So What's Stopping You?

This is what I've asked myself lately. In particular, I've asked myself that when it comes to a paying day gig.

My husband got me into the show Bar Rescue. For those who haven't seen it, it's about this guy named Jon Taffer who comes in and attempts to save failing bars on the brink of closing. I like his no-nonsense, no bullshit attitude. It's much like mine. Some of the owners & people you see him deal with on this show are something else.

They went to one restaurant (the pirate one) whose staff reminded me of how some of my husband's acquaintances would run a restaurant if they had the money to get one. They're hard core gamers: live action, going to conventions, the whole nine yards. I see them having a similar disregard for business concerns & customers to their establishment. The pirate people were extremely hard core in the whole pirate thing & dismissive of customer wishes or concerns.

My husband actually took the extra step of reading Yelp reviews on the places featured on this show. Apparently, many of them went back to their old ways & the owners didn't learn shit. Many of the businesses are now listed as "closed."

This sort of thing pisses me off since if I had the means to have my own restaurant/hospitality business, I'd do a far better job than these assholes who apparently have more money or more pride than common sense. In the most recent episode (sorry if I'm spoiling things for anyone), the owner actually rehired a manager who admitted on camera to stealing from him!

What the fuck is wrong with you if you would rehire a thief? If I'd been that owner, I'd have called the cops on that guy immediately & had him blackballed from my industry. This after my husband got done breaking the thief's hand or making him miserable in some other way. If you did that in the entertainment business, I guarantee you'd get blackballed.

If you did that as a lawyer, you'd be disbarred & maybe even sent to jail for embezzlement.

I've also noticed lately job ads where companies were seeking writers and the like. I looked at the profile of one start-up owner & he's got a JD. If feels like a lot of businesses are started by lawyers. I saw a wingwoman company, a writing start-up, all sorts of things.

So if all these lawyers & JDs can start these non-legal businesses, I ask myself this post's title. I think pretty much any unemployed lawyer should ask themselves the same question.

I think with me, it's more trying to have my current business get funding. And you know what? If my business had funding, we'd do a far better job in our affairs than many of these dumbass owners. We sure wouldn't be harboring thieves or letting our employees be disrespectful to people coming in to help us (as an ex-bartender at this restaurant was to Jon Taffer without anyone telling her to shut up; I'm glad Jon Taffer pretty much did what I would have done in the same situation). Since that's my dream & my passion, it's not hard for me to stick with it. More people are even viewing it as a viable business. I even got a professional pass to this year's Comic Con in NYC (which I'll be doing a post on when I go since it will be my first time going) & am getting a custom shirt with my company's logo to wear for a day of it (my husband's idea; he's getting one as well).

My concern is finding a way to use my skills & talents to get a paying day gig that I get some autonomy in. It's more like needing to not only know what I want to do but how to execute it without spending money & where I can make money.

Just so you know, if you're a lawyer you have much more knowledge than you think you do. If you worked in customer service for a bunch of years, you know more than you think. If you had a nightmare job, you know how not to treat people.

I started at my company having no knowledge of what I was doing so I believe anyone who's gotten a law license can learn new things. We have technology & the Internet today; if you're smart & motivated, you can do lots of things. As a friend of mine would say "No excuses!" I say "No bullshit!" You have to live your own life & if you're going to be miserable, you will be the person who suffers most from that one. YOU have to live inside your own head; I don't.

Oh, and if some employer is too stupid to get that concept then they don't deserve your time, blood, sweat or talent. However, I do like this CEO's sentiment and back it up 100%. I have never objected to profiting off the stupidity of others. Hell, many industries wouldn't exist if someone wasn't profiting off consumers' stupidity. Who'd ever buy a luxury brand product? Who'd pay crazy prices for drinks in a bar? Who would buy artwork? As long as nothing illegal is going on, business owners shouldn't feel any qualms about taking money from stupid people. As a matter of fact, I'd like to see Edina Monsoon's (of Absolutely Fabulous) taxing suggestion come into play: "How about a stupidity tax?! Just tax the stupid people!" It would save me & many people I know a fortune.