The Office - Episode 1

Is it Saturday already?

The week just flew by. I did all the things that I mentioned in my last post, including officially kicking off my illustrious freelance career.

Larry the cable guy was out Thursday and hooked me up with internet and switched my phone over from AT&T. I rearranged my upstairs and created a nice little home office in my guest room. Dunder Mifflin, Pebblestone Branch. (By the by, I can't wait for Lent to be over to catch up on TO and 30R -- I've been TiVo-ing.)

Once I get it cleaned up, I'll take a pic and post it. Basically I placed my secretary underneath the window so I can look out at green tree and blue sky while at my computer. I hauled the big work table out of the closet and set it to my left to lay out projects and papers and keep my new HP all-in-one printer/fax/copier scanner. I hooked it up by myself. With no help. From anyone. On my own. Can ya tell I'm a little proud? The fax even works right -- I sent my first signed NDA on it. I rock.

I also met with Mitzi from church about the top-secret project I mentioned a few posts back. The project is to develop a Time Bank at Fellowship. God gave me the idea for it before I even knew they existed. The words "Market Share" just popped into my head one Sunday two weeks ago (I wrote them down with the date and stuck it on the bulletin board), and I even instinctively knew what that meant -- a marketplace where people were bartering and trading with each other -- rather than the traditional marketing definition which is "the percentage of the total available market or market segment being serviced by a company." I just didn't know at the time how it applied to me. Then two days later, I stumbled across an article about Time Banking online and knew this was what Market Share would be.

I've talked to two people on staff at church (Mitzi and Tommy) and they both have told me this meets a need that they've had for a way to connect people wanting to volunteer with needs in our church community. It's going to take some time to get it going, but I'm very excited about it. Like it really gets me fired up. R-E-A-L-L-Y. So cool to get to be a part of and to think about getting it off the ground.

I don't think I can make a living at it (though I may be able to get a small stipend), but I believe my freelance writing will cover me and allow me the flexibility to spend time getting it set up and overseeing it in some capacity.

We're talking again on Monday and deciding how to proceed from here.

Next week I plan to start being a little more aggressive about making freelancing connections and getting some work coming in. If you'd like to pray for me, you can pray about that. I'd appreciate it!

TTFN.