2021 and beyond: Know what to wish for at 11:11
By: Shamontiel L. Vaughn
Tags: Toastmasters, Positive Thinking, Freelancing, New Years Resolutions, Upwork

Was quitting Corporate America worth it?

A little over two years ago, I quit a job that was making me completely miserable and turning me into someone I have no interest in being. I’d just bought a condo, gotten a raise and was finally coming to grips with the permanency of my grandfather’s death — but I just didn’t want to work there. I’ve had some odd jobs (airport security), some challenging jobs (adult education finance book editing) and some fun jobs (four of five newspapers and online news publication), but this was a job I flat-out hated. When I gave my two weeks’ notice, I had enough freelance clients to make about the same salary so I was extremely confident in my decision to walk.

But even before coronavirus hit Wuhan in December 2019 and made its way to America, I was already learning that freelancing full time is really hard to do. Long-term clients can end contracts at a moment’s notice. Short-term clients can decide to change the job altogether. Onetime clients can either go on to become long-term clients or disappear off the Earth without feedback. I’ve had at least three clients who ended up drowning in court costs (non-criminal reasons) or mental institutions — and one who breaks my heart because I don’t think she’s alive anymore (she was one of my favorites). In a rocky world where you’re riding the roller coaster of a creative space, being a full-time, freelance writer can easily make you throw in the towel and just say, “Forget it. I’ll go back to Corporate America.”

If you’ve managed to find a way to complain about black people on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, then there’s nothing anyone can do to make you give them a shot the other 363 days of the year.

But I really really really don’t like it there. My personality is not cut out for traditional office jobs with nonstop, pointless meetings; forced birthday and anniversary gifts for co-workers I don’t even like; and the kind of passive-aggressive racism that gets under my skin more than the time I almost got expelled from undergrad. My grandfather has lovingly told me I’m “too sagacious and too contumacious to have a boss.” I shrugged it off as him giving me a Word of the Day (something he was notorious for doing), but years later, I realized he was serious. I absolutely thrive while working from home and being able to do all the contract writing, editing and digital jobs I’ve always wanted to do from the comfort of my space and in full control.

Photo credit: SHOTS BY PRIIINCESSS

But bills must be paid, and 2020’s coronavirus yanked out my side money as a part-time dog caregiver. (Everyone is at home now. At one point, I was walking, boarding and sitting for dogs so much per day that I almost missed a couple of major writing deadlines.) In mid-December, I had a long conversation with my mother and finally admitted that maybe being a full-time freelancer just wasn’t for me. The money was dwindling at a rapid pace this year. Since I graduated from college (2003) and got my first full-time job in 2004, I was used to having steady money for bills or a random “want” purchase — without touching my 401(k) or savings. But from the end of 2018 until now, I have had to do some serious prioritizing.

Then I made an off-handed wish at 11:11 a.m. about figuring out my monetary situation. Although all of my wishes at 11:11 a.m. and p.m. have come true (I’m not exaggerating, but I also don’t make unrealistic wishes like “world peace”), this was one I mumbled aloud with a grain of salt. Within a 24-hour period, I was contacted and hired by four different, long-term clients on Upwork. And two more randomly invited me to jobs I hadn’t even applied for.

I accepted all the jobs and dove into the work. It took me a full 24 hours to realize that my 11:11 a.m. wish actually came true. I was so busy trying to cross off deadlines that it didn’t really hit me. Some things are coincidental. But many more times, I do believe that some things are meant to be. So in 2021, I will continue on my quest to be a full-time freelancer. And the next time I have a Toastmasters meeting, I’ll make sure to tell that member that I thought about what he said.