Pay the Bills vs. Side Projects
December 29, 2009 11:37 AM   Subscribe

When you were working on your first big successful side project, what type of work were you doing to pay the bills? Please explain the difference in the types of work you did "at work" and while working "on your project".

I'm trying to decide if my "pay the bills" worklife is killing my project worklife. I'm interested in what type of day jobs work well for people, in relation to the type of side projects they work on.
posted by parallax7d to Society & Culture (6 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Yet to have a "big success" but...

I work a dayjob as a web developer while trying to write and make movies.

I write at lunch, after work, and on the weekends. If I'm working on putting together a project, I take calls and send emails during work hours while juggling my actual work. When I actually direct something, it's on the weekend, or I use a couple of vacation days.

I wouldn't say all this "works" wonderfully because it stresses me out to no end, but it's the only option I have right now.
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:47 AM on December 29, 2009


I have found that I can only make real headway on my personal projects when my wage-earning activity doesn't draw from the same mental and physical resources. For example, the personal stuff I'm doing now requires me to spend hours in front of the computer, so if my regular job also requires me to do this, then I burn out a lot faster. Right now I'm working a couple days a week at a restaurant -- it interrupts my time on the internet, gets me moving around and talking to people IRL, and forces my brain to look at the world from a completely different perspective than I would if I was working from home as I used to.

Working as a freelance writer actually made it harder for me to work on personal writing projects -- by the time I satisfied my work obligations, I had little stamina for my own stuff.
posted by hermitosis at 11:59 AM on December 29, 2009


Pretty much just part-time easy work like running register or waiting tables! Only a few days a week. It has to not drain me of all my energy so I can go home and work on my side stuff.
posted by OrangeSoda at 12:29 PM on December 29, 2009


It has been quite a long time (90/91) but I published a couple of childrens' books with Viking while I had a different day job. I had been working for a childrens' book publisher but was no longer directly involved in that business--however, the contacts I had made through the previous job helped tremendously. I also partnered with someone (the designer/artist) and that helped me stay on track--we set deadlines for each other, etc.

At the time, I was working for a licensing agency--we represented Felix the Cat, the Beatles, Snoopy (for some items), WWF, etc. I was doing admin. assistant type work that I was able to leave at the door when I went home--it was did not require a lot of writing or creative thinking--mostly tracking contracts, checking in samples from potential licensees, etc. So, I think that gave me the energy to do the creative stuff at home.

After that experience, I moved into "day jobs" that required a lot more writing at work and thus, found myself less interested in doing that when I got home and I haven't published anything since--but I still do creative writing projects just to keep my chops.

When I have pursued more creative projects I've found it helps to have be part of a group--either a loose association or a formal class setting/writing group. Helps me to power through writer's block, or good old-fashioned procrastination).
posted by agatha_magatha at 12:34 PM on December 29, 2009


I work in newspapers and the creative side of advertising while doing a syndicated comic. Seems like different nozzles on the same creative fountain if you ask me. I think having a day job with some creativity makes up for those days when you're having a rough time on your project and vice versa.
posted by lpsguy at 2:09 PM on December 29, 2009


Best answer: I'm with hermitosis on this. I wrote and published a novel (and then wrote a second novel which didn't get accepted), which is what I wanted to be doing but which didn't bring in an immediate financial result. So for half a day, every day, I worked in a friend's leatherware workshop doing the accounting, picking up raw material from the suppliers, packing end products into shipping boxes, etc. This brought in enough to cover rent, food and utilities, but not enough to save up, take trips, go to the cinema, etc. Mornings from 8 to 12 writing, afternoons from 2 to 6 earning, evenings thinking up ideas for the next morning's writing. As long as I kept the two separate, neither impinged on the other.
posted by aqsakal at 11:33 PM on December 29, 2009


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