Chapter 24 — I’ve caved.

Time to put freelancing on the backburner.

It’s been over a year since I last worked for anyone who wasn’t myself. And it’s been a whole 18 months since I last worked in a job that I didn’t care one iota about.

18 months ago, I quit my part-time job at Sports Direct and swore that I’d never work in retail again. Before Sports Direct I’d spent two years at Matalan, which was great, but retail sucks. I hate it.

Which was the reasoning behind my ‘I’m never working in retail again’ self-promise. I then tried to expand that promise in to ‘I’m never working for anyone else again’ after I left Nuttersons last October, but I knew that wasn’t totally realistic. I still have a lot to learn, and I do actually want to work for someone else again. I’ll just never work in retail again.

Sorry, retail. Back to the promise.

Essentially, the deal I made with myself was that I’d never work another job that I didn’t actually want to have. All future jobs should make me happy. That’s what I wanted. Although I guess that’s what everyone wants.

For 18 months I’ve stuck by my deal. I’ve worked for myself, found my own clients (or worked with clients through an agency) and basically done everything on my own terms.

Until this past week.

Unfortunately, my freelance career isn’t bringing in enough money right now. I’m doing some things wrong that take a little bit of time to fix, and I’m still properly trying to define exactly what I do. If I don’t do something about my lack of income quickly, I’ll have to leave Manchester and move back to Barrow.

I can’t be having that.

So I’ve caved. My freelance career is all I’ve concentrated on for nearly 12 months, but I’m ready to admit that I need to actually earn some proper money. I’ll keep hustling and freelancing on the side, but staying in Manchester has to be priority.

I’ve applied for restaurant jobs, sales jobs and a couple jobs that I’m desperate to nail down but are more competitive. Hopefully one of the latter roles turns up trumps, because to earn money and learn more valuable skills in the industry I want to work in full-time would be an absolute dream.

Now I just need to cross my fingers and hope the interviews roll in pretty quickly. I’ll keep applying for more jobs that are set to bore me silly (as well as those that make me tingle with excitement) but I’m hoping the phone rings soon.

Pray for me, guys.

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