“I got so good at it they made me a manager so I’d never do it again.”
Well, luck be a lady, because look at me now! Freelance video editing again.
It’s nice to break out the old tools. Get back in the groove. See what’s changed and what never will. That same client panic when they’re in over their head? Still out here. Don’t worry, I got you. I’ll cut that ad in 16:9, 4:5, 1:1, whatever. I’m not like the editors who ghosted you. We’ll get to the other side together.
And I’m not complaining. Like the imaginary manager I quoted up top: I’m good at this. I love doing it. I wish I could do it forever. But the numbers aren’t what they used to be.
I’ve watched a lot of folks - way more successful than me - pivot hard into nothing. Or back into entry-level. I feel for them. I’m grateful that my network still has some juice.
Network: pour one out. Give me your juice.
Let’s build something from scratch again. Every job a new workflow. Every Tuesday a potential Friday night. Let’s make something weird and beautiful that only we understand - because we made it together.
I get corporate. (Well, not the VP who yelled at my team to get back to work the same day half the department got cut. The VP who is up for a $575,000 salary. You can let me go, but I still own stock, baby. I own you.)
But seriously: I get structure. I just get startups better. Freelance better. Eating what I kill and always getting dinged at tax season. And as large organizations continue to let us down, maybe I’ma stop being afraid you’ll find out how I really feel.
Maybe the answers are on the fringes.
That’s where we hide the juice.
