Being free-lance is not easy. People think that we are lucky to have so much freedom and flexibility, but in actuality, it can be quite the opposite. When you are a free-lancer, every fun activity you schedule in life is mentally categorized as “tentative,” because when you get a job, the job comes first. As every free-lancer knows, every time a job is completed you are unemployed again, and more often than not, you don’t know when the next job will come. Therefore, you have to take the jobs when they come. I can’t count the number of times that I have made plans and had to cancel them to take a last minute job. If you want to be my friend, or spouse, then you have to understand that’s the way it goes.
Now does this sound like freedom? Not exactly. But on the flip side, every time I get a job I’m excited. It’s an accomplishment to get hired or even called back by the same person when there are so many others like you to choose from. Every time you work you have to be your best, because if you aren’t, they don’t have to have you back. It’s a little awkward and uncomfortable to always be around people you don’t know, but it’s an interesting challenge to learn how to quickly bond with all kinds of different personalities.
Last weekend I was handed an extraordinary opportunity to work with some extraordinary people, and as always, I was so excited. The owner of a highly reputable agency in Los Angeles, called Zenobia, called me out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to work on an Oprah Magazine shoot with an L.A. photographer. Of course I did. When the photographer saw my work, she asked if I could also work with her the next day for a Weight Watcher’s Magazine shoot. Of course I did! And to top it off, this agent asked if he could be my rep. Of course he can! He is so on top of it that even during the weekend he responded to my emails within five minutes. What kind of life is that? After thirty years, he still owns his business, and it is doing very well!
The Oprah Magazine shoot was for a story featuring two ambitious young college students who started their own nut butter company called Wild Squirrel Nut Butter, which is already selling locally in major grocery markets. They are only nineteen years old and ready to be entrepreneurs. Good for them! The sky is the limit when you work for yourself. And the Weight Watcher’s Magazine shoot story was about a woman who took charge of her body and her life and lost 58 lbs., recovering from a debilitating Rheumatoid Arthritis. Good job!
Taking the risk of taking charge of your own life in whatever form it might be may not be the easiest route to go, but there’s a chance it could be the most rewarding and exciting way to go. And once you go for it you’ll never look back and wonder what life would have been like if you pursued your dream.
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