choose your own adventure
November 3rd, 2006 @ 8:23 pm | Comments
Filed Under: business owner, emotional, nablopomo
It hit me today: I am successfully (at least so far!) self-employed.
It’s been three months since I made the decision to leave my full-time job with its lovely, regular paycheck. I was nervous of course, but I was excited and ready and happy. As soon as I made the decision and told my boss, I felt 100% better, so relieved. After 2 years of working 40 hours at my real job plus evenings and weekends of dealing with my customers, I was burned out.
Of course we all know what happened: a week later, I saw two pink lines and my plans to focus on expanding my business and really try to build things up kind of changed. And given all of the drama that came at work after I quit, it was obvious that launching a major advertising campaign and really trying to grow was out of the question for legal reasons, at least for the forseeable future. But, because of the baby news, I decided now probably wasn’t the best time to go crazy with that stuff anyway. Everything happens for a reason, right?
At first I was a little (okay, a lot) disappointed, and very frustrated. But, I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I was going to just keep doing what I’d been doing for 2 years- try to make the best of the leads that came in through my website, and also from the contracts I get through the internet marketing guy I work with in the area.
And it has worked. In September and October, I made more money than I’ve made in any month in the last 2 years. AND, it was MORE THAN MY HUSBAND! muwahaha- needless to say, I am loving that fact and like to bring it up quite a bit ;) Granted, it was mostly timing- I get paid when jobs start and when they finish, and it just worked out that I had several wrapping up and several starting. But hey- it still counts!
Today I met with a local company about a contractor position they have for web designer/developers. It will basically be another stream of jobs coming in, but for the same company each time. I went to the meeting without any expectations, really. Partly a self-preservation instinct (no expectations = no disappointment!) and partly because I didn’t know much about what they were looking for. In the past few weeks, I’ve had several people contact me about full time positions (my resume is still sitting out on Monster) and that’s just not what I’m looking for right now. It’s not what I want in general, and now I’m pregnant and doing the day care shuffle is the last thing on my list of ‘fun things to do’, especially if I have an alternative. But I wasn’t sure how they’d take the pregnancy thing. Thankfully, they seemed congratulatory and understood that come the end of March, I’ll be taking a temporary leave of absence to push out and learn to take care of a little turd (I of course said it in a MUCH more professional manner, heh) The meeting ended with them saying that they would be in touch about a few small projects to start, and then we’d go from there as far as the timing with the baby and everything. They seemed very excited about my work and impressed despite my overwhelming lack of formal education. So yay! Another very good source of work!
As I was driving home, I started laughing. How the hell did I get here?!?
I thought about when I was in high school and I made the decision to study biology. And how in college I struggled so hard to make decent grades in a major that was much harder than others I could have chosen, without really knowing what my end goal was, what I wanted to DO once I wasn’t a student anymore. I thought about the four years I spent, trying so hard to be happy and interested and excited in a field that, deep down, I knew wasn’t for me. I thought about the days that I would drive home from work in tears and full of frustration (mainly towards the end) wondering how I could escape this dead-end feeling without having to start completely over.
I still don’t know what it was that made me decide to launch Inksplash. I don’t remember a moment where I was like ‘YES’ and just went for it. It was more of a slow progression, talking about it, thinking about it, doubting that it was good idea, talking about it some more. But now, 2 years later, I’m doing it.
I may not be the best designer or the smartest programmer or the greatest at marketing. But I love what I do. And I love that my customers (at least so far!) all seem very happy with the work I’ve done for them and the things I’ve provided for them. This is what makes me laugh- I used to HATE dealing with people. I hated talking with new people on the phone or even in person about important things, business-related things. I used to make Dan call to order Chinese or pizza for us, because I hated it that much. And now- it’s just a daily thing for me and I sometimes even (GASP!) enjoy it.
I don’t really have a point to this post, really. It’s partly to fulfill the NaBloPoMo obligation ;) And partly just something I needed to spill out of my brain. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones or the fall weather, but it just amazes me how life takes us down paths we never in a million years would have expected. And how God prepares us for the paths we’ll take, even when we think it’s the least likely path for us.
More posts like this:
- playing catch up June 18, 2007
- home alone December 1, 2007
- looking ahead June 19, 2006
- bloggers in the real world May 24, 2008
- every day just gets better December 29, 2005
November 3rd, 2006 @ 8:39 pm
Wait-did you have the Ultrasound? What are you having?
November 3rd, 2006 @ 8:48 pm
nope, not yet- it’s on Wednesday :) Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything!
November 3rd, 2006 @ 9:47 pm
I’m so happy everything is going good for you. I remember reading your blog when you just started with inksplash and it just seemed like a little hobby type of thing. Now you’re making a career from it!
November 3rd, 2006 @ 11:07 pm
I’ve said this plenty of times before, but I’ll say it again. I’ve pretty much followed your blogging/website thing for a long time now and you never cease to amaze me. :) I’m glad things are going so well for you. You are so talented and are living the American dream — working at home in your sweats! Ha ha ha…jk….
November 4th, 2006 @ 1:04 pm
I’m so glad that you had the guts to take on your own business. And insanely jealous, did I mention that part? :) Congrats on having so much success, you deserve it!
November 6th, 2006 @ 12:01 pm
Your story is so inspiring! I would love to have my own freelance writing business and often think about setting up a Web site with samples and contact information. I would love to get pregnant in the next year or so and also hate the idea of using a daycare facility if I can work from home. Keep up the good work!