Income, not jobs. I write about the spirit of enterprise. Big ideas about money & creative living.
This revelation arrived somewhere between Tower Bridge and Westminster. I was walking by the Thames, as I often do, when I got the urge to buy ice cream and sit on the little sandy patch by the river facing St Paul’s. So I did it. Then, I bought another ice-cream because I’m an adult, and I can have as many ice-creams as I want 😊
It made me think of the first time I saw a photo of Tower Bridge. Sitting in an English class about London landmarks, I looked out of the window and decided: I’m going to live there one day.
Years later, at university, the thought returned with enough force that I bought a one-way ticket to London and never returned to Estonia.
Tower Bridge was the first landmark I fell in love with when I first arrived here in 2010. Now I live a 7-minute walk from it — I walk past it on my way to Waitrose. It's ridiculous, and yet there it stands, unbothered proof that anything is possible.
/A few videos of my daily riverside walks over on Instagram
Since childhood, I’ve kept bucket lists of things I wanted to do. Most of them have happened, not because I’m strategic or courageous. They happened because I literally just do things I want to do. I don’t wait until I’m confident or ready. I just love the journey, the discovery, and the unfolding even more than the destination.
When I moved to London — fresh from university, overwhelmed by the bleak anonymity of the Reed job board and the task of finding work in a new country — I found a woman on LinkedIn whose digital marketing work I admired. I messaged her, back when messaging strangers wasn’t “networking,” it was just “weird.” Still, she said yes to coffee, and that’s how I got my first job.
For years, digital marketing (i.e search engine optimisation and content strategy) was my main profession, and digital entrepreneurship (writing, speaking, workshops, events) my hobby/side gig.
Then, somewhere around 2022, the two swapped places.
My “hobby” grew into something sturdier and is now my main focus; while parts of my “digital marketing” career got taken over by AI just when I grew bored of it.
So now I have a “bridge job” — the kind of job creatives know well. It’s a side-hustle you can financially rely on, leaving enough time and energy to build the thing you actually care about.
My bridge job is in real estate (read about how I got it). Three days a week, I call potential home-buyers, talk to them about properties, then schedule and conduct viewings. It is straightforward work, I’m good at it, and it pays well. More importantly, it gives me time to build the life I’ve been shaping for years.
I no longer want my “serious job” to be the centre of my life, while my aliveness gets squeezed into the corners. I no longer want to give anyone all of my time and energy.
I want the sensible job to be the temporary side hustle while I’m working towards my goal, which is ………..
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