I have come to the conclusion... - Beyond Tiki

M ModMana Tiki Socialite San Diego, CA Joined: Sep 05, 2002 Posts: 263	M ModMana Posted posted on Tue, Dec 23, 2003 12:21 AM I'm in a creative profession as well, graphic design. I've worked freelance for most of my life since graduating college in '89. Like most artists, I found that there are incredible highs and lows associated with this career path. I've worked on many projects that I'm very proud of and have been quite rewarding. Then there are the projects from hell, difficult clients, pressures of working on your own with no support, blah, blah, blah... Anyway, at a certain point in my life, I decided that I needed to "grow up" and stop screwing around with freelancing because it simply was not providing any stability to my life. A few years ago I decided to be "responsible" and got a job with a fairly large consulting firm that was secure and paid pretty well but was hopelessly boring and overwhelmed with office politics. I worked tirelessly like a good little loyal dog for them for quite some time. I learned to play the corporate game and and felt I was actually "going somewhere". Then I walk in one day (2 days before Christmas AND the same day my wife and I were closing escrow on our first house) and guess what happens (Monkeyman can you see what's coming)...That's right, out of the blue, with no warning, I was laid off. In fact the entire staff, minus the partners, were laid off that day and not even given a reason. We later found out that the partners had secretly made a series of incredibly bad decisions and sent the company into unrecoverable bankruptcy. Needless to say I totally freaked out. I could not fathom that this company I had worked so hard for and been so loyal to was treating me like that. Many lessons learned with that experience. I've been incredibly paranoid to trust any company with my livelihood since then. For the past several years I've been freelancing once again with the same story of highs and lows. So, now I'm ready to move to the next level again. I decided to go back to school for business training and get an MBA degree. The point I'm really trying to get at here (finally relating back to the thread) is that I have come to the conclusion that having an art background alone is not enough to take me where I want to go. Then there's the other side of the coin where people who are on the business only side of things are getting screwed just as badly. My hope is that marrying creative talent with business knowledge will provide me with the artistic outlet that I want with the stability and income that I need. Only time will tell... Sorry about the rant, I guess I was having a flashback. I'm not sure I believe in karma or destiny but things really do almost always work out for the best. Good luck everyone. ModMana :drink:

I'm in a creative profession as well, graphic design. I've worked freelance for most of my life since graduating college in '89. Like most artists, I found that there are incredible highs and lows associated with this career path. I've worked on many projects that I'm very proud of and have been quite rewarding. Then there are the projects from hell, difficult clients, pressures of working on your own with no support, blah, blah, blah... Anyway, at a certain point in my life, I decided that I needed to "grow up" and stop screwing around with freelancing because it simply was not providing any stability to my life.

A few years ago I decided to be "responsible" and got a job with a fairly large consulting firm that was secure and paid pretty well but was hopelessly boring and overwhelmed with office politics. I worked tirelessly like a good little loyal dog for them for quite some time. I learned to play the corporate game and and felt I was actually "going somewhere". Then I walk in one day (2 days before Christmas AND the same day my wife and I were closing escrow on our first house) and guess what happens (Monkeyman can you see what's coming)...That's right, out of the blue, with no warning, I was laid off. In fact the entire staff, minus the partners, were laid off that day and not even given a reason. We later found out that the partners had secretly made a series of incredibly bad decisions and sent the company into unrecoverable bankruptcy. Needless to say I totally freaked out. I could not fathom that this company I had worked so hard for and been so loyal to was treating me like that. Many lessons learned with that experience.

I've been incredibly paranoid to trust any company with my livelihood since then. For the past several years I've been freelancing once again with the same story of highs and lows. So, now I'm ready to move to the next level again. I decided to go back to school for business training and get an MBA degree. The point I'm really trying to get at here (finally relating back to the thread) is that I have come to the conclusion that having an art background alone is not enough to take me where I want to go. Then there's the other side of the coin where people who are on the business only side of things are getting screwed just as badly. My hope is that marrying creative talent with business knowledge will provide me with the artistic outlet that I want with the stability and income that I need. Only time will tell...

Sorry about the rant, I guess I was having a flashback. I'm not sure I believe in karma or destiny but things really do almost always work out for the best. Good luck everyone.

ModMana :drink:

Post #66081 by ModMana on Tue, Dec 23, 2003 12:21 AM