A year ago today I had just decided that I will no longer do job hunting. I had applied for a job early June, did a test, went for the interview and didn’t get the job BUT I was called back and asked if I could start freelancing for another role.
You see, the job I had applied for was something I didn’t have the necessary qualification for, and I was scared – I probably showed it in my interview that I wasn’t confident enough to do the job. Anyway, I got a freelance job as a Writer instead and obviously I could do this because I’m a Writer for years now.
It was after a few attempts at job interviews (since March) and I just decided “no, I would rather take a break from job hunting and doing interviews from now on”. Instead I started looking for freelance jobs, pitched my services to clients and I started marketing my work on social media.
A year ago today I actually wrote down my goals for the first time in years – I wanted to earn a certain amount at the end of July and I want at least five clients to pay me a certain amount so that I could reach that financial goal. I had never had financial goals like this before.
Two clients didn’t work out. I had four clients by the end of July. It was overwhelming and nerve-wrecking, it was out of my comfort zone.
A year ago I stopped going to blogging events (that didn’t pay me) because it would cost me fuel and I just didn’t have extra money to share.
A year ago today whenever I made calls as a freelancer, I’d hoped my airtime wouldn’t run out because I’d always buy just enough airtime. I was really stingy.
A year ago today I’d still get UIF money because I didn’t know when my money for freelancing would be paid.
I didn’t know what my future hold, all I knew was I needed to do what I could to pay the bills. In a way I was proud of myself, proud that I was doing something I never thought I could do. At the time I had even bought a flip file (it was my first attempts to cultivate good admin habits) and wrote down all my clients, their wants, how far the project is, and so on.
A year ago today I overcame being a victim of retrenchment, it still hurts, but at least I learned to empower myself.
I’m glad I’m no longer where I used to be. I’m glad that I can look back to a year ago.
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