Suddenly I have a Business
My cousin Lindsay who has a very cool blog by the way, requested more details about my business so here goes.
I was teaching along at Provo High last year. Ironically a rumor was going around the Middle School that I was leaving at the end of the year which I quickly righted. Still ahead, a sixth year of ASL and a fourth year of Arabic. A job which, by the way, I really enjoyed. It was getting overwhelming as I mentioned in an earlier post, but I enjoyed it.
A few months later I ran into an old friend and interpreting colleague who I once upon a time helped to move to DC. Long story short, she shared her contacts in DC, baby-stepped me through the accounting/record keeping process, told me what to charge, then lent me her furniture and allowed me to take over her room while she skipped town to live in Hawaii for a year.
So suddenly I have a business and live in DC. I didn’t dream of working for myself, nor did I think I would move back east any time soon. It turns out I have a few niche markets: since I speak Arabic, Mandarin, and ASL, I interpret in some tri-lingual settings. I’ve been pretty lucky and pretty busy since I arrived. I’m still learning a lot, though, about this business. Tax season is here for example. That will be a learning curve.
I didn’t plan on teaching Arabic when I got here. An organization found out I was here and signed me up for an after school program. I enjoyed working with the kids but I started to realize that I was working more hours than I was getting paid and I wasn’t on salary any more. It’s a little more complicated than that but it doesn’t matter. Teaching Arabic in high school is very challenging especially in an after school program with no credit.
Since all of this is totally unexpected, I really don’t mind riding the wind a little. I have no idea what the future holds but I’m having a good time. Having my own business means being able to be creative, my boss loves me, I love my employees, and I am in charge of my own destiny–well, sort of. You still gotta play to the market. 🙂
aud'acious 
Loved the post. You are so gifted. Arabic, Mandarin and ASL…………..stop it! Straightened hair in this pic…lovely. Fun.
Love your last couple sentences — so funny 🙂 Thanks for the shout-out and responding to my personal whims for blog posting. Can’t wait to hear how tax season goes, since, you know, I love finances. This is about my fifth year doing self-employed taxes and it still stresses me out. Even though I basically know what I’m doing, there are just so many details to worry about. Best of luck to you!!