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One of our readers recently emailed me with a dilemma she was facing. At first, I thought it was a trick question. But after reading her note a couple of times, I saw the importance (and validity) of her question, why she was struggling with this issue and why this is relevant to ALL freelancers. Here’s what she wrote:
Where is the grass greener? In a corporation, with a stable income, or own one’s own? After 12 years of freelance writing for Fortune 500 corporations and loving it, I’m getting a little bored. In 2010 I’m pondering pursuing a full time, corporate career for the learning and growth opportunities it might offer. But not just any position; one with a progressive company that would incorporate Web and social media optimization and training into my weekly tasks. Of course, I could pursue this training on my own. But where? Anyway, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this topic in an upcoming article.
So here’s why I thought this was a trick question. Personally, I’d have to be in a really (and I mean REALLY) tight corner to reenter corporate America. Going back to working for someone else just because I’m bored or feel I need to learn more skills is not something I’d even consider.
I suspect many of you feel the same way — especially today, where job security is no longer a reality.
But here’s why this is such a great question. For Janet (not her real name), constantly learning new skills and working on a wide variety of interesting projects is important. Important enough, in fact, to consider going back to the corporate world as an employee.
And while this is not a good enough reason for me to jump ship (I would instead self-finance my training), there are other situations where I could be tempted — or at least tempted enough — to consider the opportunity.
For instance, a good friend, colleague or relative coming to me with an exciting and legitimate entrepreneurial opportunity. A situation where I would be an employee but would have a significant equity stake in the business… and a VERY attractive compensation package.
Basically, a combination of great pay, excellent upside potential and a feeling that I could really make a difference in the company’s growth and in people’s lives.
Now… I’m not saying I would take the opportunity. But such a situation would cause me to at least want to learn more. Maybe even ask myself Janet’s “Is the grass greener?” question.
OK, so what do you do when you’re presented with a situation that sounds very attractive? Or when you start thinking that there might be something better for you outside of freelancing?
Start with a decision tree. Draw a straight vertical line on a blank sheet of paper. On the left side write all the “pros.” On the right side list all the “cons.”
List as many items in each column as you can. Think about your family, your finances, your quality of life, free time, work time and all the other factors that will be affected should you go in a different direction.
Then, put the list away, close your eyes and try to imagine a day in this new position. How happy are you? Are you nervous, excited, energized? Whom do you interact with? Are you in a cubicle, office or home office? Does the day seem to fly by or drag on?
Do the same exercise with your current work. And with both of these visualizations, ask yourself: What does all this feel like? What does your gut tell you?
In most cases, the answer will come to you pretty quickly. Yet at first, you won’t believe your gut (why is that??). So you’ll sit on it for a few days. You’ll go back and forth on it.
But I suspect that in the end, you’ll trust your instincts.
I just ran through this exercise myself. Here’s what I found: even if offered a ridiculously attractive compensation package, I would turn it down and continue doing what I’m doing today.
For me, the thought of going back to an office, dealing with corporate politics, traveling all the time, being away from my family or having someone else chart my course…
All that feels like hell to me! So does the thought of having to rebuild my business from scratch should that opportunity not work out.
But that’s just me.
What about you? How would you advise Janet?
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Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle. Get 3 free chapters of the book and 4 bonus e-books and reports (worth $126) here.
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Ed,
Here is where Janet’s problem really is: “I’ve been freelance writing for corporations for 12 years and am getting a little bored.”
Whether you’re in a corporate job or your own business, we all get into ruts, which is what causes the “grass is greener” thinking. Doing the same thing for a number of years is stifling.
To offset boredom, you have to continually learn new skills and change yourself and your offerings as you grow — that’s why people in corporations get promoted. As a freelancer or consultant, you have to promote yourself.
