Financial problems...

[Cainite]

I'm not sure if this forum is right for posting this.. and I know I always post about my problems.. but I have nowhere else to talk.

Every employer I have worked for has been a total jerk.

They just want to use me and not pay me properly and treat me badly until I get fed up and leave!
Then they replace me with another unfortunate fella and do the same thing to him.
The other people in the workplace have always been snakes. they do anything to stop you from making progress. all they do is acting and manipulating..

And I hate interviews.. specially when they ask me to tell them about myself! I don't talk much. this forum is the only place where I talk freely.


I feel very different.. and even look different here. I look like an european (I'm white) and everybody else is brown here in Tehran. so being different makes things harder for me specially because everyone notices it.
I have no connections. I failed to finish university because I went crazy and couldn't leave the house for two years. I can continue now though.

So I have to work for myself at home.. making very little money. I translate eng to persian and persian to eng. It takes much time and payment is very low and doesn't give me hope for future.

I remember this employer who was obsessed with me and told me he wants to take me everywhere and doesnt want me to do anything specific. just sticking around all day. and going to meetings with him.
that was the best job I could get! but I felt like he's dangerous and I actually wanted to do honest work and contribute. so I escaped.

Now the worst thing about all this is other people like my mom making comments about me not succeeding financially.. when I already know I'm a failure in this world.

[Diana]

May I ask what kind of work you would like to do ideally?

My suggestion is to 1) be realistic and 2) have a plan.

1) Be realistic. By that I mean to assess the practical aspects of the jobs you are getting. This refers to both being an employee or a freelancer. I am familiar with the type of online work you are doing, and as far as I know translation/transcription/even teaching ESL can be had for cheap all over the Internet, so the practical consideration here would be is it worth your time? Would your time be better placed seeking something more viable? And if it's just to get by until you have something else in place, then I would schedule your work in a way that allows for progress toward a plan for the future.

2) Have a plan. If you have a plan you're working toward, it will make your current job(s) more palatable knowing they are just stepping stones. Even so, any endeavor you undertake carries its own energy. If you hate what you're doing, try to change that focus to doing your best at whatever it is and focusing instead on your goals. Goals are dreams and hopes with a practical and active involvement. Just daydreaming is okay, but that won't get you very far. You must actively pursue your goals. 

If I were you, I would look at the common denominator: you. There is no blame to be had. People are people and there is much cruelty, lack of compassion, and meanness in this world. Your power is in the ways you react it to and deal with it. It can be very difficult to not feel like a victim in this world. But being a victim is a choice. The people who treat others badly are not doing that because the others are bad, they do that because of their own issues inside themselves. I recommend working on a sense of detachment, and the best way I know to do this is to stay focused on what you want, who you want to be, and where you see yourself going. 

[Cainite]

May I ask what kind of work you would like to do ideally?

I like to do things that require thinking and specially creativity. I have had different jobs as the computer guy (photoshop, programming, ...)
I am talented in music and martial arts. I can develop my skills and teach. I'm not in a hurry to make much money. I don't want to start my own family or get rich. I can live like a monk.

But then I think about being ''realistic'' as you suggested and having more money and using it to serve others. I still can afford buying food and water for hungry cats in the streets or help out the homeless and beggar kids that I come across.. but I like to do these things more.. maybe I begin to like myself that way..

Right now I'm confused and don't know what exactly I should do. hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

Tnx for responding.

[AnthroHeart]

I like doing nothing but being. This life, while it's had its challenges, is for the most part uneventful.
I will probably have nothing of value to leave as a legacy.

[Diana]

[

I like to do things that require thinking and specially creativity. I have had different jobs as the computer guy (photoshop, programming, ...)
I am talented in music and martial arts. I can develop my skills and teach. I'm not in a hurry to make much money. I don't want to start my own family or get rich. I can live like a monk.

But then I think about being ''realistic'' as you suggested and having more money and using it to serve others. I still can afford buying food and water for hungry cats in the streets or help out the homeless and beggar kids that I come across.. but I like to do these things more.. maybe I begin to like myself that way..

Right now I'm confused and don't know what exactly I should do. hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

Tnx for responding.

It sounds like you have a lot to work with as far as skills. As a programmer, you could definitely work at home and make money. There is a website, Unity3D.com, where you can offer your services, with 2 categories: revenue share and paid service. An app developer gave me this resource to use and I haven't been there yet, so I'm not sure if it's specific to apps. I will add that if you can combine creativity with the left-brain thinking as an app programmer, you will definitely have an edge.

I am entrepreneurial so I always think that way in a very practical sense. I am a martial artist as well, and have known many who have had and have studios. It's difficult to make money teaching at a studio due to overhead and maintaining a student base (but that by no means indicates it's impossible); however, there is the option of creating teaching videos. Udemy.com is one website where you can sell teaching videos and they have traffic; in other words you can promote your video(s) in a platform where you know people are looking for instructions, rather than just having a website and endeavoring to SEO it and drive traffic to it (which you would also want to do). 

I love it that you help animals and the homeless. That you are doing it at all is wonderful.

It's helpful to me at times to make lists of possibilities and canvass how viable each one is, and how it makes me feel. There is a book titled, The 4-Hour Workweek. In it the author brings up a great point (and I am paraphrasing as I haven't read that book for some time), and the example he uses is going on a possible vacation. He gives 2 different scenarios—one is to vacation by going home to visit relatives; the other is to do some wild trip that may be really expensive but it totally gets you excited. He says, and I agree, that you will be more likely to make the wild trip happen, because you will want it so much more than the boring trip to visit relatives. 

Good luck.