I've been freelance for six months.
Six glorious months.
No bosses. No deadlines. No downward pressure. No arbitrary meetings. My life has literally changed thanks to it.
A couple of days ago, a potential new client gets in touch; she needs something written.
Perfect. A new challenge, and some paid work.
She invites me to a project outline meeting. Also perfectly cool.
Everything is fine until a late arrival shows up. Executive VP Blah Blah, been here three months and ready to kick ass!
You know the type.
And, my god, I've never had a meeting waste my time more than this one in my entire life.
This VP throws every corporate cliche in the book. Circle back. Follow up meeting. Use this contact to do this. Can we shave some time off here.
Nauseating. 8 people in the room and 4 never said a word. Honestly, it was my first “meeting” in a corporate setting since before the pandemic, and it summed up everything wrong with the world of work: the necessity to be “seen to be working”.
We could have made some real progress with this project if we had cut the huffing, puffing, and bullshitting—and it's a real shame that I left the meeting feeling so deflated about a project I am really interested in.
Maybe it's not anti-work, my god am I anti-corporate. It is the stage at which capitalism, politics and posturing start rearing their ugly heads.
And I guess I'm just glad to be away from it!
Rant over 😉
PS. If you're worried you can't make the jump, the only one stopping you is you. I took a leap of faith and it worked cos I stuck with it.