Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that I can put a price demand on my skill and expertise and people will pay me for it?
For the majority of 2016 and now 2017, I’ve been a free agent. And by that I mean, I’ve been able to work for myself when I desire to work. No punching into anyone’s time clock. No being told how long my long my lunch break is. No being frustrated by the weird guy that continues to secretly watch me as he pretends to stare at his computer screen. My time has virtually been at my disposal and I’ve been enjoying every minute of it.
As a millennial and a young professional, the daily grind of graduate student life, full-time mommyhood, running a growing business, and finding ways to simply do life better takes up all of my time. Falling asleep and waking up to meditation and prayer seems to be the bulk of my life’s normalcies. I’ve had more than a few individuals tell me that I need to find a position in corporate America to hone in on and master my current skills so that I can be a well-rounded professional. But in all honesty, finding myself basking in the bustle of where I am right now so much that Co-Am (Corporate America) seems a little outside of my reach. Not because I am not capable, but because I’ve tasted the freedom of owning my own time, and I’m just not ready to give it up!
Seriously, right now, my time is mine and because I don’t know how much of it I actually have, I cherish every moment of it. I can travel across the country to speak to groups of women to empower them to live their best lives or hop on a plane and fly around the world for weeks at a time to serve in mission groups. I can wake up and go to the gym, have mid-day lunch and leisure meetings, and focus my attention on the things I feel are most important. Being able to attend my five-year-old’s semester award ceremony or being a parent chaperone on her field trips are some of the best days of my life. Who would have thought, some of my best days were the days I didn’t make a dime. But my time was in my hands. Creating memories for myself and those around me is what matters.
On the flip side, while making money isn’t everything, the ability to place a price tag on what I do and have people pay me what I ask, is priceless. I can remember the first time I provided someone with an invoice for $500 for writing less than 1k words, and they paid it without blinking!
Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that I can put a price demand on my skill and expertise and people will pay me for it?
My eyes were opened! I prayed that I’d never be told again how much my life and time were worth. And for some reason, that’s exactly what I feel would happen to me if I were to be too quick to get a 9–5 job.
There is nothing easy about being a freelancer, a digital nomad, a social entrepreneur or a small business owner. But what I can say is that the freedom to work as hard as I desire, when I desire to is amazing. I had spent over seven years being told how much I was worth and my plan is to never experience that ever again.
Let me know what you think! As I am on a social media sabbatical until March 1st, 2017, you can reach me at [email protected] or comment below.
Originally published at medium.com