I Quit My Job For Chess?! ...Two Months In
So its been nearly two months since I executed the decision to retire early from my career as a housing developer & urban planner, and take on chess (& cornhole) full time. So one might ask; how is it going? 
I ask myself this all the time in fact.
In a word: AWESOME
In an emoji: 
(queen is my fav piece...hehe)
My chess class at St. Angela's in Fairview Park, OH
So I'm not going to say it's been easy, because it isn't. I have actually been working both of my jobs the past couple months simultaneously (and I'm only 1700 rated so holding a simul is very suspicious!) I work my old job doing housing development for a non-profit Tuesdays and Thursdays and I work Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Progress With Chess, a chess organization! (aka dream job) Bouncing back and forth and changing my mind set is a little harder than I expected it to be, but I do think it was the right decision. I knew this would be hard work on the one hand, but on the other hand I worked my job for 20 years and so it was important to me, to do a slow transition so that the projects I was working on would be okay, so I wouldn't have a guilty conscious if I left them kinda screwed over, and in return I negotiated to keep my health insurance for awhile (of high value obviously). But I've never really been afraid of hard work (in fact I prefer it) so this is all good. Although I am looking forward to November 1st, my final day of my old job!
After that, I will stay part time at Progress With Chess and begin my entrepreneurial ideas of which I have several including building up this blog and my YouTube channel! And to reduce my expenses and secure my finances I'm actually selling my house, which is too big for me anyway, at a time when the market in my neighborhood is quite good, and so I'm going to move in with my mom for a time, invest in rehabbing my house a bit (new bath, new kitchen) and then sell. That way I can stay part time while building up my business ideas for a year and see how that goes. It all feels rather exciting. (and slightly scary)
But why is this awesome? Well, it feels like I'm living a dream. That's gotta be the biggest thing about it. And I guess I'm sorta proud of myself? For taking a lunge in this direction. It's scary and so it does take a certain amount of courage and it feels good to believe in myself and my ability to be resourceful and figure things out. No doubt I can expect there will be challenges, but I feel ready and even excited to take them on!
But also, the work I'm doing at Progress With Chess is **dreamy** as ever. My assigned title is Director of Marketing & Promotion (pun intended...lol), but really I'm doing all sorts of stuff. Progress With Chess is a non-profit that is dedicated to improving the lives of students through chess programs, especially kids in the City of Cleveland, which really appeals to me. Chess is great of course, but helping those kids is really important to me too and provides a deeper meaning and purpose and it makes me proud to work for the organization (I'm proud of my old one too).
So far I have done stuff as simple as processing class registrations, learning QuickBooks a little better to pay bills and other admin stuff, but also I have designed chess puzzle sheets, got the social media up and running, taught a few classes, hosted a Webinar for the instructors, and identified some grants I'd like to write for them (I'm pretty awesome at writing grants). I'll be redesigning the website, some puzzle books, getting exposure for them through social media including lots of high quality photos and some video too! I'll be doing private lessons for some students, helping with tournaments and yeah, I'm totally pumped! I couldn't love this more I don't think. hehe I was even recently featured on the Perpetual Chess the chess podcast talking about how I gained 300 rating points this year, which I consider to be a great honor.
In addition, this is going to help my chess even more no doubt. I am becoming more connected with the chess community, which feels like a family strangely (or a strange family? not sure haha) and working with my colleague Roy I get more chess and game analysis in, and Michael Joelson, our fearless leader, is a USCF Master rated almost 2200 (and certainly was in the past) and so working with him is already an amazing experience; and one that I will continue to enjoy.
Am I worried about finances? Well, sure, maybe a little, but I have ideas and I believe in my ability to be resourceful. I have proven to myself in the past that I can figure things out, and so I'm banking on that. Maybe its brave, and maybes its stupid and irresponsible, but I guess we'll find out in time. lol One thing I know that is that I'm much happier. I prefer to live my life this way, following my passions and feeling like I'm on some sort of journey. And so, that's where I am.. FINALLY I actually felt stuck for a long time, and had a really rough period when my dad died and I struggled hard with anxiety and depression (recently actually), but it does feel like I have finally emerged from that, perhaps stronger than ever? Anyway, I hope my dad would be proud of me. I like to think that he would be. <3
-Stacia
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