As someone who has been self-employed since 1996, whenever I hear anyone complaining about the policies that govern their paid vacation days, I get really irritated. Getting paid to not work? What a weird idea. Earlier this year I decided to engineer my own paid vacation. Here's how:
1. Find an art festival in a location where you'd like to take a vacation.
2. In the weeks leading up to the show, stay on top of your workload (see next post below). As self-employed people know, it is impossible to take time off and feel relaxed if you think you are behind at work.
3. Book a hotel room that is vacation quality, unlike the how-low-can-you-go hotels that I normally book for work, and stay an extra day or two beyond the show.
4. Spend one day working, but without any of the usual pressure to make a profit, or to accomplish anything meaningful business-wise.
5. Sit on beach, wiggle toes in sand.
So this is how I spent this past weekend, at the Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival. The show day featured just about all the bad weather issues that can possibly upset you at an outdoor show: heavy torrential rain, sideways wind gusts, and thick slobbering heat and humidity. But it didn't matter! I was pleased how well my new steel bar weights held my canopy in place. And I reminded myself how awesome it will be next weekend at Annmarie Garden, where I get to be indoors. And when I wasn't working, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
1. Find an art festival in a location where you'd like to take a vacation.
2. In the weeks leading up to the show, stay on top of your workload (see next post below). As self-employed people know, it is impossible to take time off and feel relaxed if you think you are behind at work.
3. Book a hotel room that is vacation quality, unlike the how-low-can-you-go hotels that I normally book for work, and stay an extra day or two beyond the show.
4. Spend one day working, but without any of the usual pressure to make a profit, or to accomplish anything meaningful business-wise.
5. Sit on beach, wiggle toes in sand.
So this is how I spent this past weekend, at the Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival. The show day featured just about all the bad weather issues that can possibly upset you at an outdoor show: heavy torrential rain, sideways wind gusts, and thick slobbering heat and humidity. But it didn't matter! I was pleased how well my new steel bar weights held my canopy in place. And I reminded myself how awesome it will be next weekend at Annmarie Garden, where I get to be indoors. And when I wasn't working, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
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