Move On

Ok, so it seems appropriate that my last blog entry was about procrastination seeing as how it's taken me soooo looong to post this entry. Anywho....

There has been much deliberation on the subject of selling my pet sitting business, For Paws Philly www.forpawsphilly1.com (FPP) vs. hiring a manager to run it while I am away playing musical roads. My financial advisor calls selling the business "Financial Suicide". However, I think that this assertion is a bit premature. This so called Financial Suicide is based on the idea that Nick and I will spend all of our savings during the trip and not make any money. Of course, at the moment we don't have a solid plan of how we will make money but that doesn't mean that we won't. I think holding onto the business could possibly be ARTISTIC Suicide and take away from the freedom that we are seeking on this expedition. If I hire a manager, will I be able to focus on music and creating something new when my head is stuck in Philadelphia worrying about all of the moving parts of a business which I no longer have any physical control over? Whew. Sure, keeping the business may give me some financial security, but it will certainly cause other stresses. I will have to worry about my liability, and what if the manager running the business doesn't do a good job? Then the business could dwindle and I would wind up not make any money from it. Then again, if it works, having money coming in on a regular basis would free up my time and energy on the road, so I wouldn't have to worry about working all the time during our trip. Hmmmm. When do we know if it is time to move on?


Nick surprised me with tickets to the show Sunday In The Park With George. This is a musical about the universal artists' life. The struggles that all artists face: sacrificing one's life in order to live fully in the art that one creates, finding funding for the art (for art is nothing if no one can see it), taking risks and being criticized for it, being artistically blocked, connecting. "Art isn't easy." The quintessential moment of this play, for me, is the song Move On sung by the characters Dot and George.




This song truly touched me. All of the over thinking and complications we create, are just that; made up. They aren't real. We don't need to dwell on the past or worry about the future when we can simply move on and start something new and see where it takes us. Sometimes we worry that our new ventures are not original, everything's been done before, but as Dot says "let it come from you, then it will be new." This is a truly freeing statement because it allows us, not only as artists, but as humans to stop worrying and to once again get out of our own way. We tend to get stuck in our daily lives, in a schedule, or routine, but we aren't stuck after all. We just need a swift kick in the...


Assets, what are our assets? Financial success is not the only form of success. We are always thinking, "Oh if i can just get that raise, then I can afford to blah blah blah." Basically, we are trying to find happiness through financial wealth and inanimate objects, but we are not looking at ourselves; at our deeper desires and long term dreams. Money isn't the end all be all. Sure, it can buy you comfort, but it can't buy you happiness. I read the book Quarter Life Crisis around the time I started For Paws Philly and it told stories of corporate guru's who were wealthy and powerful, but stressed and miserable who changed their careers for much less money, but found happiness. In some of these stories they found financial wealth as well. None of these people regretted the choices they made to change their lives. I'm sure they had huge changes to make like downsizing from a 4 bedroom house to a one bedroom condo, or giving up their luxury BMW to driving a hybrid Honda. Changes can be made, it's not impossible, you just have to do it and it will get done. They were compelled to move on and they did it.

Dot says "The choice may have been mistaken, the choosing was not". When we make decisions, sometimes in retrospect we could have chosen better, or differently, but at the moment of the choosing it was the right decision. Choices are never final either!!! Hello!!! Yes, It's true!!! When I was living "down the shore" a friend who I worked with who was a bit older and wiser taught me this lesson(Btw, Thanks Dawn!): Don't hem and haw over decisions. Make a decision, see what happens and then make another decision depending on the outcome of your first decision. No choice is wrong and no choice is final. We can amend our decisions. NO ACTION IS WORSE THAN INACTION. Some experiences we go through as a result of our decisions we will not benefit from until years down the line. Something that we are upset about now, in the future we will realize was essential to our growth. Our experiences make us into who we will become, both happy and sad moments shape us. Life is a journey, not a test that we can pass or fail. We cannot measure anything through "right" and "wrong". These are judging words and judging anyone, including yourself, gets us nowhere. What works for one of us, won't necessarily work for another. Each one of us is on our own journey.

Of course, I am still wavering between fully moving on and keeping FPP as an asset. Each decision here has it's pros and cons. I'm not quite ready to make up my mind and luckily I don't have to just yet. So, I'm beginning the interview process to see if there are any good candidates out there to manage FPP. Then I might shop FPP around and see what kind of market is out there for a pet sitting business. For me, I like to make educated decisions when it comes to my livelihood. That way I can feel like I did make the best choice with the knowledge that I had.