Staying productive during money crisis?

3 points by jglauche 11y ago ↗ HN

Hi,

I formerly sold 3d printers with my company; now as that market pretty much crashed, I'm now doing 3d design/engineering work for 3d printable designs to keep me alive (and actually which I enjoy doing!).

I've been doing project based work for a client the past two month now and have received good feedback from my employer. The first month paid okay, the subsequent projects that I was assigned to are a workload of 2-3 month combined and I'm only getting paid according to one month of work for those. I've let my employer know about my unstable money situation and that I require more money and more time for these projects or otherwise lots of shit will happen here.

I've started with one of these projects and worked 14 actual work days on that so far and it's nowhere near the point I can ask money for completion. I've got a negative feedback from my employer about raising the budget for the project, only that it's not time critical to finish it and take my time to fix my money situation otherwise...

I've got a bunch of problems

- My company is so out of money that it cannot buy new stock, nor pay myself (for now 2 month in a row)

- If I let my company crash, I'm partially responsible out of my own pocket (which will turn my current 4-digit debt into a 5-digit debt) and it will disable me access to a lot of tools it has (i.e. big machinery like a lathe)

- I don't have another employer and I do not know how to get another one

- My productivity shuts down completely when I have to worry about money

Last thing is my biggest problem to all. I've had it from January to April combined with some other issues I had. I've then started working on the projects of my current employer with the prospect of getting financially stable. I was quite immediately happy, I was productive. I've impressed people by what I've done.

Now that I worry about money again, I cannot (literally) get a thing done.

5 comments

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michaelpinto 11y ago ↗

There really are only two things you can do:

1. Get professional help or even find a support network to help you face your fears of a lack of money

2. If you feel that insecure, then embrace the idea that's who you are and don't run a business or work as a freelancer

jglauche 11y ago ↗

1. I am seeing a therapist bi-weekly and I talked about this to her.

2. I have no alternative to that as I hate 9-5 jobs as I'm terrible unproductive doing them. I'm productive 3-4h max a day and that time shifts between mornings and late evenings every day.

I think if you're getting help that's a good start

jdimov9 11y ago ↗

I know what you mean, that's a chronic thing for me. I'm periodically freaking out about money to the point of shutting myself down - even more so now that I have 3 children to take care of. Even though if I have to look at it objectively my income has actually jumped up dramatically over the past 10 years. I figured it's not actually about the money, it's about what goes on in your head.

So I only have one piece of advice for you: Stop whining. Change the story you're telling yourself in your head every day all day long. Not as in "make up shit that's not true and pretend it is", no. More as in a gentle shift in focus... like, stop looking at a few problems that you think you have and shift your attention instead to the INFINITE JOY AND ABUNDANCE THAT SURROUNDS YOU ALL DAY EVERYDAY NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO.

That's the best you can do. And is the only thing that works. Despite what everyone else is telling you, struggle and hard work are soo over-rated. Life is supposed to be easy, and until you start believing that, you will always have these problems.

true words, true words...