“You knew what you were getting into…”

I’m ill. Not ill ill. I am mobile and quite awake. But I have lost my voice. And when your job is to sing and talk and giggle, losing your voice means you can’t do your job. And when you are self-employed, you no longer get paid for sitting at home and recuperating. Yes, I knew what I was getting into when I jumped ship for this life of improv, but a damaged throat* damages my bank account too, and that’s not a great thing.

So while the next two hours will be spent continuing to work on my business/marketing plan for Pyjama Drama, there is also a niggling question in the back of my mind; how can I stop this from happening again?

I can’t magically never be ill again. I’d love that, but it’s not going to happen. Not being able to work due to illness is inevitable and I’m quite frankly damned impressed that I’ve been doing this job for for nearly nine months straight without taking a sickie.

So what can I do if I fall ill again in the future? Two options.
1) Cancel the day’s sessions to recuperate (no point making it worse)
2) Get someone else to run the session.

Option 1 is a short-term fix. Quick and easy, but it’s not ideal.
Option 2 is something that I would be looking at doing eventually, so perhaps it’s time to start looking into it now? It would mean consistency for all the families/centres, more opportunities for adding more sessions, and while it would mean a big new outgoings column, it’s better than a big old loss and lots of disappointed kids.

Food for thought.

* Do not do a Google image search for “sore throat”. You’ll vomit.