You may well wonder how I manage to put in seven-hour days four days a week? The answer is my faith in HaShem.
Khunrum emails: Luke, has anyone asked you if you know celebrities like ahhhhh! Ron Jeremy? Congratulations buddy. Do good work.
I wonder what Luke will do with his Alexander Technique teacher training? Will Luke do a “moonlight” Alexander after the day job? Come now Luke, fill us in.
Chaim Amalek emails:
Sounds like just what you need — an environment in which you will be respected for who you were and are. And who knows what other opportunities will come your way through your dealings with these men? More than typing, of that I am certain. I see you driving a much better set of wheels within six months, and dating a decent woman, too.
PS Congratulations to Barack Hussein Obama for so turning around the economy of this crippled land that Luke could find employment. Luke, why would you want to return to the dark days of Republican rule from the White House? Be a mensch and donate a dollar or two to Obama’s reelection campaign.
PPS Fred, isn’t it time you moved to LA and resumed your patent practice there with Luke as your paralegal?
Greg Leake emails: Hi Luke,
Congrats, buddy! Welcome back to the real world!
I want to add my agreement to the ever-wise counsel of Khunrum and Chaim Amalek.
You know, it’s interesting.. there are millions of us who have been partially successful in turning our avocations into a cottage industry. Why not? If you do what you love, you never work a day in your life.
I have been down this road myself. (And I still keep my hand in. I will be lecturing on “enlightenment” in about a month. Believe it or not, we actually know a lot about this topic these days outside of the dubious attempts at extrapolating from old religious texts and the suppositions of esoteric organizations.) Like others, I did manage to keep enough money flowing in to justify my efforts. However, like so many others, I could neve realize enough money to get ahead. There was never enough money to invest or to plan for the future. Mostly there was enough to keep going as long as expenses were very modest.
In my case, I didn’t start to do well until I became a serious investor in the financial markets. Now, thank G-d, because of 25 or 30 years of constant frugality and investment, we will probably retire this year and manage to be independently middle class. (That is the goal for most of us, by the way. It is not to become rich, rather to become independently middle class.)
I think in some ways those of us who have tried to make our interests our profession are very much like musicians. I have know a lot of musicians who managed to make a living with their instruments, but it scarcely ever happens that they do so well they can prepare financially for the future.
Another reason that I feel relieved to know about your new part-time job (I heard you mention it on Torah Talks, and then I surmised the rest from looking at the post.) is because it may give you exposure outside of the Orthodox community.
Why do I say this? Sure, I think a great deal of Orthodoxy is pretty wacky, but that is not the reason.
It’s because in the Orthodox community you have cross-hairs on your forehead and a target on your back. Because of the social and moral nature of Orthodox imperatives, you can never get beyond the reputation that you forged for yourself as a much younger man. You can never earn your spurs with the community.
For example, i fyou lived in Dallas and had a similar job teaching the Alexander Technique on the side, you could tell people your name was Jack Ford, get rid of your picture on the logo, loose the yarmulke at least during working hours, and presto — you would be transformed. Although probably there is not one Orthodox community in the Western world that would not peg you early on, out in the regular world your past can virtually disappear.
You would simply be a decent, spiritual, congenial, moral guy becoming successful and living a regular life without the constant baggage of your past like a millstone around your neck.
So my hope is that your sphere of acquaintances and professional relationships could help move you into strata where Luke Ford is not a constant hot topic. You can just be a regular guy who maybe did some crazy shit when you were a kid, but who is seen and respected and appreciated for who and what you are irrespective of a dead and gone past.
Now that you are making a little dough, I recommend you read a new book by Sheldon Jacobs called Investing without Wall Street. It’s time for you to start learning how to make money while you sleep.