Losing the Job of Your Dreams
By: Luke Beling
Tags: Hope, Optimism, Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Passive Income

Losing the Job of Your Dreams

All good things must come to an end…right?

Photo by Andrey Larin on Unsplash

We started dreaming about passive income from the moment we said yes on our wedding day. What logical person doesn’t long to make money in their sleep? It’s an elusive target, though. Few come upon it, and when they do, they construct a cage around it, put a black tarp over it, and hope it stays hidden from the hungry world of those looking to catch a break.

We landed our dream job after seven years of searching. My wife responded to a craigslist ad. They were looking for somebody to put up signs for a new, local housing development. The offer was $500 a month for placing two signs in the morning and taking them down at the end of the workday: roughly $8.33 per sign per day. It was hardly an amount to quit our day jobs on or book a family vacation to Disney Land, but it was the very first time we experienced the thrill of making money for the amount of effort that it takes to brush one’s teeth or put on deodorant in the morning.

Initially, we were disciplined in our duties, keen care-takers of the signs. I was responsible for the bottom one on the way to and from work, and my wife took care of the top one. We hardly skipped a beat during those first days and months and at times counted the cost of danger none as we side-stepped traffic on a mission to make sure every passing eye was fully aware of this beautiful new housing development.

After six months we got a raise of $100. We’d upped our game a bit by adding balloons on special occasions, and a couple of smaller signs at the request of our boss via discreet, concise text messages.

Our garage kept a helium tank, extra signs in case some were taken (by environmental activists- as though signs or houses played a role in damaging the ozone layer), and packets of balloons for busier seasons that kept the promise of potential buyers.

It was at about the same time of our $100 raise that we decided to add a little more “passive” to the passive part of our newly found “Passive Income.”

Instead of setting the signs out with the rising sun then collecting them at the end of the day, we thought we’d become their guardians. And that meant merely making sure they were always up. On windy days we’d stand them straight again, and when the angry environmentalists stole them, we’d visit what we called the boneyard where a multitude of signs lay waiting in storage to have their moment on the busy highway. Weeks turned into months where the only attention we gave those signs was a glance to acknowledge their existence.

We passively ensured they were playing their role in leading rich men and women to the home of their dreams and a cool six-hundred dollars into our First Hawaiian checking account.

Now and again, we’d receive texts from our boss. Before opening the message, we’d gulp, thinking they’d caught us, that our way above the system had been cut down by collectors who believed we were making this look way too easy. But almost every time it was a:

“Dear Luke and Kristy, we’re closed for the holiday weekend. Don’t put the signs up. Thanks so much for all you do.”

Now the luxury of taking a few days off from “putting the signs up” actually afforded us more work than we’d seen in months. But we didn’t mind. It was the least we could do.

“No problem. The signs are doing great. We’ll take them down.”

Two weeks ago, we received an email with the subject, “All the homes are sold.” I already knew the dreaded content to follow.

“Well. It was a good run.”



“It was. The easiest job of our lives.”

We realized the day would eventually come upon us. Like all good things they certainly must come to an end.

“What are we going to do now?” “We’re going to find another one.” “But not by scouring the internet like beggars to a coin or wallowing in lost opportunity. And certainly not by thinking our merit had anything to do with it.”

I’m convinced that good things happen to those whose eyes are wide open to the possibilities of goodness. Then and there we announced we’re going to find another one simply by our declaration and awareness towards it.

“This next one is going to be even better.”

Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash

We received an email later the next day with the subject line, “Thanks again.”

“Merry Christmas. Thanks for all your help with selling these homes. We’re sending you a bonus of $250 as a token of our appreciation. Happy Holidays.”

Out of habit, I still check to see if my sign is up on my way home from work. A little sadness settles when I see the street empty of my favorite eyesore. I’m quickly reminded by vacant tractors and cranes parked for the night that opportunities are like the wind. They blow wherever they wish. Hope comes back again and a chuckle when I stop to think of our side business, the sign business. We certainly had it good. Now we remain curious, expectant and excited. Our hands are wide open to the gale of the next one.