I Accepted a Full Time Job

No that’s not an April Fool’s joke.

Almost a decade ago, in September 2010, I gave notice at my job. I was working at the Society for Interventional Radiologists as a Publications Coordinator. It was a very entry level job that I was very lucky to have (I was hired about three weeks before the 2008 market crash). After my post-college temporary receptionist gigs it was fun to have a “career” job.

It didn’t last. the call of adventure was too strong. Every night after work I would go down to the basement and start my real work: building Twenty-Something Travel. My expectations were modest: I wanted to document my travels and encourage others to see the world. Nobody was more surprised than me when it started making money.

So I quit SIR and spent the next almost 9 years being my own boss. The nature of the work would vary: blogging, working on PR campaigns, a book, freelance writing, ghostwriting, as did the amount I made. I had really great years and really anemic ones, worked on projects I loved and ones I hated. I had big professional achievements (like being published in an in-flight magazine) and big setbacks (like losing two of my biggest gigs the same week in 2014).

It was a hell of an adventure! But now I’m starting a new chapter.

I Accepted a Job

Today (Monday) will be my first day as a Content Marketing Manager at a high-end SaaS and B2B content marketing firm called Animalz (I had to look up both of those acronyms before I applied). I’ll be planning and executing content strategy for tech companies. I’m pretty excited.

The job is remote, so it’s not quite as radical as going back to a cubicle farm would be (not sure I’ll every be ready for that again). I can do it from our beautiful home in Italy. But it’s still a salaried, 40 hour a week, vacation days and benefits bona fide job.

Why the change? To an outsider this might seem like a radical swerve: from “living the dream” back to working for the man. But to those who know me best I think this move makes a lot of sense.

In short:

• Travel Blogging Isn’t For Me Anymore– As I wrote about recently on Why Wait, my heart and mind hasn’t been with travel blogging for quite awhile now. There’s not much more to say about that.
• Our Financial and Living Situation is Evolving– Mike and I both work super hard, but having two freelancers in the family doesn’t provide the financial security I want for our family. Our family functions better if at least once of us has a reliable salary.
• I’m Ready for a Change in Perspective– Freelancing is a game with high highs and low lows. I loved choosing my own hours and projects, but I was also highly stressed a lot of the time. I always felt slightly guilty when I wasn’t working and I never stopped feeling like I could be doing more. The idea of clocking in and clocking out and going on with my life outside of that sounds very appealing.
• I Can Focus on my Novel Outside of Work– in 2019 I challenged myself to finish my first novel. This is something I’ve wanted to do my entire life and now I’m finally putting the plan in motion. Only… when I was freelancing I always felt GUILTY taking time away from paying work to work on this massive project that might never make a cent. But, if I’m working full time, I can work on my book in my spare time guilt free.
• This is a Good Career Move– Most importantly of all, this position seems like a really good, profitable, use of the skills that I’ve been cultivating over the years. I’m excited to learn some new business applications for my writing skills and hopefully grow and develop along a career path with a lot of room for advancement and prosperity.

So yeah, all very good reasons to pursue a full-time position, and luckily this one worked out for me (so far at least). I’m really excited to get started and hopefully learn some new skills.

My career has already taken me so many places I never could have predicted or imagined. I’m excited to see where it takes me next.