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Rabbit, Run

Regeneration
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One of my yoga teachers was ‘Gramming about their birthday recently and wrote: “this is insanely trite but i feel like for the first time in forever i’m being what i’ve become instead of becoming what i’ll be.” [sic]

The point hit home.

Much of the becoming has been done. Now I have to be. Like BE.

In my daily scroll of LinkedIn, it is easy for me to forget that. It feels like the whole task of being online is all about the endless task of becoming. Becoming more desirable, becoming less wrinkled, becoming more of a fine-tuned tool for mid-funnel B2B marketing. On that platform, I am served up a litany of faux credentials and up-skilling courseware.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been grappling with what is next for work. I recently applied through a LinkedIn job advertisement for a role titled “Strategic Content Writer” at a major financial services firm. I put about as much effort into the application as it seemed to deserve. (I auto-filled the template with my LinkedIn information and pressed send). A week or two went by. “After thoughtful consideration, we have decided not to move forward with your application for this position: R0098247 Strategic Content Writer.” Then for the next week after that, the LinkedIn platform has hounded me with this job listing — it’s like that trendy bathing suit you clicked on once on Instagram that won’t leave you alone. I am not entirely convinced that it’s even a real job listing but simply a way for Workday to collect vast amounts of work history data from people.

I don’t need that kind of lame, “professional” clickbait wafting around me. After thoughtful consideration, we have decided not to move forward with applying to your automated corporate positions.

Instead, I have made a decision I feel extremely excited about — and feels right with the current state of employer nonsense. I am going to be the CEO of me and lean into full-time marketing/communications consulting under my own banner — and, hopefully, grow the stack to include other lines of services and income. As a friend told me yesterday, “Hybrid careers suit complex people.” Thanks (I think?)

I am nearly certain I can earn the kind of income that works for the level of lifestyle I desire, for now. (And more than a few people have said to me, you’re going to earn much more than you think. Great, I’ll take that too.)

The reality is that I don’t actually need many of the benefits traditional corporate America offers because I have few dependencies. That wasn’t my goal but that’s my reality. I can cover basic health insurance myself; I can contribute to my own SEP IRA; I can make my own vacation policy.

What I do need is flexibility, task diversity, a portfolio approach to work, autonomy, lots of stimulation, new problems to solve, attention to climate topics, and something to build. I need to be me. I need to create something. And I don’t see many job descriptions along those lines. Or let me correct that: That JD is for a founder and owner.

And like clockwork, once I started to lean into the idea with real intention this week, by Friday I had signed my first monthly retainer to work with a boutique agency — with two more contracts waiting in the wings. Good job, New.

And I feel certain that more will be revealed.

Now, happy lunar new year my dear rabbits! Hop to it!

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