Originally from Houston, Texas, Runic Rigel is a YouTuber and writer who helps her fiancé run a small, local business in the small Midwestern city in which they live.
It may seem at odds with the current mindset but I believe we’re living in a time where loving what you do is a prerequisite for doing it. This rule applies especially to those of you in pursuit of being your own boss or creative guide. Motivating when you’re in charge of your own schedule is freeing but terrifying. There is no upper management to blame if you thrive or fail on the guidelines that no one but you has set for yourself. I’m also learning that when you work for yourself, part of the reason you must love what you do is because, there is no escape. Now our work lives, social lives and personal lives intricately mingle with one another. There are certain things we can do but social media has taken on an almost uncanny life of it’s own. Aspects of our lives will cohort and meet regardless of what we do. There is no off button.
Even when I’ve pried myself away from my desk I’m still attached to the store’s e-mail, Ebay and employees contacting me through my phone. When I go on personal outings like a walk or to run errands people that recognize us from the little retail store my boyfriend owns want to stop and have a conversation. Are we taking certain items for trade? How much cash could they get? People want to talk shop not realizing this is what we already do every day - sometimes from the moment we wake up until the wee hours of the morning. Unwittingly, they are infringing on very precious personal time. It’s not infrequent that I’ve been up until 2 a.m. in the shop pricing items and setting up displays during the only time I can work on them — after the store closes.
Representing yourself or owning an institution eats up everything. It consumes your thoughts, your conversations, how you behave and if you don’t keep it in check it’ll consume your interpersonal relationships too. It changes peoples’ perception of you. They don’t see the amount of time you exchange for the compensation you receive. Nine times out of ten it doesn’t all come out in the wash. A nine to five this is not. It isn’t uncommon for both me and my partner to spend over twelve hours a day individually. We price records while we watch TV, we take calls and texts from employees at all hours, we simultaneously take vacation while also attending conventions and shopping for the store, we respond to online inquiries from wherever, whenever.
I don’t just mean the shop either. Right now I am working to establish a platform for my art. Almost every minute I’m not working on the store I’m working on my own personal start-up, a business that is made up of my thoughts and me alone. When I’m not working on the store I’m working on focusing my feelings, my ideas and creating them into a product of self-expression or research. Anytime I’m spending my time on something that doesn’t manifest into a product that I can cherish and be proud of I feel guilty. Many times this makes leisure time less satisfying while others it’s more enjoyable, rare and sweet. The reality is we’re not guaranteed tomorrow. We’re all on borrowed minutes. I want mine to count for something. This is where I turned when I went about-face from the banking industry. These works with long hours, little pay and no health insurance are my pursuit of passion.
It takes work to run a business but it also takes work to make sure that the business doesn’t run you. It’s a fine, vastly rewarding and terrifying line that at times feels exhausting, overwhelming and the furthest thing from gratifying. In what is being increasingly referred to as a shared economy adulthood no longer seems limitless but far more like indentured servitude to corporate institutions. If you are not laden with debt and loans from the pursuit of education it’s just as likely you will be chained to debt regarding medical expenses or some other form of credit. However, I do believe in this Wild West called the Internet we have an advantage. The feather in our cap is that we’ve grown up in and around this world of inter-connectivity and the pursuit of intuitive design.
I won’t lie, I’m on the older side of the Millennial time frame. I started out with no Internet, then dial up and didn’t have cable high-speed until I was almost out of High School. Yet, I do that in this point in history if you are willing to put in the work and commit regularly to do what you love and if you use resources like the Internet to connect, you can do so to the right people. They’re out their waiting to intimate, collab and commune with you if only you can find them — whether they be customer, partner or friend. A platform is waiting if you’re ready to spend the thankless work of building it from nothing.
In this new era of phones, apps and social media replacing the social life we have to align our skills and time to insist upon their value. Self-motivation and the hours we have available to work are our biggest commodity. If you can learn to walk the tight-rope of time management skills and relationship building I truly believe the possibilities are endless. That’s what I’m counting on anyway.
So owning a business is hard, but you think I should do it? Not necessarily. What I am saying is that by pursuing something you love you open up doors not only for yourself but others. I’m telling you it isn’t always easy but there’s a rewarding feeling in there that your time is being exploited instead of a corporation slapping you with a number and exploiting you instead. What I’m letting you know I believe is that the “little guy” is still important and that in the land of Netflix and chill maybe it’s time get out of our feet and take ownership of the economy that’s been tilted from favoring us.
In a world stacked against the little guy finding your own way can be it’s own mighty form of protest against an unjust system that favors the already grossly wealthy and powerful. We are encouraged each day to embrace complacency and consumer. Instead, I suggest that you feed the monster of productivity, just don’t let it get at your fingers or you might lose the proverbial hand you need to do good work.
