MONOLOGUE 001: Creating Opportunities
Manifestation can only get you so far. And then you have to actually do stuff.
Hello and happy March! Welcome to your Friday dose of musings, ramblings, and other sh!t I’m learning (or unlearning). This week we’re talking about opportunities! Creative ones, to be specific, and how to make them yourself.
<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3
I’ve never had a full-time job.
And that shouldn’t come as a shock because I’m only 19 (and three quarters).
But I’ve also never had a part-time job.
Retail, fast food, call centre jobs that force you to become practically immune to the rudest of people. I’ve always been too terrified by customer service horror stories to even imagine applying. And I have the utmost respect for customer service workers.
Then I found freelancing.
Now freelancing also has aspects of customer service that I’d rather not deal with, but that’s not the point here.
The thing about freelancing is that it kind of feels like a long, arbitrary roller coaster ride that never starts. Or maybe it does. That’s the arbitrary part; you honestly never know what you’re gonna get. Sometimes the roller coaster goes insanely slow, and then, all at once, it plummets into an abyss of “race-to-the-bottom” freelancing sites, client horror stories, taxes, and other oddities. Throughout the entire ride, your stomach contorts uncomfortably and you beg to get off.
But more on that later.
I read this article recently and I just wanna share this little excerpt:
“Media is a very hard industry to navigate and it’s also hard to be sustainable. I feel like I have this conversation with my parents all the time about how no magazine is actually profitable. As [media] exists right now, there aren’t a lot of opportunities, especially not for people who are younger or women who aren’t white, so I feel like finding these other platforms or other models gives you more control over your professional life and trajectory.” - Hunter Harris, Nofilterpub (read the full article here).
Now, this essentially sums up 90% of what I wanted to say in this newsletter but because you’re here to hear (or rather, read) me talk, I’ll continue.
Like I mentioned like 10 paragraphs ago, I’m 19, which puts me comfortably in that “younger” category. I’m also a black woman, so that also slots me squarely into the “women who aren’t white” category as well.
You could say I felt seen by Hunter’s words, because she was talking about people like me. Although to be fair, I don’t consciously think about my race or age until I’m applying for a job at a studio or pitching a brand that has all white people with, each with like 15-20 years of experience in the industry (once again, more on that later). The trajectory of my career has eons to find a landing spot but for the time being, I’ve been creating my own opportunities.
Substack, for example. Creating this newsletter wasn’t in my quarterly business plans but here I am, writing to you. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence either.
You see, creating your own opportunities is a great way to defy the infamous catch 22 of needing experience for a job but needing a job to gain experience. Creating your own opportunities is creating your own experiences. From Instagram design pages to personal blogs, to passion projects. The state of social media right now makes it easy to put yourself into the noise of the creator economy. But therein lies issue numero 2 (or one, I wasn’t counting).
It’s still noise.
And creating your own opportunities is easier said than done. I’ve had the privilege of time on my side, but time without money and network equal time wasted. Thankfully I’m aimlessly persistent in getting something that I really really want. And I really really wanted to become a freelancer.
Even if you have a job to do, or a degree to get, creating opportunities for yourself is never a bad idea. And for the most part, no one (besides yourself) dogs behind the work you put out if it’s on your own terms. The main gripe with creating said work is that you have to be IN it. You have to want to do it from a place of passion, not practice.
As Hunter said, that’s the beauty of platforms like Substack, Patreon and Twitch. You’re building something that’s yours. A gradual, beautiful roller coaster custom made for you, yourself, and you. Even now, this newsletter is a portfolio, a passion project, and a community all in one.
RAMBLINGS:
In other news, I’m currently preparing to move to a new city! Very exciting, very fun. Other than the fact that packing 6 years’ worth of existence from a tiny 2 bed flat has me grappling for my life with cardboard boxes and fleeting remnants of sticky sellotape.
SH!T I’M READING:
“The Stranger” - Albert camus. (a very odd book; the first line was what hooked me in to be honest: “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday, I can’t be sure.” A real attention grabber, huh?)
“My Sister the Serial Killer.” - Oyinkan Braithwaite (I’ve been gravitating towards books about women who are either murderers or subjectively insane. Probably because I’m wiring a novel about one, but the idea of a woman just upping and causing absolute havoc is… cathartic. )
SH!T I’M LISTENING TO: “Counting Stars” - BE’O, Beenzino ( I’m listening to this right now as I write actually. The very beautiful background instrumental (seriously it’s like crack to my ears) and equally as beautiful lyrics makes the song a work of art.
SH!T I’M DOING:
FOOTNOTES:
Thank you for making it this far! And if you like this newsletter, why not like this newsletter? You can also share it if that tickles your fancy. See you in 2 weeks. <3