and school
Hey Lyne, I hear what you’re saying. It’s really hard to start from scratch. You need help, period. You need a way to stay afloat while trying new ideas out- at least if they’re the kind to require your full attention and drive. So what could a good way of getting around this be? Peer 2 peer support: couchfunding? I support you by inviting you to stay in my home for a period of time without needing to pay rent? What would we need to have covered, to be ok and feel good, not just survive with the bare minimum… and how could we go about helping one another with this…any ideas?
From scacity to abundance
I am terrible at this sort of thing! School, yes! I need a degree in this area! No no, better than this. I have to reprogram all my life, start over from stratch, change the disk in my head, to draw me to new situations. For as long as I can remember, I have been in situations where I have to fend for myself. It irritates me (you don’t know how much it irritates me) how I rush into this, attempt to manage everything without assistance.
It is a generational problem. My mom is like this too. I repeated the same pattern. But in an amplified manner. I noticed it is less pronounced than it used to be. Hopefully, I have reached a tipping point.
Although I work on myself, there must also be a collective effort.
I love this video: Be selfish, be generous. http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=2185
1st shift: From consomption to CONTRIBUTION.
2nd shift: From transaction to TRUST.
3rd shift: From isolation to COMMUNITY.
4rd shift: From scacity to ABUNDANCE.
Not to be consumed by ‘Me’, but to be consumed about the ‘We’…
I long for the 4th shift.
Attitude: what an asset!
Nadia, wow!
Just by reading you, how you formulate sentences, structure paragraphs, content, it is pretty evident your personality made it possible to work on “your own” while being nourished by the emotional and social aspects.
In this sense Noemi is quite right when she but: “but for most people not having a proper job is too risky”.
How can those people - lacking the attitude- can feel / see the advantages and gain the courage to try out that risky / uncertain path?
Also, I felt like underlining your equation (money = time + skills + equipment) since it find it very interesting.
On the other hand, I understand you need freedom when it comes to work and that might be one of the main reason why you are allergic to the word “job”.
But what if the organization was completely different. Different rules, democratic politics and everyone was able operate the infrastructure. Here’s an example.
Would you than be willing to apply for a “job”?
Thanks!
Second that!
Just by reading you, how you formulate sentences, structure paragraphs, content, it is pretty evident your personality made it possible to work on “your own” while being nourished by the emotional and social aspects.
I fully agree with Tiago, and I just have to say, it’s how I used to perceive you and still do… remember flamboyant? 
Invest in good relationships with supportive people
I try to show love. I try to let people that I like know that I like them, that I respect and need them. And I take partying very seriously You can always afford to throw a party, even with barely any money. If I´m broke and want to throw a dinner, I do things like throw a make your own pizza party. I make the dough, everyone brings their favourite ingerients. Life can be very hard, but you can make it beautiful with a little effort and good friends.
Out of the ordinary
Nadia, I noticed that you have an opening really out of the ordinary for people. We feel welcomed in your presence, and you mobilize even more people to get together. You do not hesitate to welcome people in your house. You do not wait for them to make a request, you go meet their needs.
When you meet someone on the tram, you tell him/her about your plans for the evening and invite this person to join the group, even if he/she does not know any of these people.
It is a beautiful quality to have!
When you see people, your face lights up, you smile radiantly, your whole person opens up. It is a magnificent spectacle. It does show that you try to show love. It does.
There are people who remain stuck in their little bubble, and they do things together, but no one is invited to enter their bubble.
Own projects
I also tried to work on my own projects, but it takes ages to build the financing package. It would be the ideal situation, of course, bu I have not managed to put it into practice.
my point of view
Hello Nadia,
I just read your mission report and I found it really interesting. I would like to add that, on the other hand, we are grown to believe that having a job means having money meaning having the means to live confortably meaning being happy… The one who has the motivation and inspiration to start his own projects is usually treated as risky or even crazy…
I am working at Hub Vienna and I see in a daily basis people starting their own business and being self employed and I have noticed from conversations with them that most of the times they are people who used to “have a job” (as we definy "job) and got disappointed by the system and wanted to create something from scratches and be the “boss of themselves”. Which for me is right…sometimes you need to try both sides to conclude which one is your style and which one you want to follow.
I am quite curious what kind of projects you are talking about? How many times you needed to start up something?
As I am myself a new professional, I m very interested in different approaches around the “job” topic…
social context
Well I agree with Nadia view and with a lot of other things you wrote BUT…I think that a lot depends on the context you are in, the opportunities society gives you and your background.
Nadia defines her activities as “not looking for a job anymore” while I would define them as “having a job i like”. I mean that Nadia actually HAS A JOB, which is maybe unconventional but it exists.
I have heard about a lot of people in “Nothern Countries” having this kind of jobs they consider “not-job”, but they also have a strong social system!
In Belgium, till now at least (I mean before the Austherity fu***ing plans- you can BE an artist and this is your JOB! In Italy it’s impossible: that’s why a lot of cirque artists and dancers move to Bruxelles…
It is also a matter of certainity and uncertainity (Alberto will appreciate!)…but iif you are sure there will be a way to pay your bills of course it would be great to live like that.
I am not saying people need job for money, I am just saying that until we don’t change the society there are things which either YOU pay for (housing, education…) either someone else (the state?) provides.
