How it all started on Vocal

It's been 8 months since I subscribed to Vocal+. It all started when I came across a Tiktok video about passive income. There was listed about 20 different options such as Amazon reseller, Ko-fi, proofreading and of course Vocal, amongst others. After looking at a few options in May 2023, I settled on Vocal and Ko-fi. At this stage, I've already been posting cooking videos on Youtube for about 4 months. So I've said all that to say, there's no passive income yet.

It's a weird time to be alive. We've been conditioned for immediate gratification. Patience is a virtue now more than ever. Could you imagine writing a letter to your love, only to have it reach them in 6 months?! Or even just needing butter for your toast only to start whipping up some cream?! The world is full of conveniences and it's designed to disable our potential. One day I asked someone to help me peel potatoes and the reply was: "How? We don't have a peeler." A simple example of the peeler being a convenience to some which makes a person believe they're incapable of doing something.

So the next time you're confronted with a task you're unable to do, break it down for a minute and try to understand why. I live by these words: If somebody else is doing it, I can too. I use this especially for luxuries such as nail spa, hair salons, waxes, frozen meals, iced tea, lemonade and clothing. Why do we pay for something that we can do ourselves? Because it's convenient, not because you can't do it.

I've learnt that, a new way of making passive income is to pay yourself the fee for services you would pay to someone else. Get a jar so you can see the tangible results and start making money!

Just to break down these few examples, what you might pay versus if you would do it yourself:

Nails $50/$10

hair $60/$0

waxes $110/$30

frozen meals $400/$150

iced tea $120/$12

lemonade $80/$8

new top $15/$2...

That's already $835/$212 just for one month and that's not even a complete list of conveniences we pay for. Doing it yourself could earn you $623! Imagine the possibilites if somebody could apply this to daycare or landscaping?

So in the end, why are people working? Why do both parents work? If they think they are making more money, are they really? More taxes, more expenses, more undisciplined kids, more stress, less income. It's funny but not, at the same time.

I had to apply for some paperwork because I want to travel this year and in the process of doing that I also applied for a work permit among other documentation. The travel documents' estimated time of completion is 5 months whereas the Employment Authorization Document is 1 week. At that point, I realized that slavery took on a new form.

One of my observations about the United States was that there is no work/life balance here. Stores are open 24 hours. Some people have three jobs and that's just to make ends meet. Having a store open 24 hours is a convenience to some. As if they couldn't wait until 8am to buy milk or plan more diligently. Then on the flip side, those 24 hour stores needs employees. No normal person with one job is going to work a graveyard shift just for no reason. These are most likely people who already have a day job. People have become zombies because of this lifestyle.

In conclusion, money does not make the world go round and it certainly can't buy happiness. There is always an ulterior motive. I wish for wisdom and understanding to all who read this.