“I work for The Simple Dollar.com. It is a website that offers practical financial advice for regular people. I also have a book contract with [publisher name] and my first book should be on the shelves later this year.”

As a college student, I get this a lot. When I’m asked what I do for a living, ppl aren’t content with “student.” Of course I’d rather focus on my studies so I can get my money’s worth out of the skyrocketing tuition. I’ve talked to some rather condescending people and end up telling them that I’ve got babysitting/housekeeping gigs on the side. These kinds of odd jobs are few and far between but it seems to assure these folks. Strange how some people are so stuck on this.

I don’t necessarily want to discuss my work in detail. I mean if you meet someone who is an office manager, you might ask what kind of office, but you’re not going to ask, what do you do all day which is pretty much how it goes whenever the discussion goes to art or artists or design or advertising, etc…

Even now, I pause when I’m asked “what do you paint”, when people ask after I tell them I’m an artist. I DO paint, but I don’t necessarily want to go into any great detail.

I have found people are fascinated with artists, writers, creative people. But we’re not that fascinating. What we DO is fascinating, but not as a discussion. Its the work that’s fascinating and talking about it, for me anyway isn’t easy.

If I were you, I’d say I write about economics and finance for a website I produce. The idea of being a writer who writes about money of all things, is complicated though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d end up having to explain it six ways to sunday.

Writing a blog is no different than running a magazine company which is free. Money is made off the advertisers. The more readers, the more money the magazine writes.

You are you’re own boss, no one makes you do this but yourself. We, the readers, are NOT your boss.

You hit it on the head with your last sentence, “In the end, you work for yourself. That means you call the shots in the end. If there’s a better opportunity for you out there, take it.”

I hate when questions catch me off guard. Inevitably I give an insufficient answer. It sounds like that is what happened to you with the elderly lady at Fareway. I have a suggestion for you to consider that might help you answer that question in the future. Why not say something along the lines of:

“I work for The Simple Dollar.com. It is a website that offers practical financial advice for regular people. I also have a book contract with [publisher name] and my first book should be on the shelves later this year.”

That answer gives you credibility, which was missing from your initial statement, and answers her question in a way that probably would have kept the conversation going.

Because you started the site and are now self-employed, I think at the time of the question you weren’t viewing The Simple Dollar as a reputable company/brand, which led to your inadequate answer. If you think about it, even factory workers are working for their audience (read: customer).

I hope this is helpful for you.

Here’s to your future success,

Love your blog man. I was in a similar situation when my daughter was born. It wasn’t a lack of $$ in my case, it was uncontrolled credit card spending. We have it under control now, thank goodness and are actively saving.

But I see where you are coming from regarding your journey in life. When my daughter was born, it wasn’t about ‘me’ anymore.

It’s very nice to have.