Spinning Plates - Keeping It All Balanced

Life is quite the balancing act these days.

I run a cleaning biz - and that nets me close to $2,000 a month. I do all the cleanings myself, I just haven't had luck hiring it out. I make a terrible manager, I'm far too nice and workers have taken advantage of me left and right.

I also take care of my elderly father. He has dementia and requires round the clock care - meals cooked, medications dispensed, and so he lives with us and pays rent and Medicaid actually pays me to care for him. So I make another $1500 a month that way.

And I recently dedicated myself to making my writing pay. Considering I wrote and published my first book nearly ten years ago, I really need to get my act together.

And as I was cleaning a client's house today I thought about how it had been a while since I had checked in with all of my clients - am I doing a good job cleaning their house? Am I missing any areas?

Because in the midst of all of these spinning plates, like it or not, the cleaning biz brings in a huge chunk of my income. So I mentally added "create a survey to gauge client satisfaction" to my "to do's" for today.

I might want to spend the day writing, but it makes sense for me to take a few minutes and craft this client satisfaction survey. I will probably make it anonymous, but I need to see how I can do the best job possible and keep my clients happy.

I look forward to the day when my writing is my only source of income, and a good one at that. Until then...spinning plates.

Christine Shuck is a writer, artist, and general malcontent living in Kansas City, Missouri. She has written six books, five of which are published on Amazon. You can learn more about her by signing up for her newsletter, visiting her author website or one of her blogs:

The Deadly Nightshade - covers diy, sustainability, gardening, cooking, crafts, community and more

The Learning Advocate - touches on parenting, education and more

The Cottages - focuses on our renovations of two bungalows in Historic Northeast Kansas City and their future as Airbnb properties

She’s written six books, five of which are currently on Amazon:
Gliese 581: The Departure – A sci-fi thriller
War’s End: The Storm – A dystopian tale about the Second American Civil War in the day after tomorrow
War’s End: A Brave New World – The sequel to War’s End: The Storm
The War on Drugs: An Old Wives Tale – Part memoir, part call to action on ending the War on Drugs in America
Get Organized, Stay Organized – down-to-earth advice on how our lives became so cluttered, and how we can change