2015 paid positions

A few years ago, Suzy Bean was my PA. She did an above average job of cleaning, was a really good cook and, I think, did a good job with a lot of my online stuff. Suzy Bean fell in love and moved to hawaii. With Suzy Bean around, I was able to get a LOT more stuff done.

I want to put a feeler out there to hire a new PA. At the top of the list is: cleaning, cooking, gardening. There would be taking people back and forth to the airport, trips to missoula for different things, maybe firing up a video camera once in a while, maybe taking pictures of neat stuff, helping people get settled into a bunk, cleaning up when somebody vacates a bunk. So this assumes that a person would:

a) notice that a bunk is empty

b) notice what needs to be done to make it nice for the next person and do those things.

Not something where the PA would be told what to do. Or need a checklist. Or a list of checklists. Just their mere presence makes everything work much better. A natural.

We have been through a LOT of people now that did not work out. They weren't even one fifth of Suzy Bean. But I don't know how to measure for Suzy-Bean-ness or Katelin-ness or Level-9-mom-ness.

I am hopeful that if the right person shows up, I can get much more of my other stuff done, plus Jocelyn can also get more of her stuff done.

It seems like the first step is to mention that I am open to trying to hire a PA again.

Bookkeeper / accounting apprentice.

I know that Jocelyn has a lot of accounting work and she has a lot of clients that want more, more, more of here. And those clients are so happy that they send lots of others to her. I've talked to her about it and .... for about six months she has been intending to post something here about how she is willing to train the right person, or, better yet, share her workload with somebody who already has great skills in this space.

I thought I would make a quick post to say that I really have no idea what I am talking about, but sometimes you just make the smallest mention and it turns out to be the catalyst for something better.

My impression is that Jocelyn is excellent at quickbooks and accounting and is willing to train a very intelligent person who will, on their own time, study stuff. I get the impression that there could be a week or two unpaid and then things could start off at $15 to $20 per hour. And it sounds like there is room for the pay to go up a lot from there. The key ingredient, from what little I understand, is to have a passion for organizing stuff (everything needs to be put in its place). From where I sit, I think you need the superpower to do accounting without going to sleep or being easily distracted by shiny objects.

Jocelyn has been staying up late nearly every night for months "getting just a little more done" for her clients and then spending a big gob of the day cleaning up after people that have left or cooking for us or answering questions here on permies, or whatever. So I am now trying to fish for possible solutions.

I admit I'm a little busy too working on my own projects here in interior Alaska--mostly on a shoestring--to closely follow every detail of the permies fora, even this one. Still, we're a little unclear. IS there a possible paid "Leader" (not "Boss") position coming up? If so, where does one send a precis' of one's experience and qualifications for such a role? We're not sure we'd wish to make a move to Montana over the medium term (knowing that the long term really calls us back to Alaska where permaculture is desperately needed), nor, of course, can we know we'd be the persons that those there would choose. Certainly, though, it would be good to find out more, and see if a fit is possible. Is there a more formal location on the site to learn more, and start a person-to-person dialog about a paid position, or is forum supposed to be it?

There's this, too: It's a bit challenging to show up from several thousand miles away, on a chance that one might work out. At the same time, from the point of view of the folks a permies, there's risk in committing to someone who might sound good on paper or in distant conversation, but turns out to be very different upon meeting in person. It seems that some sort of transitional, prospective, or conditional agreement is called for, in which folks coming from far away--from any distance, really--might be able to receive compensation without risking all, while at the same time their services can be gracefully declined if they don't work out.

Peter, I think the first place to start is to listen to some of Paul's rants, I mean podcasts.

You can go here for recent podcasts and get a better clue as to what's going on and how you might fit in.

I know that for someone to take the ant village challenge, they need to have listened to 240 podcasts. I would guess a similar time investment would be a good idea prior to moving from Alaska!

I like the idea of having a land manager here. Optimally, this person has the following attributes:

- can teach and manage a PDC
- can lead wofati construction
- can teach and manage a variety of workshops
- will be a pillar of decency, knowledge and leadership
- has listened to all of my podcasts
- has watched all of my youtube videos
- can spot when something needs to be done and arrange to have it taken care of in a timely fashion or do it himself/herself.
- can mediate when called for
- solves problems
- can come up with a proper bounty price and arrange for bounty payment when judging that the work meets the requirements
- has values similar to mine
- can work with shifting priorities
- can flesh out the PEP1 program

- most of all: can nurture people on the greater path of all the things we wish to accomplish on the laboratory.

I think there are all sorts of compensation packages. I think the perfect candidate would receive $2500 per month plus could call wofati 0.8 their home. In time, with improved income streams on the lab, that person could be paid $5000 per month, plus I would imagine they might have a lot of their own income streams and have a list of additional perks.

Of course, I suspect that there will be hundreds of dumbfucks that read this and demand $5000 per month for the job, but they aren't even worth $200 per month.

Even further, I think the best candidates will say "I expect to be paid half of what I bring to the project. So, start me at zero and by the end of the year I will have built $100,000 per year of income to the project and I will be able to prove it - and I expect to be paid half of that." So that person may have taught a bunch of excellent workshops, plus arranged to bring in some amazing instructors, plus - maybe the got the glamping thing at the tipi to actually happen, plus a few more similar projects, plus, plus, plus, plus ..... This would be in direct contract to a person that comes in and expect to be paid gobs of money but doesn't really accomplish anything.

I think it is possible that there could be a "good candidate" (read: not the "perfect candidate" from above) that would be willing to come and "play" for a couple of weeks and then we might agree to get them set up and started at, say, $1500 per month with the possibilities for more based on certain achievements over the following months/years.

I want to talk about the PA position again.

I feel that with a little bit of PA stuff, everything in my life is accelerated enough that it is worth it. And with a really good PA working full time, who has been here a year, I could see paying $20 per hour. I also think that a good PA would work on stuff that would bring in more money than is being paid to the PA. So, well worth it.

Hello I am looking for a community to live in. I have followed this site for about 6 years and am deeply grateful what it has taught me. I bought land in colorado and have been going it alone. I am burned out and want to share my skills and learn new ones. I have a family, my partner and two young kids. I am currently an independent contractor doing carpentry and plumbing electrical work. I have some natural building experience as well as solar installation experience. We have been busy learning lots of relevant "farm" skills over the last 3 years.
Basically I want to sell my spot take the equity and find a community to sink my taproot into.
I judge your community is doing the work that I want to be a part of. Rather than try to go it alone.
I would like to hear or read or better see what these possibilities are at your village.

Hi Ryan, thanks for making an account!

There are a few different ways to get onto the land at Wheaton Laboratories. All of them involve a pre-req of listening to large numbers of Paul's rantings podcasts.

Here are some threads you may find useful:

Deep Roots - Long Term Canvas is the program for those who are committed to a long term stay (assuming everybody keeps liking each other) and have some money to make it so.

Shallow Roots is a three year program with less of an initial outlay (and some ongoing costs - see the description in the thread).

Ant Village has even less initial outlay ($800) and either you incur ongoing "rent" costs or you win the competition (see thread for details) and you get to stay on the land you have made so very awesome.

It sounds like you have some very useful skills and I could see things working out beautifully. On the other hand, you should realize that the land is not much developed and thus not entirely safe for children. Of course, no place is entirely safe, for anybody, but my neighborhood doesn't have cougar! If you've been in colorado, you probably already know about such things.

So, get going on the whole podcast thing! (If you haven't already.) Somewhere around here is a thread where podcasts were favorited, but I couldn't find it, and I need to get back to work. . . .