Honing your existing skills can be a very lucrative endeavor as well
as a time for personal enrichment. I've recently found that my love for
languages & music could be making me money, if only I were more
confident & they were more polished.
My
under-employed status occasionally frustrates me to the point of The
Craigslist Search. I have honed The Search to a systematic quest for
jobs that I am qualified. The Search usually leaves me feeling
un-employ-able. No, I do not have 3+ years of experience as an
Administrative Assistant. And I am not available every weeknight and
weekend to start as a waitress. The two key components of getting a job
are experience & availability. I am limited in both.
Occasionally, however, I'll find a posting that I am almost
qualified for. It is bittersweet: there is a job that I could nearly do
but am not quite confident enough to apply for it. Recently, these jobs
have been short-term or one-time gigs, but even such transient
employment is a start toward paying those mountains of debt! These small
opportunities have inspired me to write about tailoring & honing
the skills you already have to make them viable sources for income. I'll
choose my two skills & passions: languages & music. In this
post, I'll talk about my experience with the first of those two.
I am fairly proficient in Italian & therefore was
excited to see an ad for an Italian translator. As I read the write-up,
however, I became less confident in my ability to fulfill the wants of
the client, who was mainly interested in using an Italian translator for
business correspondence with an Italian business. She wanted a person
who would be able to write professional e-mails to an Italian company.
This is where I come up short: my Italian is restricted to the
vocabulary I learned in 11th grade while living in Italy. I do not call
myself fluent because I am sure I do not know the -___ words that
qualify a speaker as fluent. I have no concrete way to measure my
vocabulary, but I doubt that I could conduct respectable &
professional correspondence in Italians. My optimism for this job
diminished as quickly as it had risen.
But,
who's to say that I will not have that fluency in the future? After
seeing this post, it made me aware of the fact that my deep but dormant
interest in becoming a more capable Italian speaker needed to be
galvanized by this job posting. As such, I've resolved to resume
studying Italian, with a particular focus on gaining vocabulary. With
some hard work, the next time I see such an ad I'll confidently click
"reply" (or cut & paste the address, as is the case with Craigslist)
& extol the virtues of my linguistic proficiency!
I'm
sure you have similar interests that are dusty from disuse. What can
you do about it? Perhaps you're like my aunt who loves to paint rooms in
her house. If you could use the extra cash, take that show on the road!
Or maybe you've always loved writing short pieces? I'll be the local
newspaper needs some freelance writers. There are opportunities
for supplemental work & my bet is that the change of pace is more
likely to invigorate you than tire you out!
Pt.
2 of this post will focus on the ways I'm working (that's present
tense, not future!) to expand my guitar (et al.) repertoire to be
available for one-time & short notice gigs in the future!
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