It’s coming up on six months since I was laid off from my regular full-time job as an employee at someone else’s company. In that time, my network has reached out and rallied, referred, and sent opportunities my way and reminded me how important good friends and colleagues are. A lot of the opportunities sent over were for full-time, regular employment with companies of all shapes, sizes, and industries. Some were really good – good enough to make me pause and think, “hm, should I apply?”
But, repeatedly, I come back to the same answer: I don’t want a full-time, regular employment job.
This stance has elicited a lot of questions and I don’t blame anyone for asking them. The truth is, I’m (still) (occasionally) asking them myself! Like most of my immediate network, I feel like I was conditioned to follow a particular path:
- Finish school
- Get a job
- Climb the ladder
For the last four or five years, though, I’d had a hankerin’ to branch out. In job interviews with the last two companies I’ve worked for, I was transparent: my long-term goal was to start my own boutique PR and marketing agency. I planned to do it a little later – maybe after I hit my 40th birthday – but life, as we know, doesn’t always follow our plan.
As the saying goes, “If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan – but never the goal.”
It’s hard for me sometimes to break the mindset of “just get a regular job” because I’ve fooled myself into believing there’s a sense of security behind that steady pay cheque. But, of course, it’s false security because lay-offs and restructures happen all the time – and it feels like they’re happening more and more.
The reasons I don’t want a full-time job are in no way tied to how I view full-time employment for other people, either. I’ve heard of entrepreneurs who think they’re somehow better than others, and that’s certainly not the case. It’s hard to work for yourself and it can also be really hard to work for someone else. We’re not all meant to follow the same path, and also, we can call decide we want to take a different path whenever the hell we want.
These are just a few of the reasons why I’m choosing to stick it out on my own:
I’m tired of “other duties as required”
Transparently, I have never worked a job where I came home every day and said “today, I exclusively worked on the things I was hired to do.” In 100% of my job history, I eventually felt resentful that my roles never truly aligned with my expectations or the job descriptions and I believe this comes down to two main reasons:
Most of the time, employers don’t really know what they need in a particular role and so plates get piled up with this, that, and the other thing; and,
There’s rarely a need for someone to spend 40 hours a week on one particular job function, so plates get piled up with this, that, and the other thing.
The “other duties as required” line can mean everything from filling in at the front desk to supporting customer service tasks. These duties helped me build new skill sets and learn what I did and didn’t love. They showed me where my weaknesses were and, while I may not have enjoyed them in the moment, they helped me grow.
But, at amPR inc., I get to work with clients on the projects and tasks that I’m best-suited for which means I love the work I do and they get the best of me. Win-win.
I have a greater propensity to earn as an entrepreneur
Before I dig in here, I do need to say: It’s not all about money for me. But, here’s what I’ve learned in the last ten years:
- The only substantial raises you get are when you leave a company to join a new one
- Many companies operate in pay bands and the ceilings? They’re not that high
- The “overall compensation package” is overhyped
I don’t need free snacks in the office or three weeks paid vacation. Frankly, these things do not pay my bills or enable me to have the freedom to make the best choices for my family.
Sure, I can take a FTE job and get paid $X per year. I’ll get a bi-weekly or semi-monthly pay cheque, health and dental benefits, and a few weeks of vacation. But, I’ll work set hours and I’ll likely never make any huge income jumps unless I leave to take another job.
And, while the ebb and flow of gig work can absolutely mean that I may have some sparse months, the reality is that I’m making about 30% more on contracts and working at least 25% less… and I have the flexibility to scale up or down as needed.
I made a commitment to myself
Maybe one of the biggest forces behind my refusal to consider FTE opportunities comes down to the fact that I’ve committed myself to this new journey and I made the commitment to myself to see it through. Sure, I might feel differently in a couple of years and eventually make my way back to being an employee, but not now.
Plus, helloooooo, I made a pretty big splash about the whole thing!
Beyond the fact I hate the thought of having egg on my face if I suddenly do a 180, I know in my heart that I’ll regret it if I don’t continue down this path. I also believe, quite firmly, that I’ve got what it takes – not only to make a go of things on my own but to build my little business into something a lot bigger.
Flexibility is really important right now
When I first found out I was pregnant, one of the initial discussions we had was around how I’d structure my maternity leave. This was for two reasons:
- I didn’t actually love my past two mat leaves, and I knew I wouldn’t want to take the full 12 months this time either; and,
- Even when I was working a FTE role, I always had a few things happening on the side. Those projects don’t magically disappear.
After those two little lines appeared on the stick, M and I talked very seriously about the timing and viability of me launching my business. That’s why, a few weeks before I was shocked to be laid off, I had (serendipitously?) kicked off the process of launching amPR inc. by registering my business name and filling out the preliminary paperwork. We had all but decided that, rather than returning to a full-time job in the long run, I would use my maternity leave as a time to get prepared and give myself a short runway afterwards to gear up for my official entrepreneurship journey.
We just had to do it before the (now non-existent) mat leave!
My new baby could arrive literally any day, and having the flexibility to work around our future schedule is critical to everyone’s happiness and my business’ success. With a young, growing, and busy family, a 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday gig is unlikely to fit into my life and… even if it does, it’s just not what I want.
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