Why I Went Freelance Part 1

Before I get into why I am a freelancer today, I want to share a little background on how I arrived here. Over the last ten-ish years I have worked for tech companies, big and small, in some kind of full-time marketing role. Most of the companies were B2B and most of them sold complex software that was always a little beyond my marketing brain’s comprehension. 

I started my career as many eager Marketing undergraduate students do - I got an internship at a Boulder-based tech company as a field marketing intern. From there, the roles I took on evolved as the way we communicated and conducted business online evolved: things got digital. 

My roles progressed from field events and conference sponsorships to running digital advertising campaigns, producing webinars, writing demand generating content, social media strategy, lead gen and nurturing, website messaging, sales enablement, and the list (of digital things) goes on. 

I always felt fortunate and very grateful to have a “good,” secure job that provided me with health benefits, workplace safety, learning opportunities and development, the ability to try new things, and the chance to work with some really talented marketers and intelligent founders. But something was always missing… 

The companies I worked for were not my babies, not my dreams. So ultimately the work I accomplished didn’t fully feel like mine to celebrate. 

Most recently, prior to freelancing, I held my most senior role to date: Director of Demand Generation for a cool marketing software startup. I was super pumped to take on a leadership role, share all my demand gen experience and ideas with the team, and drive sales. 

Then COVID hit. Oh! And did I mention this cool martech company primarily served large-scale, live events? Yep. A big chunk of the growing startup was laid off. 

After that, I saw two options for myself: 

• Either start applying to full-time positions like a mad woman, hope some cool company hires me and begin the whole full-time employee onboarding process again

• OR, use this as an opportunity to start something new. Something of my very own. Go freelance baby!

Now that you have a feel of where I am coming from, here's a little bit more info on why I went (and stay) freelance.

The opportunity to be consultative 

When I think about the times that I was most lite up while working full-time, it was when I was sharing my learnings, tried and true best practices, providing a new way of solving a problem, or discussing all the new, cool tools I learned about at a conference. In this way, I really enjoyed acting as a consultant to my colleagues. Being of service in the form of a consultant gave me energy and motivation to keep doing a good job at work. 

I find some much joy when I get to“act as a consultant” (or just do my actual job) with my clients. Because I am outside of the organization, I have the unique privilege of seeing my clients from a different perspective than they do. I can help them see through their blind spots and push them to try new approaches or uncover efficiencies. To me, being of service to my clients means communication and collaboration with every step. 

Flex my muscles across multiple business types

During my time as a full-time employed marketer, I remember holding team brainstorming sessions that felt unsatisfying because the “ideas well” had run dry. It’s easy to get stuck in doing things the way the marketing team has always done things. 

Working with multiple clients across different industries is beneficial for both my clients and my professional growth. How this helps my clients: they get access to proven, successful strategies and campaign ideas. I grab what’s been a hit for one client in industry A and then repurpose and tailor it to another client in industry B. I partner with other awesome marketing and creative contractors that offer a diverse set of backgrounds and experiences (more to come about this later). The exchange of information and ideas I gather, by working with clients across business types, is really inspiring for me as a freelancer. 

How this helps my professional development: I get to collaborate and learn from smart, passionate founders that have built their businesses from the ground up. I learn from both their successes and failures. Working across multiple industries pushes me to think creatively about my own freelance business.

Spread the love 

This one is short and sweet. Winning and succeeding is really fun. By being a freelancer, I get to work with multiple clients and win multiple times! Some may call that really, really fun. 

Helping clients accomplish success, no matter if it’s launching a brand new website or posting a Facebook ad, is one of the most gratifying parts of my job as a freelancer. 

Check our part 2 to learn more reasons why I went freelance.