Pay Day

On occasion, I hear--and I'm sure you do to--about people who are paid to "do what they love." I have things that I do really, really well and l love to do them, but (probably) I will never be paid to do them. So, for your reading enjoyment, here are a few things that I do well that won't turn into a paycheck.

1. Budgeting/Financial Planning. As long as I'm not in the red, which I am some of the time, I love budgeting. I love the challenge of figuring out the best uses for money and stretching here and there to squeeze more money into savings/paying off debt.

I read voraciously on the subject. What kinds of insurance do the "experts" recommend? What are the best retirement savings vehicles? How much money do I need in an emergency fund and what kind of plan do I need in place to get there? I know. I am a geek. Do you want me to do your budgeting, too? I just can't get enough of it. Although, obviously, I'll budget for you for free, cuz who's going to pay for that? I'm serious, though. I know;it's sad.

2. Being the Boss. I'm a born leader. I LOVE being in charge. Sadly, I can't be in charge of stuff all the time. I think this is probably one of my most underutilized talents.

It may seem strange that a middle child loves to be in charge, but my little sis is bossy, too, I've heard. She and I both got called the "mother" of our respective groups of friends in high school. This is probably because my mom and my dad are both oldests. You know how some families turn out musicians or artists? My folks turn out leaders. Now if I could only find some people to lead somewhere. And better yet, a paycheck to go with it!

3. Talking. I'm pretty freakin' good at most kinds of talking. I really excel at presentations and public speaking. I won a couple of speaking competitions as a kid. It is simply something I was born to do.

When I was in college, I took a class--oddly, I can't remember what it was--where we were assigned groups. I have NEVER been in a group where we all couldn't stand each other. Really. It wasn't us verses them, it was each-man-for-himself-and-I-can't-stand-a-single-other-person-in-this-group kind of situation. I did my best to avoid confrontation, but at the end of the semester we had to put on a presentation.

At the final group meeting I insisted that I be the presenter. This, of course, was met with immediate resistance. I really think my group viewed me as shy and easy to boss around, but I didn't back down or go with the flow. I knew I was the best at this skill. Eventually the group allowed me to present. A couple of the guys put together a video that I would use mid presentation and the other girl made treats for the class that had something to do with our subject.

Day of the presentation, my group all looked nervously to me. Virtually our whole grade rested on this presentation. I stood in front of the class and began talking. My teammates mouths went slack. At the end of our presentation, our professor raved about the job my group did and said all of the groups should have performed as well as we did. After class my teammates were appreciative and said things like, "I didn't know you had that in you," and stuff like that. They all thanked me for saving their behinds. One of the guys loved my presentation so much, he pretended we were pals and asked to present a project of his in another class. So I did. Told 'ya I love to talk. Now who's going to pony up and pay me the big bucks? No one? Shucks. I was afraid that was the answer.

Now it's your turn. What do you do well that no one is going to pay you for?