Ed, you’ve pretty much summed up the way I feel about this question:
“the thought of going back to an office, dealing with corporate politics, traveling all the time, being away from my family or having someone else chart my course…”
Yuck. Double yuck. I bailed on a promising corporate career 22 years ago, and every time I’ve stuck my toe back in that world by necessity (like for visa reasons), I’ve had a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve still had great colleagues and a lot of fun on occasion in corporate jobs, but the high points in that world are the routine elements of my life as an independent. I need to set my own course, even if it’s the wrong one, because then I always have the choice to change it for the better.
Occasionally I am asked by clients or colleagues in my profession if I would consider a staff job. It’s really hard to find polite words at those times, even for organizations I think are basically sound. I’ll support them as an outsider all they need, but I won’t expose myself to internal politics.
I agree with you Ed–I’d rather finance my own self-education than enter the corporate world to learn something new. Janet says she’s obviously been happy writing for the F500 companies, perhaps she needs the challenge of entering a different industry or market segment, such as small businesses. She also mentions working for a “progressive company.” Well, she sounds creative and I’d venture to say has some wonderful ideas to contribute to things like social media. She just has to keep looking for opportunities & people to learn from–they’re out there (Stelzner’s Social Media Success Summit 2010 comes to mind). What better place to do all this than through your own business venture? Freelancing, to me, is still the greenest grass I’ve ever seen. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and drive.
Great comments, everyone!
Diana – “To offset boredom, you have to continually learn new skills and change yourself and your offerings as you grow — that’s why people in corporations get promoted. As a freelancer or consultant, you have to promote yourself.” This is BRILLIANT! I hadn’t thought of it this way, but you’re absolutely right!
Kevin – That was also my initial reaction, but then I realized that I had to put myself in a position where I’d be tempted. For me, the circumstances would have to be different. I think most freelancers can think of a situation where they’d at least be tempted to consider an alternate path.
Mike – “The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and drive.” That’s what keeps me in the freelance world. I want to be able to chart my own course, to try new things. If I fail, that’s OK. I will have learned some valuable lessons. But when these new ideas/approaches work, the satisfaction I get from that is priceless!
No. Way. In. Heck.
My wife asked me a few weeks ago and I responded to the effect that: “Someone would have to throw me enough money that I could work really hard for a year or two and never work again. And unless there’s a writing job in the core of our local nuclear plant, I don’t see that happening.”
Sounds like we’re all on the same page: The red flag is doing the same thing for the same big companies. That can be comfortable from an income standpoint, but in the long haul it’s not that different from a CorpWorld job. I’ve kept my sanity over the years by doing stuff that ranges from super-serious to completely off the wall. Every day is different.
Janet might find she could re-light the spark by doing some projects with a local solo graphic designer or two.
I’m a freelance translator like Kevin and I do agree that it’s important to always have a “what if” scenario in your head. What if we lost our individual health insurance and needed something more comprehensive? What if I get really lonely when my kids are grown up and I want an in-house job? What if we want to move to a country where I can’t legally be self-employed? Otherwise, realistically, a 40+ hour a week job with 2 weeks of vacation would have to pay at least double what I make as a freelancer working 30 hours a week on my own schedule with 6-8 weeks off. Below that threshold, I’d rather make my own decisions and be responsible for my own successes and failures.
The question is answered the same as the saying, the grass is always greener on the other side. Whenever we become bored or frustrated in one place, the other side looks better. The same is true in a long term corporate position, in freelancing, and in life in general. In any case, you have to weigh-out what is most important to you and what is going to work best for your situation. There was a decision for your previous choice, and maybe just revisiting “why” you made that choice in the first place will be enough to keep you going and motivated.
I am in a financial bind. I’ve been selling promotional ad specialty items for 17 years in a home-based business. Business has been off since 2004. The recession did not just happen in the past few years, it has been declining since 2004. At least on my end. Problem is that I love what I do. The thought of going out into the business world would take a huge attitude adjustment on my part. Big question is if I can subdue my independent nature, my opinions, my take charge attitude, my extensive experience and my inability to tolerate those with less knowledge telling me what to do. I recently put together a resume and submitted on-line for a job. The thought of not being called in for an interview or (worse) getting an offer is making me sick and causing me to lose sleep. The grass would definitely be greener (money, benefits, etc.), but I don’t think that I could jump that fence.
