From childhood to just before my corporate days, I had always been very creative with making money. I didn’t believe there was just one way you made it but instead, I believed that however you could make money, you should.

When I was twelve, despite the fact I had severe allergies, I used to hire a group of children to pick flowers/weeds from the local fields. I’d supervise them as they’d package the flowers into bundles and wrap them with foil. I’d give them directions on where to go to sell them and when they came back with a handful of money, I’d divide it up – twenty five cents for each of them and I’d take the rest which was usually around $10.

At 22, I used to find old furniture that had been dumped and refurbish it into something wonderful for extra money. Once, I found a beautiful, huge old oak table that weighed fifty million pounds and I worked on it for over two months. I sold it for $1500 – about a $1450 profit.

Being creative and relaxed with money changed as soon as I went corporate. That’s when I began to think that money only came if you worked behind a desk for 40 hours and some lady in a pantsuit handed you a check every two weeks.

I carried that belief as I became a freelance writer. That I had to write and then be paid for writing, and if I didn’t make a living at writing, I wasn’t really working.

With the pressure to make money at writing, the writing became less and less fun – the pressure was on to actually “do something” instead of just enjoy the process.

I realised today that I want to make money, but I’m not exactly picky about how I make it anymore. There’s no elitist feeling to saying I make my living as a writer. I’m not embarrassed if I get income some other way other than my current chosen career path nor do I think of myself as a failure. Money is money and as long as I enjoy making it, I’m going to make it any way I can, and it doesn’t change the fact that I’m a writer.

I’m still going to write full-time, I’m still going to make my living as a writer and when people as me what I do for a living, “Writer” is the first and only thing I’ll say. However I’m going to look into getting creative with making money again because it’s needed and it takes the pressure off of trying to get an income in only one way.

Exactly what my creative money making choices will be have yet to be seen. I’m selling art that will bring in a little extra income, I’m now offering to give speeches/talks/classes on the side because not only have I been asked to do this from different organisations, but because I’m good at it and really love to do it. There are summer jobs as art directors at camps that sound appealing and if all that fails I spotted a field of flowers nearby.

I know there are a lot of other creative ways to make money and I’m sure I’ll figure them out and try different ways. I’m approaching it as a fun, side thing like I used to do rather than a “have to or I’m going to feel like a loser” kind of thing. I’ve accepted I’m a creative person and therefor, can be creative about money.

I’m still a writer, that’s what I always will be. I just happen to be a writer who makes a little money from other places on the side.

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