Most Filipinos only have one job at a time in their lifetime, and it's either a day job or a night job. The other part of our lives are filled with what we call "raket" or sidelines (gig) and not really a 2nd job per se. In America, we see in their movies or TV series that they do more than one job all the time, like it's a way of life for them. Must be really hard to earn money and live there huh? Maybe.
Anyway, so I started my official double job back in August. I worked full time for a real estate company and then I went back to the BPO industry, working at night, in the latter part of that month. Now it's November and I'm just doing the real estate job as part-time now instead of full time. Oh what a relief. Lol.
Why Have Two or More Jobs?
(Photo credit: Quotefancy.com)
The only reason people get two jobs or more is to have more money to spend on things they need and want. More money to buy the things we want to give other people or because we want to provide a better life for our family and/or future selves/family. (Unless you're a workaholic.)
Is having more than one job good for you though? Based on my experience, let's see some of the pros and cons.
Pros:
• Increased income
• Improved time management
• Acquisition of more of the things you need/want
Cons:
• Less time for self, family and/or friends
• Less than 4, 6 or 8hrs of sleep
• Health or relationship problems come up
If you're still thinking to ask, "Why work at more than one job?" It's pretty simple:
- Work for More Money
- Work Because You Love What You Do
Work for Money, Money, Money To Survive
and Acquire Everything You Want or Need
As kids or students, we do not understand the value of making a living, unless if we also have been working as a student to help fund our education. Personally, even when I was in grade school, I never bothered about thinking of earning money even when it got so bad we were eating salt or used/flavored cooking oil with really cheap rice... It simply never entered my mind because maybe instictively I understood that the adults are responsible for my life and education. If not my mom, then maybe a helpful relative, as long as they are the working adult then I didn't need to worry about it.
Mom and/or our relatives never told us to find a way to earn money too while we were young. I mean, sort of working for your relatives at a young age doesn't really equate to money or salary when you're just a student because you aren't exactly working for a living, you're just helping out and getting free food or enjoying free computer gameplays so you're happy to get anything.
(Photo credit: via quotefancy.com)
At a young age, the only time I ever felt that if I didn't have any money I didn't have the right to ask for anything was when I was maybe in kindergarten or early grade school, with a then college (or maybe already working?) distant aunt. I pointed at something, as kids usually do, indicating I would like to have such and she asked me if I had the money. I didn't, so that shut me up quick. It felt kinda harsh at the time when I didn't know what harshness really meant.
Now, I'm at an age where I should already have kids and still be working and yet I choose to stay single and work double jobs. Haha. It's not funny but I just wanna laugh at what I'm doing for a brief moment. Don't laugh because it's not funny. Seriously. Lol. Raising yourself is no joke people. Even providing for yourself as an adult is no easy feat with all the things capitalism throws at your face. So why are we still wondering why we need to work all the time?
If we don't want to keep working too much maybe it's time to move out of the city and live the simple and happy life of farmers and fishermen. And we wonder why genereally they are okay with not being well educated huh.
Or you need to start and/or continue saving, investing then make money work for you.
(Video credit: London Real via YouTube.com , interview starts at 7:05)
Doing What You Love and Earning From It
I will discuss this topic from an artist's perspective.
Not all artists work in an art related job. We can enter other fields as well, like sales or marketing for example.
Ever heard of the term, "starving artist"? Well that seems to always be the case for artists who would be happy to "work for nothing" as long as we keep on doing what we love to do: create art, take pictures, make music or write stories. If eventually we get recognized for our best work we can then successfully hold an art exhibit, have song albums, movies/TV shows or whatever artistic endeavor we are driven to do. This is why most artists do not earn money. True artists are happy to make and create the things, even without getting paid for it and that's why there are artists who get exploited and abused and become jaded.
(Photo credit: via grassyroots.com)
Successful YouTube stars like Ed Sheeran are examples of those who worked hard on being their best artistic self and nothing else. Sometimes it's kind of a do or die thing, like for Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, especially when they were starting out. Lol. It can be funny to think about it but it's really a serious matter. At least their hard work and artistic endeavors did not fall on deaf ears or blind eyes. Truly artistic people get recognized and appreciated by a lot of people. Being able to capitalize on that is the best thing in the world.
Now when artists/writers get paid to create art/stories for other people, that is a different matter; that is working for other people instead of working on what artists or writers prefer to create on their own. The two are not similar at all.
The first is where the artistic license comes in. This is where a sponsor is a good thing to have, where they will pay the artist/writer to create whatever they would love to create, usually without input from other people. This is where websites like Patreon comes in. The latter is where people tell the artist/writer what they need or like and the artist/writer creates it for them. This is where websites like 99designs and Upwork come in.
(Photo credit: via smilingldsgirl.com)
Getting paid to create art/stories for other people is somewhat an offshoot of being able to create art/stories because you like/love to do it. People like beautiful and artistic things. We want to sing beautiful songs, we want to be painted or photographed in the most beautiful way, we want to see the beauty of the world or even a fictional world in the eyes of the artists. We like to share and experience things with other people. The problem arises if people do not want to pay enough to experience these, especially when they think creating something out of nothing is not time and energy consuming. So don't ever wonder why there are still "starving artists" out there who run from their calling even if they really want to do truly artistic endeavors.
(Photo credit: via worldartsme.com)
Working hard for something you love to do is not really working indeed. You know you're passionate about something when you'd do everything for your creation to "come to life/existence." I salute people who are able to make a living out of this passion. They are the brave souls and maybe even the lucky ones especially if they are supported by the people they love and care about.
(Photo credit: ChinkeeTan.com)
For others not in the creative field, like the successful doctors, lawyers or soldiers/police etc., they have their own reasons why they love what they do and become successful at it. Doctors usually want to save lives, lawyers and soldiers usually stand for what is right and protect the innocent. Earning money from it would just be a great bonus if their work is their true passion. Isn't that why work became work in the first place? We each have our own expertise and so we get paid for doing it for others.
Well here's another way to look at it if you don't know what you're passionate about.
(Video credit: TEDx Talks via YouTube.com)
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Now then, after reading and watching all that, can you answer my question? Would you work two jobs or no?
I'm probably done with doing two jobs but I'm not closing my doors on it forever. :)
© Art x Stephanie Rue
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