The side hustle

For almost all of the last 18-plus years, covering sports is how I made my living, mostly. Starting in January of 2003, I have been full-time with Salmon Press, with the lone exception of the few months this past summer where I was laid off.

But over the course of that time, I have also held numerous jobs on the side, helping to pay the credit card bills that I built up during my college years. The good news is that one of those was completely paid off late last year and the other is ticking downward every month. And it's because of those side jobs that I've been able to pay the bills a bit quicker than if I just worked the one job.

When I started this job, I had been working at Mountain View Nursing Home in Ossipee full-time in the kitchen. I went down to two days a week when I started full-time at the paper and worked there for a number of years. After leaving that job, I went to work part-time at Pronto Market in Wolfeboro, which was conveniently located right next door to our office in Clarke Plaza. The owners, Paul and Louise Labbe, gave me whatever hours I could handle and also allowed me some flexible hours, mostly mornings, but also some evenings when I could.

When Pronto closed, I went with just one job for a while, but some other bills started to pop up and I realized it was time to start looking for another side hustle. I found a job working four nights a week for AfterDark Commercial Cleaning in Wolfeboro, doing the floors in the kitchen and dining room at Brewster Academy. In many ways, this job was good, as it allowed me to work after games and pretty much make up my own hours. However, after a few years, it started to wear me down and after I fell asleep at the wheel and totaled my car on Route 109A in Tuftonboro, I realized it was time to call it quits.

Then came this past April, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Salmon Press to make some drastic changes and with sports cancelled at the local high schools, I was among those laid off. After collecting unemployment for a month, I realized that I needed to have something to do. Peter Kelly, the girls' hockey coach at Kingswood, runs the Yum Yum Shop in Wolfeboro and offered me a full-time job for the summer working in the kitchen. I spent all summer long learning the ins and outs of baking and making lots and lots and lots of donuts. It was nice to be able to pick up some overtime along the way and without a question, the job helped me get through what was a difficult time.

When I got called back to the paper, I offered to stay on a couple days a week to help as long as I was needed. So, while I've been back at the paper since mid-August, I have been working Wednesday and Thursday mornings at the Yum Yum Shop. The extra money comes in handy and I work with a good group of people, which is always a plus. I've learned a lot from the experienced bakers and have hopefully gotten better as the year has rolled along.

However, the pandemic combined with working in a bakery has virtually killed any hopes I had of keeping the weight off that I lost a few years back. Let's just say it's been a rough few months.

I spend Wednesday and Thursday mornings cranking out donuts and other delicious things at the Yum Yum Shop in Wolfeboro.