Finding my way! (more than survival)

I have known for a long time now, that I do not want to trade my time for money. I do not want to agree to a poor wage, for a job I don't want to do. I don't want to work for someone else. I want to work for myself. I want to use my experience and knowledge somehow to produce income. I am an artist and a musician, and both painting, and writing music take a lot of time that I've never been able to find while working 8+ hours a day, and being too tired at the end of a shift to be able to put the energy I need toward what I love. I know that I must develop my own sources of income in order to live the life I truly want to live. It is also important to me that I make money honestly, and not by deceiving people, or leading them to believe they are getting something they want.

I am in the studying phase right now, trying to figure out exactly what it is I want to focus on, and how I can use my mind and the tools I have currently to produce income. My options seem to be; providing a service, such as teaching guitar, selling a product, such as my art, and, or, providing information, such as writing a book, or maybe even this blog, and making money by advertising on it. In my search I keep coming across so many entrepreneurs making money, by teaching you how to make money. There is a strange loop here. Some very successful individuals are doing just that, and it even seems to be a trend right now. I feel like this can be a very easy bandwagon to jump on, yet something doesn't sit right with me about doing it. I know for myself that I am called to this world to do something greater then just teaching people how to teach people to make money, or creating websites that point to other websites that teach you how to make websites. Something rubs me the wrong way about all of this.

Perhaps, I know that money isn't going to make me happy. I need money to survive and to provide for myself and a family, but it is not the end all to happiness. In fact, I actually do have quite a wealth of knowledge I have gained from reading many self-help, and spiritual texts, on how to really be happy, or rather think in a way that produces much less suffering then we normally do from day to day. I have come to uncover many truths that I found to be mind-blowing, and revolutionizing at the time. I am so used to thinking in such a way now, and many of these breakthroughs have become my common mode of thought, yet I will never forget the amazement I had upon first learning them.

My greatest goal, since I have learned these types of things, has been to share them with others. That is why I feel the best way for me to get started on this path is to begin writing these blog posts, being as honest as I can, and compiling this information together, until I figure out how all of these ideas are going to somehow help me to survive financially. I want to write a book, I know that, I want to make art, and write music, but realistically none of these options are going to support me right away. I am totally okay with that, but I do feel a sense of urgency to begin bringing in some type of income on my own. I must prove to myself, and those around me that this can be done, and started in a timely fashion, before any hope is lost, and I return to the work world broken and tired. I want freedom today. I want more options, more choices, and most of all I want to get paid doing what I love. I certainly love my creative endeavors, and I love the knowledge of Self and Mind. The capital letters suggest something greater then the common lowercase terms. Oh there is something much, much greater then individual existence. It puts a smile on my face, as I think of the greater purpose, and greater good, from which I draw, and give back to.