Since I mentioned rest stops last time, I feel like I should share that I spent mine at a tulip farm last Wednesday. It was a couple of days after Adam Grant’s NYTimes piece about languishing was flying around. He shares that ‘flourishing’ is the peak of well-being, where you have a strong sense of meaning, mastery, and matter to others; ‘languishing,’ on the other hand, is as a sense of stagnation and emptiness that can lead someone to feel joyless and aimless. I knew that many of my friends felt languish, which is why I felt all the more guilty that I was in a place closer to flourish.
On kinda flourishing
When asked what I’m looking to do next, I answer using a 1-2-3-4 framework that came to me on a walk one day. For the purpose of this week, parts 2 and 3 are most relevant.
I will never forget one question in particular that I was asked while interviewing at Nike – “you’ve done consulting, then marketing, and now you want to do strategy; do you know what you want to do?!” This question grounded in confusion continues to be one I face regularly and my answer is always the same: my resume spans functions and industries because I assess every job opportunity by starting with 2 questions:
Can I succeed? In other words, does the team that I’d work with recognize the value that I bring to eventually let me do more.
Will I feel fulfilled? For me, fulfillment consists of three things (hence 2 & 3 in that framework – 2 questions, 3 factors for fulfillment):
a. Good people (inclusive of quality leadership!)
b. Good learning
c. Good growth opportunity – directionally correct towards the job that would eventually follow this one
Notice how I don’t start by considering job title, pay, function, or industry. They’re all relevant, but just not the most important starting point for me, which is why I think my and Grant’s respective definitions of fulfillment and flourishing go hand in hand. In a way, I treat job hunting (and writing SOAR) like a real job. I’ve met, reconnected with, and continue to adore the most wonderful people. Additionally, every networking chat and interview is directionally correct in my efforts to find the right role. As for learning, freelancing has been such an unexpected delight.
Some context
When I was job hunting in 2018, it took me 9 months to find a role better than the one I had at Unilever, and 11 months before I officially started at Nike. It’s because I’m so selective that I’ll be lucky to land a job by the end of this year. Regardless of my intention, people don’t always kindly react to a gap year on the resume, which is why I planned to freelance from the start – for the stories. My only requirements: Fun work that creates value and drives outcomes. We’ve all seen consulting work that simply gathers dust once it’s delivered. Personally, I’m not interested in feeling like a widget when I could spend that energy elsewhere.
Despite wanting to freelance, I honestly didn’t have a starting point; I didn’t come from the marketing agency world and most of the brands I knew that might want my help would also make it so painful to onboard because they already have established agency lists. But remember how I mentioned last week that I spent a few weeks informing people that I left Nike? Well, one of them is a marketing guy I met earlier this year who was also on a job hunt. Turns out, he was going to kick off some freelancing work with a brand called SAXX but as fate would have it, he landed his own full-time job and could no longer complete the work. He kindly thought of me and just like that, a perfect project fell into my lap! Over the next few months, I’d have the best time telling friends, recruiters, and C-suites that I was freelancing for a men’s underwear brand where the product differentiation is a pocket (called the BallPark Pouch) that is designed to reduce friction and moisture. This project offered the lovely dose of fun and levity that I could then bring into my networking conversations. My favorite moment so far has been a CMO saying, “TMI, but I’m wearing them right now.” Freakin’ fantastic.
My advice on freelancing
I’ll admit that the way this project came to me was heavenly. I also feel a bit of beginner’s luck with how wonderful the leadership team was – warm and open-minded to new information and ideas. For anyone who’s freelancing while job hunting, below’s some the advice I’ve offered. (If you’re freelancing full time, know that I would change a few things.)
Focus on why you’re freelancing: Personally, I’m simply trying to make both sides whole and have some fun. Knowing that my work is my reputation, I only take on work that I feel will impact the business and team. Equally, I want a great story for my job hunt and to be fairly compensated via dollars or learning(!) for my work and time.
Check the vibes: Again, it’s really not worth your reputation to not potentially have a bad outcome, regardless of how great your work might be.
Be mindful of timing: My work with SAXX was mainly in Q1, which is great because March and April have been crazy on the recruiting front and I assume May will be no different. I’ll be more open to freelance opportunities over the summer when I suspect a dip in activity, but expect things to pick back up in September and October.
Scope by project, not time: My primary reason to freelance is to have great stories to share as I network and job hunt; the money and learning opportunity are secondary. To ensure that I don’t lose focus on that, I only commit to project scopes vs a time/retainer model, which often lends itself to scope creep, stress, and less sleep – all things I have no interest in inviting while interviewing.
Data-check the scope need: Before agreeing to any SOW, I sign an NDA and review any relevant and available data to see if the proposed scope makes sense. I recently reviewed a 50GB data room, which seems excessive, but also super informative; I learned about their beginning and end point, and the challenges they’ll face to get there. While some might consider this ‘free work,’ I would rather go into a project being fully aware of the issues and knowing how I can help. It conveniently also gives me more data points to talk price.
Price by project, not time: Despite being a punctual person, I truly have no concept of time. As a quick side note, I know we live in a world where tracking everything from finances to fitness is supposed to make us better, but I think a lot of it makes us nuttier and less in tune with ourselves. Anyway, given my bad sense of time, the last thing I want to do is track it for a project. There’s also something so transactional to me about paying by increments of time vs output, so I only agree to fees by project, which makes it a lot easier to address any incremental asks that might result from scope creep.
Don’t start before a signed SOW: This sounds obvious, but still needs to be said. I’ll admit that I’ve personally asked agencies to start working before having signed an SOW, but it’s usually for reasons that I can’t control. Unless you really know the client, try not to start until everything is signed.
Unexpected rewards
A number of wonderful things have come out of freelancing, but for the sake of this read, I’ll share my two favorites:
After seeing the inner-workings of few brands now, I’ve become acutely aware of the value I can bring to most B2C companies that I’d work for, which is helpful for my job hunt.
As for my proudest accomplishment, the person I worked with at SAXX said that she sees someone with a CPG background differently now after having worked with me. While this might not seem like a big deal, it’s huge; too often, CPG people are perceived as ‘dinosaurs’ but you better check yourself if you’re counting me (and my industry peers) out!
I know money’s important and will never suggest otherwise. I will remind, however, that money doesn’t solve everything, especially languish. I recently turned down what I think would be a really interesting project because I am planning on taking a 3-week vacation. I’ll still interview during this time, but won’t freelance; the beauty in not doing so isn’t just the joy of having more free time, but also more free mind. I’ve been multi-minding so many things that I just need to create space to let things happen; I can’t explain how, but somehow, something or things will happen, as I continue to see on this wild journey that is my job hunt.
The last thing I’ll share is that by freelancing while living in Portland, things have come full-circle in a way. Maybe six years ago (again, no concept of time), I was at a bar in Portland called Pepe Le Moko and met two guys – one visiting from NY (where I lived at the time) and his friend in Portland who was freelancing for Havas Media. I will never forget our conversation because the freelancer lived the way I wanted to – by working for 3 months before taking the 4th one off. Even though I’ll still be interviewing while enjoying my nearly-one-month-vacation, it’s because of this one conversation that I’ve turned down conflicting freelance projects and why I’ve also adjusted my work week. I now take Wednesdays off to go places like that tulip farm and work Sundays instead because a mid-week break feels like a much-needed work-nap vs pulling an all-nighter. Plus, there’s nothing like having leisure time during standard working hours. On that note, enjoy your Wednesday while I mainly take it easy today!!