Friday, March 27, 2009
Side Hustle
Heather, now in England, mentioned how she enjoyed doing little jobs on the side, not necessarily connected with her profession, and it made me try to remember what odd jobs, some quite strangely unconnected with my job, which is playing the violin. She calls it side hustles, I don't kinow if there is a better term.
OK, so doing a paper route as a kid is not so unusual, a lot of boys my age did that too.
But when I started college and had to support myself and pay my tuition, it was soon evident that I was going to have to use my imagination-- there are 6 kids in my family, and we all went to college; and my dad said, "I will pay the first semester tuition and housing, then you are on your own."
These are some of the things I did to earn money in college:
Play in an orchestra.
Tune autoharps for unmusical music education students.
Sell childrens clothes and women's bras in a department store.
Housesitting.
Teaching the violin at the University of California Davis.
Play for Jack Benny in the casinos in Reno.
Play background music in restaurants in Aspen in exchange for meals.
(There were probably other things I did, but I have forgotten or repressed them)
After finishing college I started working as a musician but somehow I have kept on doing odd things on the side. These are some of the things I have actually been paid for:
Taking photographs of people and things
Doing graphic work.
Last week I did a calligraphic project-- it has long been a hobby of mine but this was the first time I got paid.
Translating part of an art book
Doing acoustical research
writing computer programs
repairing computers
Organizing music festivals
Web design
CD covers
Various translation projects in German, French, and English
Teaching specialized computer music applications
Writing music
Managing rental properties
I think all of us are multitasking most of the time, what do you do to help make ends meet?
# posted by vailian : 9:02 PM
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Nice posting.
Although I'm having a hard time picturing you selling women's bras in a dept store. :-)
Although I'm having a hard time picturing you selling women's bras in a dept store. :-)
You played in Aspen? Did you know Peter Jaffe? The one who didn't kiss me...? (It's all here: http://northwestladybug.blogspot.com/2007/10/peter-jafee-never-kissed-me-even-if-i.html)
Carol
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Carol
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