When Your Livelihood Disappears Before Your Eyes

To say I panicked when all my websites suddenly disappeared as if they were devoured by Pac-Man would be a huge understatement. They are my livelihood as a single woman over 60 aside from my Social Security and whatever I make as an actor.

The same thing happened about a year ago when malware snuck in and took down my sites.  I hate those evil bots who randomly chew up people’s websites, social media profiles, email, and bank accounts. Why do they pick on people who are just trying to get by and enjoy their lives?

Fortunately, my sites came back, at least for not, but not without my blood pressure spiking. My life flashed before my eyes and I thought to myself, “Should I give up blogging? Is all the work I’ve put into my blogs since 2008 worth it?”

It’s not like I am getting rich from this like many online marketers who claim to be making tens of thousands of dollars a month. The fact is, I love doing it. Besides contributing to my livelihood, it’s a creative outlet for me. I meet amazing people online and off because of it, get to try out all sorts of products and services, and am invited to attend special events.

No bot is going to stop me from building my business

Running a freelance business is not always easy.  There will always be obstacles to overcome. If you are self-employed and love what you do, you continue to persist and work through the challenges.

I taught myself how to blog and market myself online

 It’s been a learning experience, but it has always been fun, and I’m all about fun. Sure, I wish I was raking in more dough, but I’m satisfied. My writing has improved over the years, opportunities come my way out of the blue, and I’m building my traffic and have been able to make headway.

My acting career is still in the mix

I’ve acted since 1981 but for the last decade, I dealt with serious life and industry changes. I also got older, which doesn’t always matter as a voiceover actor but in some ways, it does. As younger and cuter actors move in, older ones get set aside. Much of the work went fully online meaning I must have a viable home studio, and then there was the pandemic, caring for a terminally ill partner, and moving to locations far from ideal for recording.

Sometimes I feel like I woke up from a bad dream and now have no clue what I’m doing. But then, I’ll receive an invitation to attend a convention as a guest by a raving fan or they will pop up on Facebook from somewhere in Chile or Australia and tell me my work made a major impact on their childhood. Now that things have settled, I can put more effort into it.

Some of us Boomer must still maintain our livelihoods

Younger people complain that Baby Boomers had it easy all their lives and are spoiled. That’s honestly a bunch of bull. Some of us may have had great careers, were successful, are in long happy marriages, and living the good life in retirement. But the rest of us still live on the edge and must keep working forever unless we win the lottery.

I’m good with that because I love to stay busy and learn new things. Even if I was a millionaire, I wouldn’t sit on my laurels and do nothing.

Watch my video where I explain my freak out. LOL

Keep track of business expenses with Freshbooks, by clicking here.

How about you? Are you still working because you have to or want to and do you love what you do? Please leave a comment below.

Pheww! So glad to be back online. LOL