We are always told, "Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life." That, combined with my stubborn personality, leads me to where I am today. And of course, will continue to propel me into my future! Give this episode a listen if you think life is too short to waste time doing things that don't spark joy.
0:36 Episode Introduction
2:41 Failed Job #1
3:37 Failed Job #2
4:33 My current priorities
6:07 Doing things on my own terms
7:51 Wrapping Up
Links mentioned in this episode:
Alex Fasulo's "Freelance Fairytales"
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Catherine 00:08
Hello there. My name is Catherine and I am 23 years old, working as a full time freelancer in the media and entertainment industry. And welcome to the How I Diaries podcast. This podcast is a diary of how I am currently going about my life and career, and I thought it would be cool to post these and have them as a resource for any other people wanting to get into freelance or the media and entertainment industry in general, and also as a behind the scenes of this alternate way of living and working.
Catherine 00:36
Today is all about how drastic my overall mindset and mood has changed since getting into the media and entertainment industry. And then finally into freelance. I'm just going to start off about my own career aspirations and where they started and think like anyone else, that kind of thought process started about halfway through high school. I actually had no idea what I wanted to do with my life until I took a music theory class.
Catherine 01:02
I know weird, nerdy, all the things I don't care. That's me, and those are my interests. But it really was a combination of my already established interests of music, and I had a really, really great teacher, John Seth, who I will continue to shout out, who even now is still a great mentor to me. And I think most people can relate to having a teacher or a mentor at some point who changed their perspective on life or whatever it may be.
Catherine 01:26
Anyway, I can really go on a whole other rant in another episode. On Teacher Appreciation. We have a common love child between those two interests that I had is film scoring, and then with all of the music theory I was learning and I happened to do well in, I was like, Hmm, this could be cool. What a dream to be able to achieve this someday.
Catherine 01:48
And that was enough of a seed to set me off into all the other research of what other jobs were all related to film scoring and working in the sound department of film and TV. Then I went off to college, got a degree in music technology, and I minored and digital media studies and then I had two internships and I did two internships just because personally personal preference was not required by each of my degrees, I just had to do one.
Catherine 02:13
But I wanted to do two because I was at a crossroads with my interests. And, you know, I hadn't had any real world experience, so I didn't know what I. I still didn't really know what I was interested in. And you know what? I'm still figuring it out. But I did an internship at Electric Lady Studios and one at Red Hook Post in Brooklyn.
Catherine 02:34
Both of which I ended up getting hired for after I graduated. And I currently work at Red Hook Post as a freelancer. And as much as I really wanted the recording studio gig to work out, it just was not worth all of the stress and crazy hours. And that is all I'll say about that. It was literally a goal of mine to work there since I was 18, and I'm very, very happy that I got that experience.
Catherine 02:56
It certainly put me in the direction that I am. And now I've mentioned before my mental health was just at a really low point during that job, and I just began thinking more seriously of what I wanted the tradeoff to be between being successful and a healthy Work-Life Balance. Spoiler alert, I obviously chose a healthy Work-Life Balance, and that is again, just a personal preference.
Catherine 03:17
Some people are willing to hustle more and prioritize other things. You know, to get what they want. No judgment. This is, again, just my personal experience and priorities. And like I mentioned too, I actually quit that job without having another job lined up. Just to put into context of how bad of a place I was in. I guess so, yeah.
Catherine 03:37
After all that and the new standards I set for myself in my next job, I found another full time job as a salaried pay at a corporate a big corporate production company because I did work for a production company while I was at Guitar Center earlier, earlier, before, right out of, you know, right out of college. You can hear more about that and my how I became a freelancer, a 23 episode this pay corporate production company is something different it's a full time salary job and it looked great on paper.
Catherine 04:07
And then I started working there and then ran into the issue of what it's really like to have a terrible boss who has now taken the spot of worst person I've ever encountered in my 23 years on this earth, to which I am told by my parents and a lot of other people they aren't the last of their type So yeah, I lasted about four months there.
Catherine 04:24
My young, outspoken self couldn't help but stand up for the mistreatment that was happening to my coworkers and myself. In that space. Anyway, by now, with those two passed jobs, I really had a good understanding of the type of environment I wanted to work in and the types of people I wanted to surround myself with. In my profession, which I think can be universally understood by anyone.
Catherine 04:46
One is just enough money to be comfortable. I think everybody is so focused on making a lot of money nowadays. Like I said, they're everybody's priorities are different, but my priorities around financing financial responsibilities are I just want to make enough money to be comfortable. I don't want to I'm not putting a monetary amount on it. I just want to be comfortable.
Catherine 05:07
And then number two is doing work that is rewarding and interesting to me. Again, I think everybody would prioritize that. Three is being treated like a human being, which I was having issues with the two previous jobs. Again, not a high standard, just something I needed to look out for because some jobs don't treat people like human beings.
Catherine 05:26
And then the last one is the ability to travel and take off time as needed, which is kind of a luxury. If you think about the average nine to five job, you only get like two weeks off during the year and it has to be approved. I'm all alone on that. But yeah, you guys did. What checks all of those boxes is freelancing.
Catherine 05:45
And I think the thing that I enjoy most about this lifestyle is being able to travel and take time off when needed. I think over the past two to three years, you know, the pandemic can't avoid it. I just have really learned to value time spent with family and then add it on top of that personally, I went to college a thousand miles away, out of state, and then I moved out right after I graduated college.
Catherine 06:07
But yeah, I really can't tell you how nice it is. To do things on my own terms. And, you know, maybe that's a control issue I have, but I actually think it's just human nature. We like to do things without having to ask people. And, you know, again, on our own terms, it's part of being an individual. Both of those reasons are the biggest contributors to how much happier I am.
Catherine 06:29
I should also mention even though it's not a big priority for me to make tons of money in my own life, that is also more than possible to do in freelancing. There are multiple, multiple six figure freelancers out there and every any entrepreneur or, you know, business person who started a business, there's overlaps with freelancing and like small businesses and just entrepreneurship in general.
Catherine 06:52
Again, I will plug her Alex Fasulo and her podcast and whole brand freelancing fairytales to get the scoop on the money to be made with freelancing. She is one of those people. Yeah, and I also hope these diaries can be a way for other aspiring young women to explore the possibility ease of freelancing. If you know anyone, send in this podcast.
Catherine 07:12
I also had a really big push to figure this out so early in my career because of my two sisters who are also creatives and in those starving artist fields. And I saw a hell of a lot to learn and get better at, but I just wanted to show them if I could make the jump, that they could make the jump again.
Catherine 07:29
I'm going to plug outso allow for the real startup tips for if you are seriously wanting to make the change. She also emphasizes that the future is freelancing and I 100% agree it's not too late to jump on the bandwagon. Anything that interests you can be turned into a freelancing. Career and age means nothing, and that is something she stresses in her whole entire brand.
Catherine 07:50
I encourage you to think about your priorities and how your work life affects your own happiness. We are severely brainwashed into the idea that working the same job nine to five 50 weeks out of the year is normal and healthy. And I once had someone tell me that in Italy they work to live. And here in the United States we live to work.
Catherine 08:09
And that has kind of been my mantra as lately, and that is one of my crazy aspirations that I will be moving to Italy and that is where I want to die. But anyways, that is it for this episode. Feel free to take a listen to my other episodes and topics. And if this reaches you and you have any other burning questions or stories, I'd be happy to use this to conversate and all learn from one another.
Catherine 08:31
And thank you for listening. Talk to you next time.