In my last post, I talked a bit about my experience in three years of freelancing. What I didn’t share is that I’ve been in discussions to take on a full-time job. And sure enough, Monday was my first day at the job.
So why did I do it? There are several reasons for this.
They made me an offer I couldn’t turn down
At the time, I wasn’t really looking for a full-time job. But I always had it in my mind that I would take one if the right job came along. And then one day a few weeks ago, it did.
To me, this isn’t any “normal” job. There are a few key components that made the decision easy for me, including:
- Plenty of time off. I got much more than the standard two weeks at some jobs.
- Remote work agreement. No need to relocate or commute to an office. I can keep my same office space (except my new company now pays for it).
- Flexible work hours.
- It’s a startup. Working at a startup has been a dream of mine. And yes, I get to do cool shit.
All things considered, the job encompassed many of the things I liked best about freelancing and few I didn’t.
It’s my dream job
It’s weird to call this my dream job. I’ve never really had a dream job in my mind, to be honest. But if I could think of anything now, this would basically be it.
In addition to what’s above, my job lets me do and learn everything professionally I wanted to. I’m now in a more strategic role rather than being just a writer. I’m on track to manage people, which is also pretty damn cool. I know I’ll be able to learn more and do more of the things that I’m interested in.
A break from freelancing sounded nice
I’m not going to lie: freelancing was tough. Mostly it was the constant need to keep finding new clients. This means I’d have to devote somewhere from 25-50% of my time searching for new clients and marketing my business. To be honest, this isn’t the biggest strength (and certainly not a huge interest) on mine.
For now, I’m glad I can just stick to doing the work that I like to do and not having to worry about keeping my plate full with clients.
I can always go back to freelancing
When I first was approached about the job, I had some reservations. So naturally I turned to my copywriter friend Amber, who’s been on both sides. Her advice: freelance work will always be there, but job opportunities won’t. And she’s right. It’s not so likely another opportunity like this would come up for me again soon.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m planning to stay at this job for the long haul. But should anything change down the line, I can go back to freelancing on the spot.
With all that in mind, I took the job this week. It’s a bit of a weird feeling to have a job again after not having one for three years. But I’m glad to be back on a team that’s doing exciting things. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes from here.
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