Getting Paid

When I made the decision to step away from the organization now known as Destination Madison and start a consultancy, one of my daughters was incensed. She was maybe 14 or 15 at the time and, it’s not like she was unaware of how business worked. At 14, she was already working at a local coffee shop. But, she understood the concept that you work for a company and you get paid. She hadn't quite gotten to the point where she understood that a sole proprietor could work for several companies and get paid.

That first week in May of 1995, she stubbornly refused to talk to me. When I finally encouraged her to tell me what was wrong, she said, “I don't wanna be homeless.”

I said, “Honey, neither do I. Tell me what you're thinking.” And she said. “You don’t have a job. Where will we get our money?”

She had never considered (nor should she have at that age) that someone can work for several clients and make a living. As I explained it to her, she began to wrap her head around the concept, nodded and said, “OK, I'm with you.”

But, it created a wonderful bond between the two of us while she was still at home. As I would head off for another assignment, she would always bid me farewell with a doubting look, tip her head, give me that eye, and say, “you're getting paid, right?”

I would always wink and say “yeah.”

When I posted earlier this month that we had celebrated 30 years as Zeitgeist/DMOproz, she texted me, “still getting paid, right?”

Gotta love it.