Taking Some Meetings

In light of everything that has been going on with me in my professional life, I'm keeping an open mind and exploring every avenue out there.

Last week my boss's friend who runs a reputable ballroom dance studio in Time's Square asked if I would be willing to work the phones for them from 6 to 10pm at night during the week. At first I thought - um, thanks, but no thanks - but after giving it a little more careful consideration - (and after a day of Telesales I became more open to the idea. So this afternoon I took a meeting with my boss's friend, her associate and her 16 year-old niece. Everything was going swimmingly: they had all kinds of fun assignments for me from event planning to web graphics and a monthly newsletter! And here I thought I would be doing was answering the phone!

Well, just as our meeting was about to wrap up we took a break and I took a phone call from the host of the comedy show that I'm doing on Saturday. He gave me the rundown of what's involved for the show and I'm really looking forward to it! I need to camp it up and look as 70s glam as I can. Too bad I don't have the blond hair any more.

It is an unpaid gig - but I do get dinner and drinks on them - and as broke as I am these days, I'll take it! However, should the show take off, they're hoping to get some corporate sponsorship like Red Bull so that they can compensate people accordingly.

One thing I'm learning is that the best way to get gigs is by word of mouth and through people that know you. Everything else is just a big ol' crap shoot!

After my call, we resumed our meeting and since I knew these people and was fairly comfortable bringing it up and didn't want to beat around the bush any longer, I asked about salary. I asked for a flat rate of a VERY and I mean VERY modest amount - just to supplement my current income, and to my surprise I was met with - "I'm not sure how we're going to pay you."

WHHHaaaaattt??? Then what the heck am I doing here? The Telesales job isn't necessarily occupation of choice - but hey, it's a job - and for now I'm going to have to stick with it because they are at least able to pay me something and I can't afford to work for free... unless that is, it includes drinks and a meal.