As but one small problem in the ‘move to a big city’ goal – I currently don’t make the money required to move to even a small city, like the one a few miles away from the suburbs I currently inhabit.

I make just enough money at my current day job to pay about a month’s rent. Would be great if I was making a month’s rent every week, but I’m making it every month. So there’s no little extra money for things like ‘food’ or ‘bus pass’.

I could take extra hours at work (and apparently will be anyway, as I seem to have been selected for Snow Removal Duty), but I doubt even that will be quite enough to convince a landlord to let me move in.

There’s two possible solutions:
1. Get a roommate
2. Get more money

I’m going to presume I can actually find a roommate willing to put up with two cockatiels, a cat, and my polyphasic sleep habits, because somewhere out there is someone with her own small zoo and a prospensity for snoring looking for someone willing to put up with her. Still, I’d feel like a dick if I moved in with a girl in WB to help her pay the rent, only to ditch her as soon as I have enough money for a move to Philly or NY.
Which means I’m looking for a roommate who’s already in a big city, ie ‘an uncommutably long distance from my current job’. Sooo I’m back to needing more money anyway…

Long-term goal:
Get better at marketing my artwork. Like, ‘good enough to actually make a living off it’ good. This is where getting an art rep comes in, they’re better at marketing than I am – but i could still do a good bit more than what I’m currently doing.

Mid-term goal:
Actually start my webcomic already. It doesn’t really seem like much in the way of money goals but if I have an even remotely decent comic and can get people to read and enjoy it, I should be able to make at least a little money off ads or t-shirt sales. At any rate it’s easier to market a regular comic than straight illustrations and it’s one of my few goals for the next few years which is more likely to make money than cost money. Especially if I go with really cheap or free hosting :P

Short-term goal:
Find another way to make money. I’m not above getting a second job – though local bus schedules being what they are, I’ll have to figure out some way to actually get to said second job… And there’s still the issue of ‘where is the money?’ when I move away. So really getting a second job now will be for the express purpose of padding my savings account. Nice, and i’ll do it if i have to, but not sustainable.

So I’m thinking, at least until the weather gets nice enough for biking to work to be a possibility again, of working online. I know better than to fall into the ‘make ten thousand dollars a week!’ internet marketing scams but I already make a few bucks a month on Squidoo; I can improve on that. And a Squidoo lens is theoretically not all that different from a niche site; I should be able to do that too. Maybe I’ll even improve my shoddy marketing skills to the extent of being able to market my art a little better. And even if it’s not full-time pay-the-rent money, at least it won’t disappear the moment I move somewhere else.