Thursday, April 19, 2012

A day in the life of Ingrid King, author, blogger, cat expert and Reiki Master Practitioner

Ingrid King, self employed author, blogger, cat expert and Reiki Master Practitioner, wakes up happy to go to work.  She does what she loves and she is good at what she does.    

Ingrid wrote the award winning book, Buckley’s Story:  Lessons From a Feline Master Teacher, about her beloved tortoiseshell cat, Buckley. 

Ingrid’s award winning professional blog, http://consciouscat.net/, provides daily insight into the lives of cats – it is a go to blog for anyone seeking reliable, useful, and entertaining cat info.  Ingrid’s tortoiseshell cat, Amber, was the inspiration for The Concious Cat, which currently features Ingrid’s current torties, Allegra and Ruby. 

HBG comment:  I think many of us out there in blog world aspire to have a blog like The Conscious Cat

As of today, April 18, 2012, Ingrid’s blogpost about “tortitude” is closing in on 10,000 comments (9717 to be exact).  The tortitude post has led to some amazing friendships (and even romance) between people with the common bond of tortoiseshell cats.  If you don't know what tortitude is, then you probably haven't had a tortoiseshell cat in your life.  You can check out the tortitude blogpost and find out all about tortitude and the unique attitude of tortoiseshell cats.  Here’s the link: http://consciouscat.net/2009/08/17/tortitude-the-unique-personality-of-tortoiseshell-cats/.

HBG:  Can you give me a brief description of your typical day?

Ingrid King:  One of the beauties of being self-employed is that there is no typical day. I’m my own boss, so my schedule varies. My ideal day looks like this:

Get up at 6am, feed the cats, get my first cup of coffee, check e-mail, Facebook, read some of my favorite blogs. Play with the cats (this could be considered research for a future article!), have breakfast, then back to the computer for a full morning of writing blog posts for The Conscious Cat, articles for other publications, and working on my book.
On days when I have Reiki sessions scheduled, I either go visit the client’s home (I see pet clients in a very small geographical area in Northern Virginia), or, if it’s a human client, they’ll come to see me in my home office. I also do remote sessions.

Living in an area of the states known for horrible traffic, you can’t beat Ingrid’s commute, which she describes as going from her bedroom to her office across the hall.    And, some days, Ingrid gets to wear pajamas to work (sorry Ingrid, I couldn’t resist putting that into the blog).

HBG:  What is the best part of your workday/job?

Ingrid King:  Everything! I really love working from home. Writing is my true love, but I also enjoy my Reiki work with both pets and people.

Like most of the self employed workers I’ve featured, the downside of Ingrid’s job is book keeping and the other administrative tasks that come with being self-employed and running her  own business.  HBG comment:  I’m seeing a trend.

For the freelance writing portion of Ingrid’s work, she gets paid usually on a per-article basis. Some publications pay on a per-word basis. Her blog generates income from advertisements. Ingrid charges a set fee for Reiki sessions for both humans and animals.  For more information about Reiki, check out the Reiki tab on The Conscious Cat.

Ingrid doesn’t think of herself as a typical American worker.  HGB finds it really hard to sum up Ingrid’s work in a short day in the life vignette.  She’s a modern day renaissance woman, finding a way to fit all her passions into a small business. 

I love being self-employed and working from home. After working in corporate America for more than fifteen years, and working in a small business (a veterinary clinic) owned by someone else for another eight years, it was quite a change to work for myself. Not having a guaranteed regular income takes a leap of faith, but for me, the freedom I gained by being my own boss has far outweighed any downsides.

And, from what I can discern from Ingrid’s responses to my questions, her biggest job hazard:  cats on her desk!

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