I'm free, free,free!lancing!
Friday was officially my LAST day as an Oregonian employee. In 37 years, 11 months and 17 days on this planet in this body, I still have not learned to look before I leap. Don't get me wrong. Preparation is a fantastic idea and I always PLAN to prepare. I am a firm believer in the five Ps - prior preparation prevents piss-poor performance. Is that six?
Before leaving The O - I gave myself 30 days to lay the freelance foundation. Talk to editors, generate stories, create motion. Knew exactly how professional life after the paper would look. I planned to prepare.
Ideas and execution, there's a wide, wide river between those two.
Need an idea, I'm your woman. Execution, not so much. Thing about me, I'm not leaving the left bank of ideas until that river is swelling into serious threat. When the water runs highest and hardest, when the last dry patch of ground is too small to find a foothold, that's when I'm crossing.
Fortunate for me I learned to swim young.
I planned and planned and planned. Just planned. Planned to prepare.
Fortunate for me that the universe actually does respond to ideas. My secret is I've always known The Secret.
In the very last minutes of my very last night at the O, I sent five emails to five editors I've worked with, asking for more work The editors I meant to contact BEFORE giving notice - they are the base of my freelance life. Without them I'm on a freeway offramp with a card board sign.
Green lights in every direction!
And, bonus:
I would LOVE to talk with you about writing opportunities for the SOUTH Weekly. We have just lost a staffer due to the buyout, so I've been searching for another freelancer to work with. You inquiry is perfectly timed.
Fortunate for me The O is intentionally shrinking by attrition and adding stringers to fill the news hole.
Double bonus: I miscalculated my final check, turns out I get paid for all the accrued 2008 vacation hours. Three times what I anticipated.
Just enough to cover the income I didn't generate last month when I was so busy planning to prepare that I didn't actually do anything!
(question, savvy readers: when I'm working from a coffee shop, is the coffee tax deductible?)
Awesome! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteI love that this worked out for you so well, Holl! If your procrastination techniques in the future are anything like the way you wrote "the kiss" in five minutes, I'd say you're well on your way.
ReplyDeleteLove.
Cool! E-mail or call me soon...
ReplyDeletemc
OK, that's what we're talking about! When things are meant to be, they happen, even without all the P's in place! I say TFBS to the Ps!
ReplyDeleteI'd say coffee is a DEFINITE business expense! Try doing business without it!
Congrats on the new writing opportunity! Your passion about writing shows and you are sure to attract more great opportunities through the art of applying The Secret.
ReplyDeleteHere to report that she's off and running, alive and unfolding, meant to be free, free to be....as it should be.
ReplyDeleteThe frontier question:
Is roasted coconut mate' tax deductible, too?
I think that roasted coconut mate plays an important role here. Certainly a work requirement. I think I'll go get some now.
ReplyDeleteI am so psyched for you that things are going in this direction. Just had to trust that vision.
I've always known "the secret" as well--and just passed along this little nugget of wisdom to my firstborn:
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to be half-assed, then you have to be flexible. Being flexible helps turn the stupid mistake you just made into opportunity.
I say: let's hear it for letting the universe win.