If you don’t have a kindergarten and you don’t have what society calls a proper job the only option is you don’t have kids…I am pretty sure this is not the case in Sweeden!luckily for you…
Betta
Hi Betta,
I feel a few clarifications are in place. I have a temporary contract, am not currently based in Sweden- I actually left several years ago and it doesn´t look like I´ll be going back anytime soon. It is true we do have certain priveledges in Sweden, like free university education and it has been very important to me as I poinbted out in a nother mission report I wrote. I know the uncertainty that comes not having enough money for rent. But also the uncertainty of war. And then there are the coincidences, you happen to be in a good place at the right time. Luck, yes. But this stuff isn´t completely random, I´ve been drawn towards environments where people are asking questions and really trying to understand them in all their complexity.
The How bits. Find somewhere cheap to live. Like really really cheap. Keep your costs very low, find ways to share expenses with others. To this day I am shocked when I find out what people spend money on. Things like cars etc. Total madness as far as Im concerned. If there is an event I know people I am interested in are going to go to I volunteer to help with it, or find a way to fund the trip. If there are rules, and they´re stupid I´ll question them by proposing better alternatives. Alot of times I´ve found that there is a wierd consensus and no one wanted to rock the boat, if you just ask that goes a long way. And being involved in organising events yhas given me a different point of entry into conversations or interaction with interesting people. That´s really what´s grown my network. And using the net as my distributed brain.
Ofcourse
It´s like you pointed out in one of your mission reports about horisontal organisation. Some people will be more charismatic than others. But I´m convinced you can learn how to do or become some of those things. A lightbulb went off for me during a lecture I once attended about standup comedy. Something about how you get funnier with practice because your brain becomes faster at building associations. I wrote my thesis exploring this idea, whether you can become someone else.
I don´t call it a job because of the of the work itself and the conditions under which it is done are different from what I associate with the term. For me “job” is associated to repetitiveness and or regularity- it has certain cultural connotations as something which would enable you to e.g get a loan and buy a house should you want to do that. Which certainly is not the case for me. How about you? what does the word “job” mean to you?
I underlined really trying to understand them because there are many contexts in which discussions are really just about people trying to convince others why their point of view is the right one rather than actually exploring the implications of those points of view. And exploring how feasible they are, or how they can be made feasible taking into account the contexts in which you have to act in order to affect change.
Disobey. It is not always you are in a position that you can blatantly disobey rules without serious consequences, either for yourself or for others. Asking questions can sometimes get you the same results without as much conflict.
JOB
Just to reply to your question (which was originally my implicit question), here you go my definition of job, or better of having a job:
Having a job is when you do something and you get some sort of “reward” for what you do (usually this reward is money but in theory it might be something else, for exemple tomatos), you have some sort of contract thanks to which your working activity is defined (it might imply a schedule or not).
If a job was something that make you able to get a loan almost none in Italy younger than 45 would say “I have a job”…and none would say it in the future!!!
Maybe Jonathan has a different perspective?
Gosh hit the button too soon
I was going to add that perhaps Jonathan who I know is actively on a job hunt in Sweden might have a different view than me? http://edgeryders.ppa.coe.int/users/jonathan-sundqvist
Totally, but totally agree
You said it very, very well. Every word is true.
The main one of which is that I’ve found that realising my own projects takes as much time and is much more likely to yield good results than is “looking for a job”; plus it’s just more emotionally and socially rewarding.
- takes as much time -true
-more emotionally and socially rewarding -true
- good results -how do you achieve that ? that’s great! but I 'd like know “how to”, the secret.
Having a “job” often means getting paid to do what someone else has decided needs to be done in the way that they want it done.
Exactly. That’s precisely what I don’t like about a job.
" a infrastructure built by an alien civilisation that left a long time ago, and took the operating manuals with them".
Sounds funny, but it is sadly true.
Well, how can one make a living from projects? Could you share some tips for the beginners ? Many thanks for the great inspiration.
Work that pays is not the same as “having a job”.
Making a living from projects is a long process. It takes alot of hard work to get there. I always need other source of revenue to pay for expenses while working on them- even if they sometimes generate a profit in the end. I have had periods where I have studied full time during the day and worked late night shifts. One of the weirdest periods was when I was editing video tapes material to make room for advertising in broadcast material -it was surreal, I´d work all day at school and then start work at night till 4 am then sleep for an hour and go to uni. NOT FUN.
Something else I have figured out is that there are lots of pockets of work. They are not advertised, but if you are specialised and vocal enough about your personal obsessions/passions, then it´s more likely the right people and opportunities will find you. But it takes time, years. Is very hard for a while, and exhausting. Especially if you are not excited about having to do self-promotion. And stressful. I couldn´t even keep a pet with my schedule. Maybe others manage to do this and have kids and all that, but Im not sure how they manage and wouldn´t want to add to my stress level. I´m not counting on the state-funded social welfare infrastructure as I move around alot. Rather I´m trying to builld relationships and a lifestyle which is more sustainable. E.g. Romans urban farms alternative really speaks to me, to be able to produce my own food etc. And living and working from home like Bridget.
Project-based lifestyle
Thank you so much for your interesting advice about work, people and relationships. This is very useful indeed.
I have had periods where I have studied full time during the day and worked late night shifts
Sadly, I can’t do that , not even for my own projects and certainly not for a long period of time. I actually hoped you will say that working on your own projects means less hours of actual work because being free and enjoying it, you are more productive and creative.
In case it means , MORE work than a regular job…these are really bad news .
I couldn´t even keep a pet with my schedule. Maybe others manage to do this and have kids and all that, but Im not sure how they manage and wouldn´t want to add to my stress level.
Bad news again. Some of the people who are either self-employed, either work from home, say they do this to save time for themselves and family.
Yet you are explaining you are actually busier than a normal employee , or is this how you were at the beginning, but not now ?
I feel a bit down as I start to believe there are no real opportunities to live, you know, not happy, but at least fulfilled.