courtesy of flickr user Ben Heine
Recently, we got an intriguing email from a friend of ours in the down-on-its-luck music biz. Times are tough for everyone, including her– but she’s never the sort to sit and sulk– actually, she’s doing quite the opposite.
Her email read:
“i have a question for you. so i decided to spend my entire week next week helping people for free. doing whatever they need done. so far, i’m babysitting three separate kids, watching dogs, organizing offices, moving someone, brainstorming, helping someone with a marketing campagin, organizing contacts and music…my days are filling up. know anyone who needs help? for FREE???”
This was a new one. We asked her how she got the idea to volunteer herself and her time to the free world, and she replied:
“(Because of) many months sending my resume out to anonymous job postings, revamping cover letters over and over again, all the while watching my savings dwindle has truly tested my patience, confidence and positivity. On another jobless day of sending out my stats to an empty email address, never to hear back again, I got an idea. Perhaps I can spend a few days helping out people who are working and don’t have this blessed (that’s questionable) time to do things they need to get done. I figured it would be healthy for me to get out of my hopeless home office, where the phone’s silence was as thick as the walls, and focus on someone else’s live for a moment. So, I posted on my facebook. I was volunteering myself and my freedom for one whole week, to be used by anyone in anyway. Need me to hammer something? Mow a lawn? Walk your dog? Organize your office? Create an excel? Guess what, I’m here to do it for you, and do it for FREE! In moments I had days filling up with everything from babysitting someone’s child whom I’ve never met, to driving a car-less friend a few hours north to see her family whom she misses. Today is the first day, and I have to say, it feels great. I can hardly wait to see where the week takes me. I enjoy the time away from the stress of job hunting and seeing these requests from people has taught me that we all need a little help sometimes, in very different ways.
I’d love to write more, but I have to go help a struggling artist put together a marketing plan and create a business plan for him for the next 6 months! 
For free!
I love my non-job!”
courtesy of flickr user RC Designer
Here are the jobs she’s taken on so far:
Babysitting two separate kids, two different nights for new, stressed out parents
Packing someones house for their move
Organizing an office, the itunes and their contacts
Going through someone’s music
Dog sitting / walking
Brainstorming with a musician
Helping with a marketing campaign and a website
Helping someone clean out their guest house for visitors
Doing someone’s shopping
Cleaning out a garage
We’re inspired. Is there free time in your day you could fill up by helping someone in need? Put yourself karmically out there– You’ve got to give to get.In a recession where so many people are jobless, our angelic friend decided to put herself to work without pay– and she feels great. Let her good deeds inspire you to make a difference in someone’s day today, this week, this month– in this short lifetime!
Tags: inspiration
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