Money and Me

by Steve M Nash
(Yorkshire, UK)

First, an admission, I'm not materialistic! So that means I don't want to earn lots of money just so I can waste it on a lot of 'stuff' (to impress people with?) that I'll probably stop using next year, just so I can buy an updated version of the same said 'stuff'!

Much more important than money, to me, is time!

So I'd rather earn £30,000 per year and be able to walk to work, rather than £40,000 per year and be forced to spend 2 hours a day stuck in traffic jams.

More important than money, to me, is the feeling that I'm doing something I enjoy!

And that's why, in the period between 1994 and 2001, I went from earning £18,000 per year as a computer programmer to £3.70 per hour as a data entry clerk to £750 per week as an IT 'consultant' to £70 per month as a computer trainer (in Malawi, Africa) to £1100 per week as an IT consultant again to £0 per month working for myself...

How? Well, basically I was unhappy working as a computer programmer in a company where I was treated like a 'code'-monkey (i.e. computer programmer). So I quit this job, suddenly, and could find nothing better to do than some Temp work for a few months.

I then got a job as a computer contractor (consultant) but decided that I still did not like the 9-to-5 grind no matter how much money I earned. So I decided to work for Voluntary Service Overseas (like Peace Corps in the States) for a 'wage' of between £70 and £100 per month (enough to live on).

On returning to UK, I did another stint of computer contracting for a year to pay off debts and then decided to learn about web design. That was mid-2000. And not only did I have to learn about web design, but I *really* had to learn about making money online.

So it was only in 2001 that I started earning my first income, working for myself, from my websites as an Affiliate Marketer.

And my income has gone up and down ever since but I'm definitely earning enough AND the 'drive' to work takes me all of a few seconds. I'm my own boss. And I get to work for as long or as little as I like in a week...

So, I'm happy with my relationship with money. I have a healthy respect for money, but a much healthier respect for time!

Cheers,
Steve

PS Pretty much the first website I created was an account of my 2-year stint as a VSO computer trainer. And you can read all about it at Diary of a Volunteer, should you be interested.

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