One of the problems with being out of the project chase for a while, due to enjoying a constant stream of work for years, is how hard it is to gear up again. Markets are constantly changing, with new dynamics and demands as well as expectations. As a result, whatever you remembered from the last time you were in the market pitching your services is now probably obsolete. There might be a few pieces that can be recycled, but coming back in from the cold is generally a process of starting over again.
This Is Sparta
A particular difference that is entirely required now, and one that I never dealt with before the last time I was pitching services, involves how much channel development on Web 3.0 is necessary for "name establishment." While I danced around it a bit for clients, being in the driver's seat is a very different experience. It's essentially marketing yourself, but who you are marketing has yet to be defined. After all, when you're hungry for business, you're inclined to take any meal that comes along. Those who are tuned up and deep in their channels are very much like Spartans; they have tuned their social media and similar to the highest efficiency possible for maximum audience awareness effect. At the moment, I feel like I'm lumbering around like the driver in the support wagon figuring out what to cook for the next night on the road.
Finding Energy, No Batteries Included
My second issue is the amount of energy I need to put out again for this "job search." I'm not a spring chicken, and two decades later time is far more valuable to me than it was back then. My kids are teens and in a few years will be gone as adults. I actually want to spend time with them before that happens. I myself would like to have a normal schedule for a change instead of 12-hour work days working two jobs. So, energy to get anything done is at a premium. I'm not throwing in the towel, but I am leaning on tools and resources that work with automation far more often as well as duplication versus spending as much time as I did years before on originality. One, it's not worth it because no one ever pays full value for the effort, and two, there's simply too high a cost for that kind of commitment now.
Some would argue, "Duh, that's what work smart, not harder is all about!" I would disagree. I put a lot of value in producing good quality work for my clients and generating a long-standing reputation for that delivery. I find much of the content delivery coming out of "smart" work to be generic, lacking and downright poor in utility. Even Google is now recognizing the problem and starting to look for ways to filter garbage out again, just like it did in the days of spammy SEO on web pages.
Magic Eightball No Workeee!
I'm positive I'll find a new channel for my creative side that ideally generates income again, but I honestly have no clue what that will be at the moment. I spent all last week recovering from losing a freelancing career that lasted me a decade and a half. I'll admit; it was a bit emotional, and I had to do some self-counseling. But, now it's time to pick up my bootstraps and get working again. I'm just confused what direction that's supposed to be in and what I have to do to get there.
