Resonance as a Decision-Making Factor

Opportunities are not just about the money

Teaching and lecturing is definitely a segment of my income stream, but it's never been the primary, so pivoting how I do it wasn't a panic-inducing thing for me, like it was for many of my colleagues who had more eggs in that basket than others.

As entrepreneurs, doing ALL the things for money is the norm. And an amount of diversity in how you make your money is always a good thing, so that if one channel goes a bit soft (or changes radically, like pandemic era in-person events) there are others to turn your money-making energy to.

But of all the income streams that are available to us (and that the so-called general wisdom has attached a lot of "shoulds" to) it's important to not just look at the moola, but at the resonance.

RESONANCE

Resonance is the feeling of being in your best groove where you know all the moves. It aligns to your feelings, values, and dreams. It's the work that you're happy to show up for, and do well without bribing yourself to finish.

Being out of resonance shows up vividly in the lengths you'll go to avoid something. The procrastination that makes you clean out the science experiments in your fridge rather than get a task done tells you just how much something doesn't resonate (basic obligations notwithstanding).

And sometimes, when we're going too damn fast to evaluate the to-do list, we're forcing ourselves into the "shoulds" and blowing by the chance to figure out if we could be doing the things that resonate better.

Case in point:

Back when I did in-person events the prep was a notable chunk of time. The day before I would pack the car (or two 50lb suitcases) with quilts and merch, and then reverse that process the day after I came home. If flying somewhere, I usually went out the day before the event (I would DEFINITELY do that now, flight disruptions being so common) and often couldn't come home until the day after because I refuse to fly a red-eye. This turned a 2 day gig (one day for a lecture, one day for a workshop) into a 6 day pocket of time (one day on either side for travel, plus one more day on either side for the prep and un-prep). If I did this locally, I was spared the travel days for the most part, but the days were often much tougher because I had hours of driving added to the mix.

Now, I would often sell a lot of merch. Enough to justify the days of disruption to my routines? Not so much. But I was on the obligatory “do all the things” hamster wheel, so I kept running.

When the pandemic forced me to stop, not only could I more clearly see the extent of the disruptions, but the spaciousness of not getting disrupted began to grow on me.

One data point that stood out was that I could likely get deep into the design of a new pattern in those 4 "wasted" days per gig, and even my poorest performing patterns have made more money than one good evening of merch income. So that was a financial aspect to consider.

But let's talk about the resonance:

Once the pandemic gave me a chance to not have trips all over my calendar, and I got into the groove of that, to not be constantly packing a suitcase began to rank far above any of the potential earnings.

Don't get me wrong - I love to travel (I run textile tours in Europe) but it's not as easy as it once was before the seats in steerage got even smaller, and the levels of rudeness and entitlement of fellow travelers got even bigger. And don't get me started about the up-charges for every single thing, many of which turn into contract fights with guilds who still think professional women speakers shouldn't need a hotel¹, and certainly not a per diem for food because we would be feeding ourselves anyway if we were at home.

I also, sadly, get travel sick, so I need to be drugged to not be head-in-a-bag from wheels up to wheels down. This means I'm often groggy from these meds, and trying to be my best, friendly self when coming off a medication hang-over is stressful. Working on a plane is nigh on impossible in that state, too - as if there was space to move your elbows enough to type. As for working on the road, my inner hermit crab has also embraced her princess-and-the-pea era in my very ergonomic office with huge screens, etc. and no longer wants to earn a stiff neck by toughing it out in bad lighting and bad chairs, hunched over the (comparatively) tiny screen of a laptop.

Once the world opened up again, I removed in-person events from my offerings, and with so many guilds doing a fine job of Zoom and hybrid meetings, I haven't regretted it for a minute. In fact, I've lectured all over the country from the comfort of my office, and the guilds are enjoying speakers they would otherwise never be able to afford.

So what are you up to that doesn't resonate?

What might you do instead, that does?

And can you book yourself some time to think about it?

1. Many guilds try to put you up in a member's house. And years back, a guild I belonged to discussed offering a member's RV as lodging. Nothing says respect like a chemical toilet!