The State of Ken

Ken-Of-All-Trades
When I first started my adventure in switching to All Freelance: All Day / All Night, I felt an achievement and a freedom. Despite times when things have been slow, I have this over-riding confidence that my track record has established me. If the only thing to stress out about is the stress of keeping busy, then I can relax. I have subscribed to a job listing service that feeds me job ads everyday. Throughout my working career, I have done over 40 different occupations; from Weed Whacker (my first job) to Computer Programmer Analyst. I became reminiscent of the unorthodox path my adult life has taken as I looked at the job titles in the ads. When you need to pay the rent, a job right now is more important than a job you love. The worst one for me years ago was unloading a truck in the back of a Target store at 5:00 a.m. in the morning. I quit within a month and got a job at a video rental store.

The State of Ken
My state of mind, now over a year in Full Freelance mode, is desperately clinging to that track record. One trend is that every new long-term job I get is better than the previous one. It affirms that I am still on the proverbial 'ladder to success'. Of course, it's taking a lot longer than I thought it would. In this case, I have to button up and weather through another full year while obtaining my design degree. It has forced me to discontinue looking for long-term positions, so that it doesn't interfere with what I consider my current job. Between the 18 hours of lectures and 12 hours of homework every week, it basically is no different than a full-time job. What is unknown until I reach the other end of the pipeline is how I manage to stay afloat in the meantime.

Super-Freelance Man
Certainly I can't jump on a plane and go sightseeing or invest in new equipment. On the other hand, I have done the math and expect to be able to keep my level of creature comforts for the time being. I expect to, that is, if I get the average amount of lucrative gigs throughout the year, (such as the video stint I did for a week in Palm Springs last year). It's both stressful and exciting working in a business that can take you somewhere you never could predict, with a phone call out-of-the-blue.


Damn Kids
Alongside the ladder climbing is reaching middle-age. I never thought about what it means to be middle-age before I got here, but one thing I realised is that you get credit for experience. At least, that is, from people smart enough to recognise the value of experience. Which brings me back to my design degree. My frustration when applying for video editing positions in 2007 was the apparent discounting of 20 years of experience working in the industry. I was being passed over for kids coming straight out of college. I received training for everything in my profession, which continues constantly due to the nature of the technology. But it seems the employers care more about the piece of paper. The bright side of getting the design degree is that the faculty recognises my experience. I've received more respect and recognition there than I did during the job search process.