Right out of college, I interviewed for LOTS of jobs, and I could imagine myself in each one, working and happy. For the last year or so I’ve been doing some freelance work with the goal of making that my full time thing. Then, last week, I was laid off from my 9-5 job. Right now, the grass looks vibrantly green and thick on the freelance side of the fence, simply because I won’t be depending on someone else’s decisions for my living.
You may imagine the Fortune 500 you work for is bulletproof, but the last two years or so have been an unfortunate reminder that NO company is too big to fail or that no employee is too valuable to be expendable.
Corine – Good point. That’s why it’s so critical to understand exactly WHY you’re a freelancer, why you like being one and what’s truly important to you. That way, when you’re faced with the tough choices, you can refer back to this “personal manifesto,” if you will.
Donna – Don’t give up. If you love freelancing, take some time to figure out how you can apply your skills and experience differently… or in a market that would be more willing to pay you more. I wrote about this recently here: http://ow.ly/1DzZL
Dava – Welcome to the greenest yard in the world! Get ready for an exciting adventure.
Just for web-search reasons, I won’t tie my real name to this response. I’m “Janet” — the one who asked Ed about where the grass is greener. This question came up during a brief lull in assignments. During lulls, rather than enjoy the much-needed break, I sometimes get antsy, bored, and a bit panicked. I know if I continue to network and market myself, the work will come, but during lulls, I also ponder my back-up options, such as working in an office job, or pursuing a Master’s degree.
At this time of self-reflection during a work lull, I was recruited for and offered a FT on-site position with a very generous and above-industry-average salary and vacation package. Before accepting, I informed a beloved client that they might be getting a call for a reference. I didn’t want to lose this client (or any others for that matter), and the feeling was mutual.
To keep me as their freelance writer, the client gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse: to work on retainer. The offer would provide me with the predictable, stable income from them. At the same time, I could continue to freelance write for this client, as well as my other clients — all from my home office.
When the company that was recruiting me heard the news, they went into a bit of a bidding war. But the freelance/retainer arrangement ultimately won out, of course.
This entire experience further validated all of my years of hard work establishing my business, reputation and clientele.
Thank you for your comments and advice. It all came down to trusting my gut, and no amount can compete with the freedom, variety and rewards of freelancing from home, as long as I continue to learn and grow in my freelance role.
Another plus is not having to work in an office with “big brother” monitoring my every move, whether it’s responding to personal email messages or chaperoning one of my kids’ field trips. At the company, I would have enjoyed a generous salary, but the salary would have had a cap. As a freelance writer, the sky’s the limit as far as how much I can earn. Best of all, I get to learn and write about a broad range of topics for clients in many industries, rather than about just a handful of topics for one company.
My biggest obstacles now are to be sure to “pay myself first” by investing in my retirement, and to obtain true work/life balance. With my office at home, it’s sometimes a challenge to focus on family and get my mind off of work. But I manage, and can’t complain. These are great challenges to have, and during this process, many clients have told me the grass is definitely greener where I already am, and that they hope to one day establish freelance businesses of their own, as I’ve done.
Janet – So glad to hear it all worked out! I think the bottom line is that there’s no cookie-cutter answer to this dilemma. It involves, as you said, some reflection on priorities, values, goals and preferences.
I have a recommendation for you. Check out the book “The Money Book for Freelancers.” It just came out in March. Finished reading it over the weekend, and it’s fantastic. Will be doing a more detailed review in the blog soon, but wanted to give you a heads up now. The authors lay out a very simple and practical money-management system that will help you be an even happier freelancer.
All the best to you!