My goodness, what is it these days? I’m running from one appointment to the next and have so many things to do that at the end of the day I’m exhausted – and still have the feeling I didn’t accomplish anything… There are so many small things I have to attend to at the moment, I am getting bogged down by them and I don’t really have time to do the big and important stuff that would actually get me somewhere. And that’s just work I need to do anyway.
On top of all that, I’m getting emails about things that should be working smoothly without my interference – but of course, there are unexpected hiccups that I have to attend to… Just last week, I received an email from my bank in Austria informing me that they have made a wrong withdrawal, and could I please let them know what to do now, preferably using these forms including a signature. And today, I received a cheque from one of my steady clients in the US, where we usually deal via paypal. And because they don’t want to cancel the cheque, I have to go to my bank (in person!) and ask how much fees it would incur if I cash it here in Japan and then we’ll find out what to do about the fees and…
Sure, there’s nothing else I have to do right now, bring it on! It’s those little things that are wearing me out at the moment, and there’s nothing really I can do about it, except for delegating, which obviously is not an option at this point. And it’s almost December where even more of those little things are waiting for me, like Oseibo and Nengajo… I just hope things will get better soon, it’s very exhausting at the moment.
Most self-employed people have to work insane hours until it pays off. But once it does, you can hire an assistant to deal with all this. My former boss definitely loved delegating all the tedious stuff to me – it was my job, though and paid well, so I wasn’t complaining. 😉
The important 4 words here: “until it pays off”… That’s not going to happpen this (fiscal) year.
I’m not complaining about work that’s useful (okay, not much). Even things that I find tedious while doing it have some sort of reason and value behind. Entering all the events into the calendar is boring, but at the same time I learn a lot about the city (oh, there’s a shrine there as well?) and its culture and artists… Even writing my invoices at the end of the month is something I like doing – it shows that my efforts are not in vain. 😉
It’s those wheelspinning things that are not getting me anywhere. The banking issues above were caused by somebody else’s fault, and still I have to put in all the work to fix them. Why do I have to fix that my bank can’t count to 12? Or that Americans have never heard of bank transfers? This is the frustrating part that takes a good deal of my time; to be fair: part of it because I’m complaining about it. 😉
That’s the Austrian coming through… 😉
But honestly, despite the tough times, I envy you that you found something you wanted to do and went for it. I’ll be part of the 9 to 5 machinery for the rest of my life (most likely). Safe, but (somewhat) boring. 🙂