There has been so much written lately about living/following your dreams, “turning your passion into a career,” etc. Seriously – this morning alone I’ve read articles on three separate sites [1, 2, 3] on the topic – all aimed, seemingly, at the millennial entrepreneur. And so, I felt a bit inspired. After all – I’m writing again. And writing makes me happy. Writing is a passion of mine. So – here we go.
A few months ago (sometime around February or March – almost a full year now) I announced that I was going to be going it alone – working for myself full-time. I’d be living the millennial dream – turning a crap situation (having my position eliminated at a job I loved) into something amazing!
And I did, for a bit. Six months or so. But with the wedding coming up (30 days from today!), and house hunting, and thinking about becoming a parent, and all that good stuff (and also with the horror of hearing one of my clients say they may need to terminate our contract based on their funds) I threw in the towel on my dream and went back to work full-time for someone else.
The first full-time position was a six month contract position, and I enjoyed it. A lot. It was for a huge, well-known, multi-national company with a great reputation. But, it was a temp job, with hourly pay and no benefits. When the company was closed for Thanksgiving and Christmas and everyone was basking in the fun of having extra days off of work, I was focusing on the fact that I felt like I was being punished – those holidays meant I simply wasn’t getting paid. No fun. And while I was told that my contract was going to be extended, I didn’t like knowing that it might not be extended and I would be out on my bum. I began applying for jobs and landed at the company I’m at now.
It’s a lovely company. It’s small and has that “familial” feeling that small, family-owned businesses tend to have. And I’ve got a lot of freedom here to dig into Marketing in my own way, since I am the entire Marketing department.
But I do miss working for myself. I still maintain my clients, in addition to my full-time job. (And putting the finishing touches on the wedding. And house hunting. And I’ve just offered to assist with a revamp of a company I used to freelance for, pro bono …) My job is is still, essentially, to “play on the Internet all day” – managing social media, blogging, and content for my employer, but I just wanted to put it out there in the universe that I miss working for myself – building my company.
Is that selfish? I don’t know, maybe a little. Is it a bit of that millennial entitlement everyone talks about coming out? Possibly. After all – the millennial goal is to have a job where there’s tons of flexibility, lots of recognition, and the ability to create your own path. That’s what I was doing while being self-employed.
Okay. That’s enough out of me on this for now.
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