I’ll start by saying, this is one of the most personal posts I’ve ever written. And it has two parts: part one that says, ‘yippee!!’ and part two that says, ‘am I crazy?’. Let’s start with part one.

Yipee!! Officially, I’m a full time freelancer. I meet people who read our blog and most of them don’t know that I’ve had a full time job in the advertising industry for the past 13 years. I worked during the day and came home and blogged during the nights and weekends. William and I only collaborated on the blog and went back to our separate jobs on Monday morning. One of the most exciting things about me freelancing is the reality that William and I can work together as a team, for real. It’s something we began considering seriously at the beginning of the year and when I started seeing changes at the company I worked for. The possibility of a lay off was looking pretty realistic. Rather than freak out, I started thinking: what would I do if I could change my career? The more and more I considered not being tied to a desk from 9 am to 6 pm, the more I liked it. I’ve been lucky enough to see most of my close friends start their own companies, and manage successful freelance careers. Not to mention my own husband, who has put in many hard years in the NYC photography industry to find a successful career. I’ve been carefully watching husband/wife teams and how they operate, and I really like it. This is now our reality. 

This is part two, when I think ‘am I crazy?’. I’m such a calculated person. I love strategy. Like, really love it. Making a plan and carefully executing it is exciting to me. I come from a family of hard workers, and they are defined by that. It’s been instilled in me to work hard, and stay until the job is done. Not having a structured 9 to 6 with a clear cut ‘boss’ challenges those norms that are so ingrained in me as a person. I’m the person who ate lunch at my desk to squeeze more into my day, or who was completely over scheduled on conference calls. By the time I left the office, I was brain dead. Freelancing will redefine my idea of hard work and success. 

So, I’ve decided that we will see how the summer goes with me freelancing and if all goes well, it just might stick. After working for almost 10 years at the same company and moving from a creative position to a management position, I am ready to get back to being creative again. I went to art college to make things, and be creative. So that is first on my summer to-do list (see planning strategy and executing). Here’s a snap shot of my summer goals:

– make something every day (cooking, crafting, styling images for the blog)

– challenge myself to be creative

– get out and enjoy the city

– have lunch with my freelance friends during business hours, and take a long, leisurely lunches (This feels SO naughty!!)

– take long weekends

– decorate my sisters house

I love the idea of using the skills from my job, and including some skills I’ve refined over the years because I’m passionate about it. Over the past year I realized I like titles less and less. I’m interested in all things visual and my skills cross over in every project I work on. 

Photography Styling and Art Direction: while I’ve enjoyed art directing and styling for our blog, I’d like to look at taking this skill in the direction and partnering with William. We see so many husband/wife teams with such a concise vision. It’s very inspiring. 

Brand Consulting: I’ve been brand consulting for some time now and will continue to work with businesses that might not have an in-house team in place, or need a fresh perspective on their brand. Because of my corporate experience, passion for start up culture, and non-traditional solutions, I offer an unexpected point of view. Often times companies are too close to their brand and can’t see clearly in front of them.

Blogging: I’d really like to call us ‘publishers’. When you tell someone you blog, they’re like WHAT?? We are going to take blogging in the direction of treating it like a business. It started as a place for us to be creative together, however I’m ready to see the blog grow, so we’re going to monetize the blog. It takes an incredible amount of time to produce, and if we had more resources, we could do so much! While I’m not thrilled about putting an advertisement that might make our page busy, it’s become necessary. We are considering partnering with brands but want to make sure it is inline with our vision for our readers and aligns with the brands point of view. The best way for companies to work with us, is to hire us for art direction, styling and photography. We always post about projects we are working on, and that is the best way for us to keep our content focused. 

Here we go! I’m really excited. Time for me to sharpen my pencils and get to work.