April 17, 2005

• compromise
  UPDATED
  
  
  Being a Virgo, an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist, compromise hasn’t
  come easy for me.  I learned how to meet others halfway in matters
  of fairness and sharing, but I still have a hard time compromising
  where principles are concerned.

  Quick definitions (Compromise)

  noun:   a middle way between two extremes noun:   an accommodation in which both sides make concessions verb:   settle by concession verb:   make a compromise; arrive at a compromise  verb:   expose or make liable to danger, suspicion, or disrepute

  In my current situation, I feel I’m being compelled to compromise both
  by concessions in matters of principle and by being open to suspicion
  and disrepute.  None of the alternatives I’ve found are
  satisfactory to me.  I’m laying the matter open to my readers,
  hoping to get both input and gifts of financial help.  Here’s the
  situation:

  I need a state business license to do readings online.  My
  previous license did not cover that service.  I put up notice here
  and on KaiOaty’s site that I had stopped doing readings there several
  months ago, but people ignore that and keep asking for readings. 
  By delaying licensing, I’m missing out on opportunities to be of
  service and on the possbility of making money for it.

  I have no intention of changing my policies to the extent of setting a
  price or requiring payment in advance.  I won’t compromise that
  far.  If and when I go back to doing readings, it will be on the
  same terms as always:  I do the reading and then the client
  decides what the service was worth and pays me accordingly.

  Where the compromise comes in is at the definition of what I
  do.   I have money at stake in this decision, and I also have
  a principle at stake.  Each different occupational activity or
  line of business requires a separate license.  Several of my
  activities, including my writing, storytelling, jewelry work,
  photography and sewing, fit into category #7115, independent
  artist. 

  I have always stated and believed that my readings are a valid
  counseling service, not for entertainment only.  I take it
  seriously.  I’m not a fortuneteller.  I don’t tell people
  what they want to hear.  I tell them what they need to know, even
  if it doesn ‘t please them to hear it.  It’s not a way to get
  rich, but it has brought me some modest fame.  I’m not ready to
  quit.

  The problem is that this winter I have not even been able to save the
  $200 for one license, much less the $800-$1,000 it would take to
  license myself to do all the various kinds of work I can do.  That
  wouldn’t be feasible anyway, since some of my occupations don’t bring
  in enough money annually to pay for the license.  I have to
  compromise somewhere because it’s not feasible to do otherwise.

  I have decided to compromise my principles to the extent of calling my
  readings a practice in the divinitory arts and shamanic arts to keep
  the licensing expense to a minimum.  The state doesn’t care what I
  call my work any more than they care how much or how little money I
  make from it.  I just have to make everything I do fit into those
  little boxes they created.  I’m not going to do any more freelance
  editing or sell any of my sprouted seedlings or garden produce any
  longer because that never made enough money to pay for a license. 
  From here on out, officially I am an independent artist.  If
  anyone thinks I’m compromising too much there, let me know.  I’m
  soliciting input on that.

  My other area of compromise with my principles is this:  I’m going
  begging.  Someone commented here recently that she’d long been
  unaware that the little purple hat in my header was a PayPal
  link.  She thought the “little something” I was asking for was
  comments.  I’m taking this opportunity to wave that little hat
  around and state explicitly that your gifts and contributions are
  welcome… needed, to get me back in business.

  If I ever did a reading for you and you either forgot or couldn’t
  afford to pay for it, maybe now you could contribute to my business
  license fund.  If you like the stories I tell or the pretty
  pictures of my Alaskan neighborhood I’ve posted, maybe you could give a
  little gift to make it possible for me to turn it into a paying
  occupation.  If I can do more of my share to support my household
  here in this end of the Susitna Valley, then Greyfox can keep paying
  the rent on his cabin at the other end of the valley and replace that
  old car that’s gotten to the stage where repairing it isn’t
  cost-effective.  Since the car is his place of business (covered
  by his retail license) and the cabin rent covers the space where he
  parks the car to do business, and he contributes as much as he can to
  keep this household going, it is in my best interest to help keep him
  going. 

  Wanna help us?  Drop a little something in the hat.  Your gifts will be gratefully appreciated.

  
  UPDATE:

  pyramidtermite asks
  how other people around here, such as the woodsellers, deal with
  licensing issues. Most of the ones I know deal with them by ignoring
  them.  I don’t have that option since someone on Xanga reported me.

  He also said that he regards editing as a form of artistic
  collaboration.  Regardless of how we might twist words to define
  “editing”, it can’t be included under the “independent artist”
  classification because there is already a category for “editor”. 
  Things I can do as an independent artist are as diverse as taxidermy
  and dancing, but editing isn’t one of them.

  The “entertainer” classification is the only one that allows me to do
  psychic readings as an independent artist.  Otherwise, I’m a
  “counselor” and must have a separate license for that.  The
  “entertainer” option is a loophole that exists because fortunetellers
  are listed under entertainment in the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Dictionary
  of Occupational Titles, and to many people there is no distinction
  between psychic counselors and fortunetellers.  I have some
  semantic quibbles and a difference of opinion with that, but it’s not
  in my best interest to make an issue of it.
  

  • 6:22 pm
  • 19 Comments