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Just Say Yes (to and as Freelancers)

 

For many reasons, the first line of my resume says I have been freelancing for four years. I can guarantee it has kept me from a great number of second looks on the thousand or so job applications I’ve submitted in the last year. But that word should pique interest, not be cause for concern. There are just simply not enough bullet points to adequately describe all that I’ve done in the last four years.

 

I recently sent an email blast announcing a company’s website I had built was live. One of my friends wrote back, “What even are your skills?” It perfectly sums up a freelancer’s experience.

 

It was only one month prior that I realized I needed a portfolio. So naturally, I taught myself how to use Wix and built it. Two weeks later, I received an offer to build one for a business consultant. Rather than worry I wasn’t up to the task, I just said yes and learned along the way. I have since been hired to make more. That is a freelancer’s way; we say yes. Our number one skill is resourcefulness.

 

I’ve restructured a company’s entire content strategy, writing the first few entries across all channels to get them started. Analytics showed the posts performed over 95% better than those prior. I learned how to manage the front office of a yoga studio just so I could take classes for free. I received a Google alert that a new article had been posted about my favorite Paralympian, only to discover that it was my own freelance article, picked up and distributed by Yahoo. A subsequent search revealed that many of my other articles had also made it to Yahoo and other sites. I helped a ten-year-old quadriplegic climb to the top of a rock wall. I crafted all the materials for a company’s corporate wellness program. I took my first gymnastics class at 26 years old; the same place hired me less than three years later to teach other people gymnastics. A three day desk cover job extended for months once the owner discovered that my unique skillset could help clear every item on her massive to do list. Ask any freelancer, they’ll all have similar stories.

 

Prior to freelancing, I worked regularly for nine years straight in television writer’s rooms. I entered Los Angeles with no prior experience or connections. My entire career was built by working hard, making connections and hustling. Those skills have only been enhanced since. As a freelancer, there’s no time to acclimate. We are experts at intuiting needs and understanding personalities and dynamics. Put us anywhere, ask us to do anything and we get it done.

 

Part of the reason I left the full-time working world was to acquire other skills and experience. I have wanted to be a television writer since I was eleven years old, sneaking off to watch Ryan Murphy’s Popular. It was my major in college and rather than study abroad like all of my friends, I interned in Los Angeles. These are all opportunities I’m incredibly grateful for, but how would I ever be a good writer without other experience? So I made the switch to freelancing and spent every other available moment coaching fitness and volunteering, mostly with kids.

 

And then I got sick. I managed to contract viral E. coli, which wreaked havoc on my system for four months. Still, I didn’t turn down a single freelance opportunity. Somehow, on the tail end of that, I tore my ACL, meniscus and fractured my knee and femur in four places. I worked and coached for three months before realizing I hadn’t just hyperextended my knee. So sure, while I’ve been freelancing longer than anticipated, it also saved me during my disastrous health year. The connections I made and the random skills I picked up along the way kept me afloat and allowed me to 100% recover.

 

That’s not to say there haven’t been full-time offers. But I would rather day-play than let multi-billion dollar companies pay me $35,000 for “3-5+ years writing and editing experience.”

 

The goal of any creative office is diversity, both in the workplace and of its workforce. Freelancers offer a uniquely diversified portfolio and will make valuable assets to your company.

 

All that being said, consider this my cover letter. I’m looking for a job, preferably in a television writer’s room or in any creative office where the bulk of my role requires writing and/or editing. While it’s cool to be able to pack an overnight bag in under 20 minutes and have mastered the art of living for days out of a backpack, I’m looking to settle in, invest and show you all that I’ve learned in the last four years.

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