Five Years Later and Counting: My Reasons for Being on Hive Remain the Same!

This past week, I found myself ”changing directions” once again.

Earlier this year, I made the decision to permanently put one of my longtime microbusinesses permanently to sleep — that would be the one where I was a beachcomber and would sell “found objects” to artists and Jewelers — because my source of ”raw materials” had more or less played out.

If the thing you depend on selling stops being available, it tends to bring about an end to what you're doing, no matter how much you may enjoy it!

Oh, so You Thought You KNEW What Would Happen Next...?

Last week — pretty much out of the blue — one of my longtime customers approached me via Facebook message and asked if I would be willing to help her sell her own 20 year accumulation of beach glass she had been using to make jewelry with. She had always liked the way I did business as well as the quality of what I had to sell.

Meanwhile, she and her husband had moved from several states away to a house less than 10 minutes from where w live and so she came back to me when she wanted to sell her stock. Of course, my having been one of the top five suppliers in the trade in the world didn't hurt, either!

Consequently, I decided to do a 180 and now that particular business is not going to end up being put to sleep in 2022.

Some blue beach glass from "way back when." Photo is mine, from about 2008

This is Actually a Post About Hive!

But this is not a post about that particular event, nor about my revived former business, it's a post about the tremendous uncertainty that often goes with being self-employed. Which brings me back to the title I chose.

I had two quite distinct objectives — or maybe we should call them hopes — when I decided to become part of this blogging gig back in January of 2017.

One, I'd grown increasingly frustrated with the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and was looking to get back to my love of writing... not as an author of books, but as somebody who writes article-length observations and musings about this, that and the other... mostly related to this strange experience called "Human Life."

The Need for a Back-up Fund

Although the underlying intention had been there for a while, I had also been biding my time as I was looking for a place that seemed to have a reasonable chance of a long-term existence... because I had been burned a number of times on promising venues that would open up and then fold up their tents and go home after a year or two.

I just hate putting a bunch of effort and time into something, only to watch it suddenly vanish into thin air, without warning.

Two, the opportunity not so much to earn rewards, but to be able to build stake in the venue that I was using also held a lot of appeal. That appeal was largely tied to the perpetual instability of my particular form of self-employment which had brought me to a point where I really felt a need to build something that I could fall back on if things got really bad.

Consequently, the whole idea of half my rewards ending up in something that seemed a bit like a ”forced auto-pay savings account” was exactly what I was looking for.

I Suck at Saving!

I might as well admit it: I've always been shit at saving. Not because I am shit at savings, but because my life has always been so unstable that "accessible" savings would constantly be drained for the next disaster to strike. So I made a deal with myself that I was not going to cash out the Hive stake unless it was a dire emergency.

Like taking out some to keep our house from ending in tax foreclosure.

The point was — and remains — to build that ”something to fall back on,” not to use it!

Meanwhile, the Plan Continues!

Whereas the ensuing five years and change have by no means made us wealthy, I can at least look at them and know that thanks to my love of writing and blogging — and the fair degree of dedication — I have slowly been able to reach a point of having a bit of a ”backup fund” pretty much for the first time in my adult life.

Lest that sounds like a case of ”big deal, so what?” let's keep in mind that I'm 61 years of age now! Kids: It's never "too soon" to start saving!

Meanwhile, my reasons for being part of the Hive community remain the same as when I started.

Although the new business development with last week's sales opportunity was definitely something on the positive side of my business equation, it was still a reminder that I have chosen to live a financial lifestyle that is an unpredictable shitshow, most of the time!

On the plus side, I pretty much get to enjoy the things I like doing and pretty much on my own schedule. On the downside, the compensation plan is piss poor most of the time… but it's difficult to put a monetary value on being able to do things you like, have minimal stress, and having a commute that consists of going from the bedroom to your Home Office.

No, it's not my Hive anniversary or anything like that… but I just felt inclined to add this post as a bit of a ”bookmark,” both because the nature of my work just changed again (for the 657th time!) and because I recognize that my small daily contributions to my backup fund have become one of the very few relatively stable things I have in my life... as well as an ongoing testament to the fact that ”a couple of dollars here and there” can really add up to something if you repeat enough times!

And now, I just hope to keep repeating for another five years!

Thanks for reading, I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend, and I wish you all the best in the week ahead!

How about YOU? Did you join Hive with specific goals or objectives? Are you reaching them? Have these golas changed, in the time you have been here? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

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Created at 20220417 23:44 PDT
0555/1801