How one struggling writer makes money | 783
By: Lukasz Laniecki
Tags: Money, Artist, Writer, Life, Passion

Diary of an artist, Tuesday, September 18, 2018

# 783 (countdown)

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Woke up 4:00 am.

I probably said this before but I need to say it again. I like the idea that after having left “my field” (it was my field not because I felt good in it, but because I picked it in my late teenage years, not knowing what it will be like to work as a lawyer — don’t we all call the things we picked in our late teenage years or early 20s “our field” because we desperately need to decide what we will be when we grow up?), that after having abandoned the legal business I am discovering new ways of earning a living. I already know that if I had to I would be able to support myself (and not only myself) easily from the things I do nowadays.

If I did full time all the things I do currently to earn money (I mean if I didn’t also write and read — if I didn’t have my passion) I would probably be even able to support my family, albeit on different terms than it is today.

When, on May 23, I calculated for the first time how much we made selling our items on a site like Craigslist (we’ve been doing it from the beginning of this year) it was USD 845–735 (or EUR 720 — the exchange rate for this currency was more stable).

On August 27 I calculated it again. It’s USD 600 (EUR 515) more. So it’s USD 1413 (EUR 1235).

That’s comparable to a USD 200 (EUR 172) paycheck / month. At least! Consider taxes and other deductibles, in other words amounts paid out of pocket of any employee, as a matter of fact I guess it’s closer to USD 250 (EUR 215).

And it still happens that I find new items which I didn’t think about, or had even forgotten they exist, and which, as it turns out, I can also sell.

But that’s not all. Recently I’ve been paying attention to the items people throw away. In other words, which end up in the trash, or, to be more precise, near the trash containers as they’re too big and people shouldn’t use trash containers for them. In the two months preceding August 27 I sold items worth USD 210 (EUR 180) that way.

Which means that the actual amount (income) for August 27 was USD 1623 (EUR 1415). That’s comparable to a USD 270 (EUR 232) paycheck / month if you actually worked.

I also search for items people in my area give away for free and which they put on sites like Craigslist. Initially I thought people give away only items which are unsellable (which those who will take them will have difficulty selling) but when I reconsidered after a while I realized that people do give away sellable items but if you want the best pieces you need to be fast — they disappear almost immediately. In other words, if you’re vigilant you’ll get some of those best pieces. That’s a thing I discovered after August 27 (in the first days of September actually) so there is no real data on it — within the first two weeks I earned USD 40 this way. Plus, there are items you can buy cheap from people (who probably don’t care, or don’t want to wait, or have no idea as to what price to ask) and then sell at a margin, and there are many such opportunities (you just need to be good at spotting such occasions — have some kind of a system).

Apart from that I earn money being a background actor or having small episodes in movies and that’s USD 250 just in the first half of September. Which means that I can assume that it could be USD 500 per month. And I don’t take full advantage of all the opportunities. I guess it could be something like USD 750 per month (easily) for someone who is fairly well known as a background actor (by all the agencies), has good reputation and does take full advantage of it.

So, being dedicated only part time to the activities which earn me money nowadays I can make approximately USD 770 per month. If I dedicated full time (if I had no passion) it could be approximately USD 1000–1200 (easily). Without being employed anywhere and at the mercy of anyone and without worrying that tomorrow I might lose my job and have no job and no money. And, what’s also very important, without any school, course, college degree, or other certificate. Without a CV even. Now that I’m no longer a lawyer my law school diploma doesn’t mean anything to anybody (whether I have it or not doesn’t affect my chances of being on a movie set or selling stuff to people on sites like Craigslist).

And that’s still not all. What else I could do in the time that would be left? I bet there would be some of it left despite the fact that I dedicated full time — when you’re employed full time you also have some of it left.

I could teach Polish to foreigners.

I could be an UBER driver.

These are two ideas I could think of immediately and which are totally doable. I bet I could come up with 3–5 more ideas if I thought about it for a while.

Reading (since my last diary entry):

On Writing by Charles Bukowski (20 min, on scribd app).

What Shall We Do? by Leo Tolstoy (20 min, on scribd app).

Audiobooks (since my last diary entry):

Journey to the End of the Night (20 min, on scribd app).

YouTube videos and movies (since my last diary entry):

The World According to Ion B. (original title: Lumea vãzutã de Ion B.) (on HBO go) Finished it.

True Grit (on HBO go) Finished it.

A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (on HBO go) Finished it.

Music for this writing session: Clair de Lune (on spotify).