Ugh. Got kicked in the face with a strong dose of reality late last night (actually very, very early this morning). I owe a LOT in taxes this year as a result of not clearly understanding the ins and outs of claiming a loss on my taxes. There’s more to the story, but it’s too tedious to explain here. Let’s just chalk it up to idiocy and move on to making a solution (then never make the same mistake again.)

Overall, I’m in OK shape. It’s not like I’m being sent to debtors’ prison or anything – I’ll pay what I can, then make monthly installments until I’m all settled up with the government. I won’t starve, though according to my calculations, I’ll have to cut my grocery bill in half, and give up my little splurges, like the gym, manicures, and waxing. Oh well, the rest of the world is doing it, so no tears allowed there. Plus, I can always look at it as training for the Camino 🙂

But where it really gets hairy (ha!) is that after paying my regular bills, putting aside current taxes, and paying my monthly invoice for 2013 taxes, I will not have anything to put aside for this pilgrimage. So it looks like it’s time to get a second job, and possibly to start another side endeavor on Etsy or Ebay.

There are two things you should know about me if you haven’t figured it out already:

1. I’m resourceful. True, I love my creature comforts and fashion splurges now, but I grew up poor and learned from my parents how to make the most of the little things. I can always find a way to make money when I need it – so that’s what I’m going to do.
2. I don’t take “no” for an answer. I’m a Scorpio, which is a fixed sign, meaning that once I set my intentions, not much can shake me off of the trail. One of my favorite books, Linda Goodman’s Love Signs, says that Scorpios never give up – they just change their minds about what they originally wanted. No changing my mind on this trip, though. At the very worst, I’ll have to put it off for another year – but things will have to get pretty bad before that happens.

So today I contacted some old clients to let them know my new availability, then started a new profile on oDesk, with plans to adjust my schedule a bit to make room to become a virtual assistant. I figure that if I can squeeze in at least a few hours a day of admin work, and hopefully even pick up some additional freelance marketing jobs, I’ll be able to work my way into a slightly more profitable position. I’ll need to get a lot more regimented in my daily schedule (no more sleeping in), but with some luck and a little elbow grease, I’ll get back on track.

So…anyone looking for a virtual assistant?

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