I QUIT MY JOB
A self-portrait I decided to create to signify how I feel about this decision.
I quit my 9-5 to work 24/7. Just kidding!
It was August 1, 2023. My first day of being self-employed. It was surreal . I’m finally free from the corporate accounting world. But, it also means I’m out of my secured monthly salary. WOW! And SH*T. I felt so uncomfortable and excited at the same time. It’s a weird feeling.
Thinking about it, I realized it took me 8 years of working in the corporate world and hating it except when it's payday to finally decide F*CK IT I’m gonna go build my own empire within the commercial product photography industry. (Spoiler: I still don't know what I'm doing). Again, 8 years of mostly wasting time, half-assing my passion, and being a scaredy cat for common reasons - Money, self-doubt, laziness. However, it came to a point that my corporate job is affecting my mental health as I know that I’m not for this kind of job and it suck out a lot of energy from me more than it’s supposed to. And so, I told myself I got to do something unless I want to keep feeling miserable for the rest of my life. So, for the past 2 years, I've taken photoshoot jobs here and there and I have set a goal to save up and have at least a year of buffer fund to allow me to live without sacrificing my monthly expenses while I build my brand.
Hold on! This is not to encourage you to quit your job just because you don’t feel like doing it. This is to encourage you to find the “thing” that makes you happy and use your job to fund it and eventually go for it. I know not all of us can take the risk of failing. Not all of us have the safety net. That includes me. Thus, you have to PLAN A LOT. Here are the steps I did before I decided to go full-time FREELANCE product photographer in the Philippines.
Create a body of work that can showcase my skills as a commercial photographer (lighting, composition, creativity & style)
Establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) - this includes creation of processes for client acquisition, client retention, upsell, contract, client in-take form, pre-production, production, and post-production, and most importantly a STRICT SCHEDULE / CALENDAR BLOCK of activities I need to do in a day. I use google calendar for this.
Save up at least 6 months worth of buffer fund & emergency fund - I did save a year’s worth of overhead expenses (rent, utilities, food, etc.) because I’m not much of a risk taker myself and a $2,000 worth of emergency fund (not a lot for now but it’s continuously growing as I get more projects).
These are the baseline goals that I ticked off so that I’ll be comfortable enough to push through with it.
It took me a lot of time and effort to get to where I am today. I AM IN NO WAY AT THE PINNACLE OF MY CAREER. I feel like I’m just starting out everyday but with a little bit of added confidence from yesterday. I’m sharing this to have an accountability and share my journey with anyone planning to follow the kind of life they really want to live. I have no idea what I’m doing. And I don't think anyone has it figured out either. I’m scared and uncomfortable but I can’t remember the last time I was this happy and excited just by the thought of doing something.
So, whatever your “thing” is, do it everyday, love the process, and create a game plan when you need to go for it. Once you do, it feels like something you’ve never felt before.
Original post can be seen here.
