16 jobs in as many years - advice needed

[DogKissesAreTheBest]

I was diagnosed inattentive adhd at 52. I’ve had 16 jobs in many years. I’m not lazy or stupid but I feel every bit of that today. I am yet again, trying a new gig and I really like it and want to be good at it, but the organization it is too much. I need tips for being successful at it, or a kick in the ass to move on.

I have a self-employed, self driven, flexible job, and I think I’ve calculated that I’m making about two dollars an hour in the end. I don’t know if there’s a way to make systems so I can be more productive. I enjoy the flexibility and the variety of the job. I do insurance inspections for commercial insurance underwriters, so I get to go behind the scenes of so many different businesses! Even a reindeer farm! It’s a hoot! But I get orders from five different companies and they are for dozens of underwriters that all have different criteria they want satisfied. My job entails pulling the orders from the five websites (currently I have 45 orders), calling the Insured to schedule an appointment (and fielding return calls when I don’t reach them), creating an efficient route in an area where I was able to make appointments, doing the inspection as per the specific underwriter and whatever industry I’m inspecting, writing the report (this is where I go off the rails with too many chances at distraction), submit the report to the correct client that gave it to me, and finally, track that I’m getting paid for my work. (I have no clue if I am, TBH) Today I’m driving around 130 miles to inspect a new doctors office, a marijuana grow facility, an Eagles fraternal hall, and some apartments. I feel accomplished because this is the first time I was able to actually make an efficient route and schedule multiple appointments back to back. I need to duplicate my efforts so I can do this in another area tomorrow, but how do I do that while I’m out in the field? I don’t know, and so my productively looks like a roller coaster. When I finally sit down to write all these reports, I find myself exploring and trying to learn new apps that I can use to track and automate the process, instead of writing the report! Rabbit hole! I love the problem solving part too, but doing those things brings my dollar per hour earned way down. The kicker is that each job only pays about $60-$110. Gas, insurance, taxes, printer ink are all mine to pay out of that. Saying I’m earning about $2 per hour might actually be generous

Any suggestions for streamlining this fun job so I can keep the flexibility and stimulation of it going? Or am I doomed?

I really need to make money to eat, but I only want a job that’s interesting, novel or fun. All three are preferred

[BLC89]

Hello DogKissesAreTheBest, (yes they are!)It does sound like a fun job. And it sounds like a ton of admin.

You need some systems and likely admin support for that type of job.

It also sounds like you need to audit the whole thing and make sure you can actually earn what you need.

The hourly wage is one measure not the be all end all, although $2/hr is exceedingly low. If you love it and you make enough to pay your bills that's a great set up.

If you are looking for more free time and need to earn more in less time then you may need something different.

At first blush it seems like admin support is necessary and could go a long way in saving your sanity and time. But you need to see if there is enough money available to support that.

Regardless of miles, we'll get to that, how many $60 jobs do you need per month in order to live?

How much do you need to earn each month, not counting fuel?

What is the average out-in-the-field time for each job? Count average travel time.

What is the average time spent doing the reports? Best guess not what you wish it was or what you think it should be.

I'm going worth the lowest income number of $60 it creates the most cushion in the numbers. If you mostly get $80/job use that. If it varies on every job stick worth $60.

These will help you audit this set up.

For instance:

If you need 100 jobs/month to live ($6,000) and each job takes 6 hours (in field time 3 hr+ admin 3 hr) then that 600 hours/mo to live that's 150 hours per week - not doable

Does that make sense? I know it's hard to average the admin time when you get distracted, just do the best you can and get a rough idea.

I hope that helps.

BLC89

[DogKissesAreTheBest in reply to BLC89]

This is super helpful. I’m printing it out so I can work through it. Thank you so mvery ch for taking the time to respond. 💕

[STEM_Dad]

I think it's great that you felt so accomplished about planning your route that day. Maybe if you take a little time to reflect on how you did so, you might be able to better repeat that success.

• You can ask yourself (out loud, even), "how did you do that?" You may not come up with the answer right away, but don't write it off that you won't get one...the unconscious mind is remarkable at continuing to work on problems in the background (but it often takes time).

I've got some clarifying questions for you, about your work:

• What parts of the work do you like best? • What parts do you feel that you do your best at?

• What parts do you find tedious?

• What parts do you wish you could hand off to someone else?

Here's an example:

• If you find that the report writing is tedious, and that you often write them in a similar way, then consider using reports you've written before to make templates. Then, you can always start with a copy of a template when writing your report. (Tip: start by creating a copy of the template file, and rename it based on the report you're writing.)

• You might even come up with a Q&A to debrief yourself about the client work that you did, before writing the report.

• If you find that the admin work is tedious and takes you much longer than you think someone else could do it, then consider contracting the admin work to a bookkeeper. (Consider the scenario of two self-employed people helping each other to prosper.)

If you enjoy doing the field work most (such as because of the novelty), then do you think you could do more of that if you can free yourself up from hours of doing admin work and report writing?

According to some ADHD experts, our brains focus on what we find interesting. So, if you can get to do more of what you find interesting, and less of what you don't, then both your overall productivity and work satisfaction should increase.

~~~~~

Here's another thought that I just had:

Consider your excess costs in the present (in time and money) to be an investment in the future. It has been your educational cost of this venture.

It's up to you to decide if you are going to:

• continue as you have been doing so (which doesn't seem to be working out very well),

• make changes to keep trying to make it more financially profitable (increasing revenue &/or decreasing cost),

• or choose to take a different path.

[ScatteredOne]

All that organization and time management isn’t possible for me right now. I WISH I had advice for you and myself. I hope someone else here gives you good ideas because I’d love a job like that if I could handle it and earn a living. Good luck!