As I work on my plan for the next five years I'm craving an expansion while holding onto my mastery. How do I expand to take on a bigger creative role, while keeping the market's trust in what I do very well?
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Asking Not Asking #19: I Don’t Hate My Job
“Here’s the thing: I don’t hate my job. I don’t necessarily love it, either. It’s interesting and fast-paced and I like working with a team. I also like the consistent salary and the security that comes with it...But sometimes I get the urge to quit and start over. I get antsy and want to leave. Then I think about it and wonder why. Will I regret not trying something else?”
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Asking Not Asking #18: Freelance Life is Like A Drug
“Freelance life is like a drug. The just not knowing what might be possible around the corner can be addictive and exciting. But it can also be hard to know just when the time is to move on. To know when it’s over. You just don’t know. There’s always a maybe/possibly hanging around out there. It makes it hard to commit to something else, something more solid, something more stable.”
Read MoreAsking Not Asking #16: Searching for Fulfillment
“Options I am considering: 1) Go back to school to get an MBA in Marketing and do…marketing?…somewhere? 2) Leave and start my own photography and design studio. Options I’m definitely NOT considering: Staying where I am. I’m so ready to jump that I can feel the wind in my face.”
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Asking Not Asking #15: Waiting to Be Seen
“I want to be heard and be part of bigger things, alongside better people. Yet any new attempt is met with another refusal...How can I be heard? How can I make you see me? How can I contribute?”
Read MoreAsking Not Asking #14: Unqualified
“One of the real surprises of this process has been finding what I think is the type of work I want to make. Before getting sick, I actually never had ideas for personal work. I always felt blocked…It feels daunting that my interest is heading in a direction where I especially feel the least qualified. How can I move forward from here?”
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Asking Not Asking #13: Comparing Myself
Sometimes I’m proud of where I’m at and other times I feel so behind, like all of my friends and peers are further along because they make more money or they have jobs at well-known agencies. I’m in my late twenties and I want to feel like I’m making progress. Starting a business feels like starting over.
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Asking Not Asking #12: Stuck
I quit my management consulting job after 9 years because I am convinced I want to create my own business. I’m struggling because I have a lot of skills… Now I feel so stuck because I don’t know what I want to focus on. All of [my previous ventures] were great experiences but none of them were me and I am not sure what I want to do.
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Asking Not Asking #11: Overwhelmed
I am very good at getting started. I can get pretty far with that motivation, but somewhere along the way I start to question myself and also try to create balance between work, life, love, fitness, etc., and I get overwhelmed and let things go.
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Members to Watch: Best of January
Here are seven projects from Working Not Working Members that caught our eye this January.
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Asking Not Asking #10: Unsure
In the past year, I’ve learned that I am resourceful. I’m trying to figure out what I really love and should invest energy on. I want more purpose and fulfillment in my life, but I don’t know exactly what I am good at anymore. I took time off to have a child, which I’m proud of. Right now I am trying to get back to doing what I know, which is advertising and art direction.
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Asking Not Asking #9: Frozen by Fear
What I have always loved and known to light me up are those one-on-one moments with people; that sitting in the darkness next to someone as they battle through something. Through journaling, I have thought that clinical psychology may be an option for me, but as a 31-year-old who just got out of an 8-year relationship and lives in a foreign country, I feel this deep sense of fear to pursue this.
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Asking Not Asking #8: Balancing Act
My fear is that I’m spending too much time in this comfortable space and not enough time pursuing work or opportunities that truly excite me. I don’t want to feel uninspired or bored with the work that I’m doing, but the money makes it hard to turn down. How can I find a better balance between steady work and new business ventures?
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Asking Not Asking #7: Building Confidence in Business
“I'm realizing now that I have the knowledge and insight to take on well-paid contract work to cover my living expenses as I continue building out my business. My challenges are: 1) I don't know the first step for beginning contract work like this. 2) I'm not very confident in marketing myself.”
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Asking Not Asking #6: Shooting for More
“The old adage ‘Just keep shooting’ is overplayed. Of course I’m going to keep shooting. But how does a guy who doesn't have the budget for a $2k printed book and a $4k trip to NYC to maybe get a meeting with a few agencies move on to bigger clients?”
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Asking Not Asking #5: Feeling Used & Confused
“Now this artist solely references the follower’s work. Together they've begun migrating my audience away. This is affecting my visibility, my bottom line, considerably; this also negatively impacts our shared agency's numbers.” … I need to determine what I can personally do aside from ‘keeping my head down and working.’
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Asking Not Asking #4: All Out of Love
The money and perks ad agencies offer come at a high price: crazy hours, high stress, and the expectation that you’re available for work 24/7. Plus, I’ve never been to a retirement party in advertising.
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Asking Not Asking #3: Exhausted
“But I feel like somehow I can’t move forward. Did I not work hard enough? What can I do to make this situation better? What should I do when the uncontrollable things (in regards to the current political climate, law reforms, etc) affect so much in my life?”
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Asking Not Asking #2: Mid-Life Freelancer
“I have had many achievements that I never imagined I would have as a professional photographer over my years practicing my craft. But now as a mid-career artist, I am looking on the horizon at my life as a freelancer and I ask, ‘Did I choose the wrong life?’”
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