My best friend hates her job. She hates it with a passion. It is monotonous, heartless, and sedentary. She brings every ounce of genuineness to the connections she makes with her clients, but the machine she works for is soul-sucking. I want so badly for her to break out.
A few years back, I read a book written by Marianne Cantwell, entitled Be a Free Range Human: Escape the 9 to 5, Create a Life You Love and Still Pay The Bills. (Visit Marianne’s website here.)
The title obviously appealed to my rural-living, freedom-loving nature. I’ve pretty much had to become an free-ranger not by choice, but my necessity. I use my social work degree to work with people and community projects. I use my 14 years graphic design experience to help businesses. And in full circle, I use my social work facilitation skills to help businesses communicate to people. Soon after I had begun the activities Cantwell offered, there was an immediate appeal to diversify my income sources. This seemed both quite practical and personal, as someone such as myself can easily grow bored of the monotony of single purpose work.
As I move forward in the evolution of both my personal brand and my corporate brand, I often return to the considerations she laid out. Here I sit, on the edge of 2018, feeling like my suitcase is full. We’ve got this.